Stabling with no bedding

[Moomin1]

I really disagree with this view the mats provide protection when the horses pile up their beds and roll about shifting the bedding all over the place .
They are warm .
They provide concussion protection should the horse be in the box when the bed is not down here that would be in the morning I between the girls mucking out and putting the beds down .
Mine are very non slip much more so than concrete .
My horses lie down and sleep a great deal one will lie in rem sleep during the day in summer .
My latest purchase was on mats with a small amount of straw in his previous home he stank .
He spend the first three weeks here lying and sleeping .

Fair enough regards protection. That being said, my mare has yet to shift any bed whatsoever when she gets up and down, and she's 16.3. The beauty of a deep litter bed I suppose. Also, the deep litter bed is warm. I certainly didn't find rubber mats warm in the slightest - they were just as cold to touch as the concrete.

Agree about the non slip - that is where they are very useful IMO.

With regards lying down - like I said earlier, some horses may, others won't. My horse wouldn't, and it ended up affecting her physically. That's why I think they can be fantastic for some horses, but a welfare concern for others/

 

[Goldenstar]

Fair enough regards protection. That being said, my mare has yet to shift any bed whatsoever when she gets up and down, and she's 16.3. The beauty of a deep litter bed I suppose. Also, the deep litter bed is warm. I certainly didn't find rubber mats warm in the slightest - they were just as cold to touch as the concrete.

Agree about the non slip - that is where they are very useful IMO.

With regards lying down - like I said earlier, some horses may, others won't. My horse wouldn't, and it ended up affecting her physically. That's why I think they can be fantastic for some horses, but a welfare concern for others/

They are not a welfare concern when bedded properly
I would never ever use them any other way .

 

[RunToEarth]

I really disagree with this view the mats provide protection when the horses pile up their beds and roll about shifting the bedding all over the place .
They are warm .
They provide concussion protection should the horse be in the box when the bed is not down here that would be in the morning I between the girls mucking out and putting the beds down .
Mine are very non slip much more so than concrete .
My horses lie down and sleep a great deal one will lie in rem sleep during the day in summer .
My latest purchase was on mats with a small amount of straw in his previous home he stank .
He spend the first three weeks here lying and sleeping .

I think I read earlier that you don't like deep litter - so I can see how you using mats like this would be a sensible idea - do you leave the beds up during the day to dry the mats out?

I don't deep litter as such, we take wet out every other day, but our stables are very deep with compacted straw so they can't really find the floor unless they are physically digging which none of ours do. I do think that my issue with mats comes from a lot of people substituting them for any real amount of bedding, which IMO is just a bit smelly and gross, and I couldn't deal with stinking horses and rugs on the yard.

 

[Goldenstar]

Oo

I think I read earlier that you don't like deep litter - so I can see how you using mats like this would be a sensible idea - do you leave the beds up during the day to dry the mats out?

I don't deep litter as such, we take wet out every other day, but our stables are very deep with compacted straw so they can't really find the floor unless they are physically digging which none of ours do. I do think that my issue with mats comes from a lot of people substituting them for any real amount of bedding, whiOk IMO is just a bit smelly and gross, and I couldn't deal with stinking horses and rugs on the yard.

yes we leave the beds up to dry the floors and air them daily
I don't like deep litter a have asthma and I can " feel " deep litter in the air if I can I think it's fair to assume the horses can too.
My horses just have rubber floors not concrete ones .

 

[Merrymoles]

I think a lack of bedding as an economy is actually a false economy, whatever the type of bedding.
I've worked on a number of yards and with some of the muckiest horses around and still find it quicker and easier to muck out a deep bed and that I generally need to replace less bedding after.
My current horse is in a massive stable and has rubber mats with a decent wood pellet and shaving bed on one half of it. The shaving are for the banks. He uses the bedded part of the stable for everything, lies down every night (imprint of him and pancake poo every morning) and I use one bag of pellets a week and half a bale of shavings a month. Others on the same yard who use the "patch" system of bedding can get through three or four times as much bedding.
The cleanest boxes I ever mucked out were massive foaling boxes with deep beds and huge banks and usually occupied by mare and foal - never needed more than half a bale top up.

 

[Equi]

My boss had a cob that i would look after (dunno how that happened, wasn't in my job description!!!) and he had a sprinkle of shavings to mop up the pee. He didn't lie down in the stable but the first thing he did when he was out was to roll and have a lie down.

I don't personally like no bedding, i like having the padding it also keeps the smell of urine down (which makes my eyes water just mucking out, so god love the horses who have to stand in it for hours)

 

[Equi]

I think a lack of bedding as an economy is actually a false economy, whatever the type of bedding.
I've worked on a number of yards and with some of the muckiest horses around and still find it quicker and easier to muck out a deep bed and that I generally need to replace less bedding after.
My current horse is in a massive stable and has rubber mats with a decent wood pellet and shaving bed on one half of it. The shaving are for the banks. He uses the bedded part of the stable for everything, lies down every night (imprint of him and pancake poo every morning) and I use one bag of pellets a week and half a bale of shavings a month. Others on the same yard who use the "patch" system of bedding can get through three or four times as much bedding.
The cleanest boxes I ever mucked out were massive foaling boxes with deep beds and huge banks and usually occupied by mare and foal - never needed more than half a bale top up.

Same. My mare is dirty and she gets allbed then shavings. her beds llovely for 4 or 5 days until enough shavings come out to make it a bit thin and on the thinner bed her stable is disgusting and needs totally changed.

 

[Moomin1]

They are not a welfare concern when bedded properly
I would never ever use them any other way .

I tried many different ways of using the bedding on top - to various depths etc. The only time it became acceptable was when there was a proper thick bed on top. In which case the mats were redundant, and because of the deep litter system which suits my horse the best, were just rotting underneath so they got removed.

Like I say, each horse is different. It just did not suit my mare whatsoever.

 

[Becca-84]

I hate rubber matting. When i had my pony on them he was in a 12x12 stable either a decent shavings bed on top but all the wee just collected under the mats and never dried out. They were smelly and horrible. He is now on semi-deep litter with rape straw bedding. I take out the wet once a week and replace with one bag on bedding. He never reaches the concrete and is always clean and dry. Matting with no bedding is disgusting.

 

[potto]

Really interesting discussion with lots of different opinions, likes and dislikes. I personally have always liked to put my horse on a nice bed of straw (not deep littered) but a deep bed. mats or no mats didn't really bother me.. I have to say If I am sure if i had been somewhere there had been top of the line very cushioned cow type cushioned mats it may have made a difference to how much i put down. Recently however my horse has started to suffer from breathing difficulties and I am changing his management, I have decided to go with wood pellets and rubber mats in an outside shelter. I have also noticed as he has access to hard standing and at the moment a very wet muddy paddock.. that he likes to lie down to sleep on the mud. (although to be fair the shelter has been deep littered until recently cleaned and rubber mats have only just gone down on my arrival) I have previously seen him sleep lying down on rubber matting. I wonder perhaps if its what horses become accustomed or trained to like or perhaps what suits there particular ailments/ conformations and individualness that is more important than what we like or think may be best for them...? I rather like the idea of overnight cams to see what my pony really gets up to all night and what he actually does and chooses... It would make a great experiment if anyone wanted to do it on different types of bedding..?

 

[Hoof_Prints]

My horses live out, and are often lying down asleep outside. They are brought in for around 6-8 hours every day, and stand on concrete. They have straw/ shavings banked up around the outside. I used to bring a full bed down all the time , but they insisted on making a complete mess and it was a pain to muck out. Now they will wee on the banks and I just pick the poo up, if they want to lie down then they will paw the banks down and make themselves a bed, and of course I rush around to "tuck them in" so they are comfy If standing in all night they have a very thick and full bed, can't stand the thought of them lying on wee and it ruins my rugs. I think it's lazy and uncaring to leave a horse with no bed, would never do it. I also hate people who leave wet in, I always fully muck out and those deep littered beds make my eyes water with the ammonia.

 

[LeneHorse]

When I bought my horse,I made a promise to him that he would never again have to try to sleep on a two foot strip of shavings at he back of some cold hard rubber matting soaked in piss and ****.In return he has been the kindest most loyal friend. Some things are non negotiable!

What a lovely grateful horse you have. Mine is on a nice deep shavings bed on top of rubber matting and still makes evil faces at me if I dare to invade her space. She clearly doesn't know how lucky she is

The full liveries at our yard are on the rubber matting/sprinkle of shavings system and boy do their rugs stink of pee. Not for me I'm afraid.

 

[Meems]

She allowed of course to have an opinion as funnily enough am I and in my opinion being driven nuts by something that is in no way impacting a horses welfare is silly .
If an owner what wants their horse to have mats and a bed that's what the owner wants .
If she worked here and voiced an opinion on the beds I would explain why I did want I did and then I would expect her to get on with it .

It's the depth of the bed I'm talking about. Unless I'm very much misunderstood, I thought the whole point of rubber matting was that you didn't need as much bedding as you would if your horse was standing on a cold, hard, concrete floor. Therefore, having a hugely deep bed on top of rubber mats just seems to me, to defeat the object of having the mats in the first place.

 

[Goldenstar]

It's the depth of the bed I'm talking about. Unless I'm very much misunderstood, I thought the whole point of rubber matting was that you didn't need as much bedding as you would if your horse was standing on a cold, hard, concrete floor. Therefore, having a hugely deep bed on top of rubber mats just seems to me, to defeat the object of having the mats in the first place.

Ok I have mats to ensure the horse can never touch the concrete if he shifts the bed around rolling .
The mats are also warmer than concrete and cushioning and so reduce concussion my mats are also very non slip much more so than concrete .
I don't have mats to skimp on bedding and labour

 

[cambrica]

I think a lack of bedding as an economy is actually a false economy, whatever the type of bedding.
I've worked on a number of yards and with some of the muckiest horses around and still find it quicker and easier to muck out a deep bed and that I generally need to replace less bedding after.
My current horse is in a massive stable and has rubber mats with a decent wood pellet and shaving bed on one half of it. The shaving are for the banks. He uses the bedded part of the stable for everything, lies down every night (imprint of him and pancake poo every morning) and I use one bag of pellets a week and half a bale of shavings a month. Others on the same yard who use the "patch" system of bedding can get through three or four times as much bedding.
The cleanest boxes I ever mucked out were massive foaling boxes with deep beds and huge banks and usually occupied by mare and foal - never needed more than half a bale top up.

Totally agree. I have 3 on deep straw beds and it takes me no time to muck out with very little wastage. I only have to top up with a couple of slices of straw from a small bale each night. Lord knows what Roberto gets up to but if he were human you wouldn't want to share a bed with him - he looks like Worzel Gummage in the morning! No doubt he gets his REM sleep!
The other 2 are on shavings, it suits them better especially the little one as she gets a bit wheezy on straw.
They all have rubber mats down, only because they've been there years and they definately give a bit of extra protection against the cold for the 2 old ladies.
IMO a deep bed saves money, time and makes me feel a bit better, especially as none of them are rugged.

 

[Spring Feather]

All my stables are fitted with rubber mats and if I use them (which is very infrequently) I tend to use oat straw these days as I have it on the farm anyway and wouldn't go out and buy shavings just for the odd night in. I use a light straw bed, banked at the sides. A few of my fields shelters and barns have rubber matting and I just dump a round bale of oat straw in there once in a while and the horses paw it around the place, play in it and eat it or whatever and then it ends up as bedding. When I lived in the UK my horses and the full liveries all came in at night time in the winter and I had rubber matted stables there too. I used Aubiouse, huge banks and thin bed. Worked well for me, not for everyone probably, and all of the horses laid down to sleep.

 

[Talyn]

I use rubber matting with a decent bed of wood pellets. They cover about half of the stable. I do a full muck out daily - the beds never smell and when I put the beds up the mats are always dry.
I don't like the idea of just a sprinkle of bedding - it's not enough IMO. I looked after a friends horse for a day at my old yard and he was only allowed 1 wedge of straw on top of mats - the wee was running out of the stable - it was disgusting!