Stable Matting

[Ambers Echo]

A new large stable has come up for Deedee. But the previous occupant is taking her mats with her so it's a bare concrete floor. A quick google of stable mats reveals a bewildering choice and a fairly hefty price tag! Any idea on what I need, and how I can get it cheap.

I use deep litter wood pellets.

TIA

 

[twofatladies88]

Mine are all matted out fully and it cost an arm and a leg as the stables are huge (20ft) for 11 hand ponies! But I fully muck out each morning and beds left up all day. If I had to keep costs down then I would just mat the front section and deep litter the concrete section. I didn't think it was possible to deep litter over mats but could be wrong - someone on here will know!

 

[Ambers Echo]

I've been deep littering over mats for years. I am not sure whether that is wrong or not! But I can't see why. Hoping not to hear all the dreadful reasons why I should not have been deep littering.

 

[twofatladies88]

Oh right - I just thought the mats might deteriorate.

 

[OdinsMum]

I just put mats at the front of the stable only because when I did the whole stable the wee was going under the mats and getting very smelly, plus they are a pain to lift and clean under. Mine always have big beds.

 

[Auslander]

I hate mats. I'd much rather have a mat by the door, then a decent bed everywhere else.

 

[OdinsMum]

this is how I have my beds.

 

[Griffin]

I have matted my mare's stable with EVA Easimat (I bought them second hand) and I use them with shavings (four feet wide strip at the back of the stable). They are very light, so lifting and cleaning underneath every few months is easy (if smelly). My mare seems a lot happier in her stable since we got them (she sleeps laying down on them all the time) and they have made it warmer in the winter.

 

[chaps89]

I bought some from ark matting earlier this year, very competitively priced. They were also really easy to deal with and accommodated a time/day specific delivery at no extra charge.

I found that unless you have a very level floor the (cheap) eva mats would have been no good as they are too solid and don't sit right.

You also need to make sure that you get equestrian ones, not playground mats etc.

I'd be happy to buy the standard rubber mats from ark again but if money was no object I really like the look of the Mayo comfort mats or the fieldguard m130 mats (if there's sufficient drainage)

I fully matted the stable then had a good sized bed along the back half that I semi deep littered (skipped out daily, fully mucked out once a week)

 

[asmp]

I stopped using mats after my horse started coughing. Yes, I moved him on to shavings instead but IMO the wee sitting underneath the mats affected his airways.

 

[Red-1]

You also need to make sure that you get equestrian ones, not playground mats etc.

I had used gym mats for about 10 years, they were fabulous. Very soft and interlocking.

I do put big beds on top though, so pee does not soak down into them and they did not really smell. Once a year we took them up and hosed out.

Not bad for freebie skip rescues!

When we replaced, we had hard rubber mats. They are doing OK, but are not half as insulating as the soft ones and are a pain to take up.

 

[milliepops]

I like eva mats and I mat my stables out fully then semi deep litter a half bed. Done it that way for about 15 years.

Ark mats on ebay are decent, mine are 34mm. I don't bother with interlocking ones. I also have some 44mm mayo mats but they're a lot more expensive.
Kira has standard heavy mats as she wears them out with her box walking. I prefer eva as it's easier to move if you change stables or move yards.

 

[HappyHollyDays]

I just have bog standard 18mm mats with a shavings bed at the back of the box. The wee doesn't run underneath because I cut them all to fit so snugly they are as good as one piece of rubber. I don't like them on concrete unless it's on a huge old fashioned straw bed with decent banks and fully mucked out daily.

 

[paddy555]

I'd be happy to buy the standard rubber mats from ark again but if money was no object I really like the look of the Mayo comfort mats or the fieldguard m130 mats (if there's sufficient drainage)

all my boxes except for 1 are done in fieldguard (with draining floors) and they are the best thing ever. I had to quickly mat a stable for an arthritic horse and the only thing I could get quickly locally were the 44mm mayo mats. Never again. I hate them but they were not cheap and I can't afford to chuck them. Field guard all the way for me.

 

[tankgirl1]

This is going to be my first winter with mats, they are just bobby basic ones that I bought off the previous occupant of the stable. Up until now I have always deep littered on straw, but I'm going to try and maintain a small straw bed this winter and see how we get on

 

[tankgirl1]

all my boxes except for 1 are done in fieldguard (with draining floors) and they are the best thing ever. I had to quickly mat a stable for an arthritic horse and the only thing I could get quickly locally were the 44mm mayo mats. Never again. I hate them but they were not cheap and I can't afford to chuck them. Field guard all the way for me.

I saw an advert the other day for 'mayo mattress' mats - they looked good but very expensive at £102 a mat!

 

[Crazy_cat_lady]

I had mats for 2 days and managed to flog them after that, I hated them. It is probably fine if you have a good draining stable or they are well sealed but the wee just pooled under the Mats and absolutely stank and they were too heavy to keep lifting each time. I now just use a decent thickness of wood pellet bed

I like having a decent bed as well even with the mats i couldn't have had just the mat with a sprinkling of bedding on i know a lot of people do but i like the thought of him having a nice bed to lie on

 

[ester]

we have had mayo mats for about 2 years now, deep litter weekly. I had hard rubber mats on livery and also deep littered weekly. Prior to that at home we just had concrete (good, slightly draining concrete, F is much tidier but the wee drains out underneath the much messier mare!)
Given that both of ours are now older I do like having the mayo mats tbh, definitely warmer for a start.

 

[elliejhb]

From seeing previous posts I'm sure you're up Cheshire way @Ambers Echo ? If so Robinsons at Ashton-in-makerfield have some 1/2 price, was atleast half a dozen in there when I popped in on Wednesday x

 

[TPO]

Our shed isn't concrete so the floor is crushed type 1. The stables, tackroom and the area at the front of the stables/top third of barn is all matted.

The stables all have proper beds with wood pellets on the bottom and bedmax on top. Ours are semi deep litter as in skipped out with wet taken out during the week.and then beds lifted at the weekend. Its earth underneath but the pellets absorb most of it

It's a mix of heavy stable mats (in stables) and a mix of themmand the lightweight eva mats in the passageway.

I dont have pictures but this was the day the olds moved there and before it was all power washed and mats relaid but it gives you an idea of the mats that are down.

Mats

 

[paddy555]

I saw an advert the other day for 'mayo mattress' mats - they looked good but very expensive at £102 a mat!

yes those were the ones I got. I hasten to add they were the only ones I could get that day and it was an emergency. The horses don't like them and I don't either. They don't work that well with only a small amount of shavings on them and I don't know how you would ever make a deeper shavings bed as the shavings just don't settle down, they wander everywhere.
The field guard ones are a million times better and so are the old fashioned heavy 6 x 4 mats. At least a bed would stay down on them.

 

[Spottyappy]

I have Eva in my stables,and for a number of years.
I can’t lift the rubber mats, and Eva are really easy to lift. Whoever, over the years they do seem to change shape, and I have to keep trimming bits off to make them fit!
I’m considering replacing them, and I would be looking to do one of the bonded fit rubber mats, as the wet does currently cause issues, and pools underneath in places. They are more expensive, but I think woudl be worth it for not having the wet and smell under them.
https://www.quattro.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Fully-Sealed-Stable-Matting.pdf
I do use megazorb on the wettest horse, and that really helps with the smell and drastically reduces the wet accumulation too. But, for the cost of it, I think the mats would pay for themselves over one winter.

 

[Sasana Skye]

I have 2 stables fully covered with Ark matting (EVA). Wee does pool underneath. I find out where the wet is and sweep it all up into a scoop, wash it down with a splash of water and give it a quick scrub down and leave a mat or two up all day to dry the floor out and I do that everyday. Sounds like a faff but it takes no more than 2 minutes per stable and better than letting my horses lungs fill up with ammonia. Saves me on bedding too, I only use one bale a week for both stables because it's always dry in there and we don't get pools of pee leaking out the door.

 

[meleeka]

I have mats, cheapish from Mole Valley. They were a good investment and are laid on paving slabs. I haven’t lifted them in years and there’s no smell that I can tell.

If I was deep littering I’d just mat the front of the stable. I can’t see the point of putting mats down then covering them with a foot of solid bedding.

 

[scats]

I have full rubber matting but also decent thick beds, albeit not right up to the door. Less bedding just makes for soggy wet rugs in my opinion but I like the mats so that if the horse gets down to the mat, they won’t slip when getting up.
I bought them from a local feed store, think they were £45 a mat. My poor long suffering dad then cut them to size to perfectly fit the stable.

 

[Fiona]

A new large stable has come up for Deedee. But the previous occupant is taking her mats with her so it's a bare concrete floor. A quick google of stable mats reveals a bewildering choice and a fairly hefty price tag! Any idea on what I need, and how I can get it cheap.

I use deep litter wood pellets.

TIA

We use mayo mats (the thicker 30mm ones) which are made out of EVA and therefore are a lot lighter to move then rubber ones. Had one set down for 17 years and they are still in good condition.

I haven't had to move them though, so that's maybe a moot point lol.

Used with semi deep litter pellets/shavings mix. Wet patch lifted about once a week.

Can definitely recommend.

Fiona

 

[Britestar]

Mayo or EVA mats.

I've had mine for 15yrs +, even moved from one set of stables to another (10 stables). They fully cover the floor and they have a bed at the back, fully mucked out everyday.

Mats are lifted once a year. I do sprinkle Superbio on them every month or so, but as the beds are up daily, they always are dry.