Stinky horse + rubber matting

[NightStock]

So I hate stabling but have moved my mares to a yard with large stables and rubber matting down. I've never stabled on matting before and am finding my warmblood's bed stinks! Currently I have a thin layer of Bedmax down but my plan is to get straw pellets (have previously used wood pellets and liked them in a stable without matting), with shavings on top, so a bit of a deep litter style bed, does this sound like it may work? thanks

 

[jnb]

The problem won't be the rubber matting but the lack of bedding, (IMO Bedmax is a waste of space for absorbing wet - yes it might look pretty but literally the wee runs through it onto the mats for your horse to lie in.)
Try a half bed with banks (if you use them) but a decent depth i.e 6" minimum knocked down of good absorbent shavings - MegaSpread/Thoroughbred/Hunters or Aubiose/Hemcore and you'll find it doesn't smell. Part of the smell issues with thin beds/matting is horses lying in their wee and it soaking into their rugs - grim.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I hate rubber mats that are not sealed to the floor as the wet just runs underneath and sits there that is what stinks.

I would get rid of them and just have a few at the front with a big shavings bed at the back, I use mega spread and take the wet out every other day and put wood pellets down where they wee, so I basically chuck the wet pellets out and it really saves on the amount of shavings, the wee never comes through so they have a lovely big clean dry bed always.

 

[ycbm]

I hate rubber mats that are not sealed to the floor as the wet just runs underneath and sits there that is what stinks.

I haven't found this issue. The stink stays under the mats as long as you don't move them. I've found the issue to be lack of absorbant bedding, not loose mats.

 

[HappyHollyDays]

I have rubber mats down which aren’t sealed but are butted up so tightly together nothing gets underneath so they never smell. A wood pellet base with either straw or shavings on top make a lovely dry bed that doesn’t smell.

 

[jnb]

Rubber mats don't smell if you have enough appropriate bedding to absorb the wee, regardless of whether they're sealed or not.
Just my opinion, when people say "oh, horses don't have bedding in the wild, they just lay on a bare floor then" - yes, a BARE floor.
Not one swimming in their own pee and poo!

 

[scats]

I’ve just moved stables and we went to shift the rubber matting and what was under them was ghastly. I use deep beds of probed but it had made no difference. The mats were not sealed and one of my mares is particularly wet. Dreadful combination it seems!
So I have now just got rubber mats at the front and a deep bed on concrete at the back.
It’s working much better for me to be honest.

 

[ycbm]

Why do people lift mats?
.

 

[NightStock]

Thanks all, I have put straw pellets down with shavings on top and so far, so good. Today I did the same for my Arab, although with wood pellets, the first stable already smells better, phew!

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Thanks all, I have put straw pellets down with shavings on top and so far, so good. Today I did the same for my Arab, although with wood pellets, the first stable already smells better, phew!

Ooh what Arab's do you have?

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I do agree that if you use a tiny amount of bedding it will stink more but I think that applies to any set up with or without mats.

I used to look after horses that were on rubber mats with a foot strip of bedding at the back and everything stank, stables, horses, rugs and me and it was awful and I wouldn't keep horses like it, I do remember the farrier would say how awful there feet were due to standing on pee and poo ?

 

[paddy555]

Why do people lift mats?
.

to pressure wash underneath them?

 

[ycbm]

to pressure wash underneath them?

What's the point?
.

 

[paddy555]

What's the point?
.

cleanliness? same reason that I pressure wash the walls.

If you had a concrete floor and say deep litter or anything else wouldn't you pressure wash it a couple of times a year?
is it just me?

I also vacuum the ceilings and beams and around the door frames to remove cobwebs.

 

[ycbm]

No, I've been here 30 years and I've never washed a floor or a wall. In 50 years around horses I have never seen anyone wash a floor. I know people who paint their stables once a year, that's to look nice not for cleanliness.

What exactly is the point of washing a floor that will have horse piss and crap on it less than 24 hours later?
.

 

[paddy555]

No, I've been here 30 years and I've never washed a floor or a wall. In 50 years around horses I have never seen anyone wash a floor. I know people who paint their stables once a year, that's to look nice not for cleanliness.

What exactly is the point of washing a floor that will have horse piss and crap on it less than 24 hours later?
.

I think we will have to differ.

I pressure wash the walls every 6 months and there is a terrific amount of dirt and dust on them.

 

[ycbm]

We do differ, Paddy

My stable walls are stone and filthy. Mice live inside them. Spiders live everywhere. Previously I was in a livery yard where I never saw a wall washed in 3 years. In 40 years I've never had a horse which was ill, never mind a horse which was ill with anything connected with dirt on the stable walls or floor mats that have never been lifted. I have two friends the same and one friend like you. One had a horse with severe asthma. Guess which one?

I can't understand why people lift mats. (I think that's obvious by now ?). The stink and bugs stay safely underneath them until they are lifted, when they are clean for one day at most before they have stale urine under them again.
.

 

[paddy555]

We do differ, Paddy

My stable walls are stone and filthy. Mice live inside them. Spiders live everywhere. Previously I was in a livery yard where I never saw a wall washed in 3 years. In 40 years I've never had a horse which was ill, never mind a horse which was ill with anything connected with dirt on the stable walls or floor mats that have never been lifted. I have two friends the same and one friend like you. One had a horse with severe asthma. Guess which one?

I can't understand why people lift mats. (I think that's obvious by now ?). The stink and bugs stay safely underneath them until they are lifted, when they are clean for one day at most before they have stale urine under them again.
.

Some of my mats are meant to be lifted and cleaned underneath. It is part of their design. (fieldguard)
I cannot imagine what 30 years of stale urine under mats would be like especially if horses were stabled for a long time. They would be floating.
I hang hay nets or have hay bins against the walls. After 6 months there is slime on the walls or the floor under the bins. Years of that would be totally disgusting.

Interesting topic, would be an idea to put on tack room and see what others do.

 

[Peglo]

Why do people lift mats?
.

I lift mine in spring when they go out all summer and give the stables a pressure wash then. We put in sloping floors so the pee runs out of the stables into the drain. I don’t know if that’s on top or underneath the mats TBF. But glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t lift them.

 

[NightStock]

Ooh what Arab's do you have?

Just the one, a little chestnut mare from Bychan arabs. She is unbroken currently but I'm already rather smitten with her, quite different from the TBs and Warmbloods that I am used to!

 

[honetpot]

I have EVA mats, once they are down for the winter, they stay down. I deep litter a horse sized area where ever they lie, made up of pellets, with a top layer of chopped rape straw or even straw, they lie and wee in that area, and if I am lucky they poo along that back wall where there is no bedding and I just scrape it up. It never smells, the secret is not to disturb then base unless you are taking out the sodden bedding in the pee spot. I can not see the point in bedding where they do not lie, it just gets dusty, or worse mouldy if it's damp.

 

[meleeka]

I’m another who never lifts my mats. I don’t use the stables all the time and I find the underneath dries out nicely on its own in the summer. I don’t wash the walls either, just re-paint when it starts to look awful. I sweep the mats daily and I don’t find it smells at all (or certainly not that I can smell).

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Just the one, a little chestnut mare from Bychan arabs. She is unbroken currently but I'm already rather smitten with her, quite different from the TBs and Warmbloods that I am used to!

Lovely they breed some really nice horses how is she bred?

My 2 are related to there stallion Psynergy

 

[NightStock]

Lovely they breed some really nice horses how is she bred?

My 2 are related to there stallion Psynergy

They are related then as she is by him! I'll DM you tomorrow to compare notes.

 

[scats]

I never used to lift my mats and clean them, but I was horrified by the sludge underneath them when I moved stables. Saying that, Millie is exceptionally wet and did have a habit of tipping her buckets over, which I think added to the horrors. Polly’s stable wasn’t as bad.
Still, the realisation of what was lurking underneath was enough for me to ditch the back mats completely. I think a well drained stable might not have the same problem.

I don’t wash walls but I do whizz the brush over them occasionally to rid them of cobwebs and beasties.