what are your thoughts on a handfull of shavings on rubber matting?

checkmate1

checkmate1

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 August 2007
Messages
796
Visit site
I've just moved yards and everybody has these tiny strips of shavings bedding at the back of their stables with rubber matting on the floor. (I am the odd one out with a deep straw bed and rubber matt but I don't care my horse lies down all the time and I'd like her to be comfy), now what are your reasons for this if you keep your stable like this, time or cost effectiveness? I'm just interested really.......
 
One word.............SMELLY!!!

In theory, i would say its ok for the horse, as they lie down outside on the hard, but the urine stench is foul, and the rugs/horse end up very smelly!
 
I used to have a really dirty gelding and he only had a sprinkling of shavings on rubber matting for both time and money. However, when i took the plunge and actually gave him a really deep shavings bed, he actually didnt mush it around as much as there was more to absorb, and it actually ended up taking just as little time, maybe a bit more money, but it was certainly nicer for him! I personally dont like a sprinkling of bedding - not great for their feet either.
 
Personally, I don't like the thought of my horses standing in wee all night, and either not lying down, or lying down in wee on a hard floor.
In my experience it's often done for the preference of the owner rather than the horse.
 
I think it can work in some cases, ie if the horses are only in the stables overnight, the drainage is good, the mats are thick and springy, and the horse is not particularly wet and is the type to wee on the shavings, rather than on the mats. I have expensive, thick, springy mats which are comfy enough for me to lie on, so if it is good enough for me, it is good enough for the horses!

My horses live out most of the time, but on the few occasions they stay in overnight, I do adopt the minimal bed on mats approach, which works well for them. However, when I had a wet Cushings pony who lived in most of the time, I made sure she had a full bed on top of the mats.
 
I would never have a thin bed.
The horse would be constantly stood in it's own filth as there won't be enough bedding to soak it up, the rugs will be ruined and it will not be able to sleep properly which in my mind is the most important thing over anything else!
 
rubber matting plus a good bed of shavings, else it's just too smelly and nasty
frown.gif
 
I'll go against the grain - my horse lives in his turnout rugs (so not smelly/ruined rugs), has rubber mats down and has about half an inch to an inch of shavings as far forward as a normal bed would go. He's actually much cleaner on straw, but we don't use it at our yard (which is fine). I put down one new bale of shavings a week, but do start the winter with a 'full' bed of about six or so bales. In the summer when he's occasionally in over night I just chuck half a bale down for him. Works fine for me - people are too quick to worry about what everyone else does - if it suits you and your horse and there is no welfare issue, what's the big deal?
smile.gif
 
My girls spend all year on a half day in half day out rota, I have rubber matting throughout my stables without any bedding. All of them sleep lying down regularly and all of them will lie flat out if they want. The grown up girls have been on matting long enough now that generally they wait to go out before they go for a wee. The yearling if she needs to go for a tinkle turns around and goes for a tinkle in the door way!

In the winter when they are in over night then I let them out into the fenced off bit of field in front of their stables last thing at night before I go to bed so that they can all go for a wee outside.

My old mare would wet in the stable - but I just stopped using proper stable rugs, and just used turnout rugs in the stable - hey presto didn't ruin stable rugs!

After everyone else's post I feel like a bit of a mean mummy - but I can assure you none of my girls are neglected or in the slightest bit sad or hard done by!
 
[ QUOTE ]
I would never have a thin bed.
The horse would be constantly stood in it's own filth as there won't be enough bedding to soak it up, the rugs will be ruined and it will not be able to sleep properly which in my mind is the most important thing over anything else!

[/ QUOTE ]
If mats are managed properly the horse should never be 'constantly stood in it's own filth'! You still have to muck out and skip out on mats, just as you would a normal bed - so the amount of droppings will be the same! Horses with full beds are still sleeping on their droppings! If you have a pee-patch of bedding and a well-drained stable, then there won't be urine on the floor either! I use turnout rugs in the stable anyway, so rugs aren't a problem and my horses have no problem sleeping - one in particular who comes in during the day in summer, can't wait to crash out and have a snooze!

I can only assume that you have experienced people using thin poor-quality mats in badly-drained stables who never remove droppings from their stables!
 
thats what i do, i feel mean but one pony has copd and is better of like that she has about a bucket of shavings in the corner with a bucket to pee in,sometimes it can get smelly all in all it seems to work, both ponies always go to the loo in the same place.
little pony dosent have a bucket to pee in as she throughs everything out the window, i would'nt want to be on the recieving end
 
I am in between. I don't see the point of huge beds, too much time spend having to throw them up to muck out unless they are deep litter..
At my last yard there were 2 ladies there and they had just about enough shavings to cover half of the floor in their stable and they wondered why their horses were so messy. My mare has about a 4 inch deep bed on one side where she lies down and where she poos and wee's its about an inch thick. She doesn't have a massive bed, its too much to manage but she has a decent enough bed.
I don't like the idea of horses coming in with nearly no bed, because the stable is so restrictive compared to a field I prefer to let them have something decent to stand in on for a bit more support for their legs.And yes it ruins rugs too!
 
Earth floors and straw for mine - I don't use that much as I don't do banks.

I think rubber matting is one up from thin beds on concrete, but I couldb't be doing with the faff of cleaning them. My beds take 10 mins to do even with a full muck out taking the wet.
 
I have a 10' x 10' stable for my 16hh TB - v.small I know but all we have at home. He manages fine in it - Deep bed 2/3 of stable with big high solid banks and then rubber mats which go from door to half way back under bed. Means he's never standing on concrete, has a nice bit to sleep on and he always pees in the same place.

I wasn't bothered about just having shavings and a concrete floor but got the mats because when he rolls he would sometimes scrape his head on the concrete. Mats just stop this and also mean he has something nice to stand on apart from cold concrete. He is at nights from Sept - April and copes fine. I find he is cleaner when he has a deeper bed and to be honest I'd much rather sleep on nice bed of shavings that absorb the wet than lying on a rubber mat!!
 
I have mats, I do a half bed about 1" to 1 1/2" thick, which gets dragged everywhere in the night (naughty filly) Mine have no problems with their feet and happily lay on the mats or the shavings.

My filly often tips over the hayledge bucket, lays on the mats and eats all the hayledge.

Image009.jpg


They don't look too uncomfortable!?
 
Delia box walked you ended up taking all the bed out every day, whether on a thin bed or a huge full bed - it was a brown churned mess come the morning. Only different was 1 barrow instead or 4 or 5 coming out.

I bought stablelite mats which are very thick, porous and designed to have no bedding, in my opinon cheap thin mats that require at least 50% of a normal bed are a waste of money. I put down a pee area of 3 buckets of shavings. I then swept out entire stable and put a bucket of water with a little disinfectant over the pee area. The stable drained very well and she was only in at night during the winter and out 24 x 7 all summer. This for her was the best system, she peed on the shavings and also pooped in that corner, then churned them up.

Cairo had the same thick mats with a mix of shavings and chopped straw bed about 4" deep over half the floor - this soaked up the pee - he would poo all over the stable so mats or thick bed, always laid his poo no matter which method was used. Hopefully this type of system will work for Farra too.

I personally prefer the bed I did for Cairo - but for Delia it would have been a total waste of time and energy as she was so filthy. I use stable rugs with a Polypropylene outer - keeps them dry should they lay in a damp spot and easy to wipe down.

For me, thick draining mats and a thinish bed are the answer - enough to keep the stable dry and not smelly but not having to do three/four trips to the muck heap and get through 10 - 14 bales of straw a week as I did with Delia, once on mat I did one barrow a day and 1 bale of shavings a week. Once a year they come up and I wash out the whole stable - heavy job but not that bad to do if you use a pressure washer.

When in they are mucked out in the morning and then again in the evening so they don't stand in their muck - simple good stable management and with these beds it is very quick to do. Cairo used to lie down for hours and sleep on his thin bed and mats.
 
The bottom line is, if you can be bothered to do a good deep bed, horses ALWAYS prefer a nice deep bed to lie in, and i personally think if you hunt all day it is very important for the horse to really be able to lie down and relax, i leave my stables open all the time in the summer with deep straw, and they still prefer to come in and lie down.
 
I'd never get away with it, my horse can pee for england, so it would be a smelly nightmare.
Even though i have rubber matting he still does have a decent bed to soak up everything.
 
All our stables have 2/3 mats at the front, the back have nice deep litter beds with shavings. Luckily my geld is clean, he hides his plops with the shavings from his walls!!

He gets mucked out during the week and I do it at the weekends (once he is in at night). I also take a bit of deep litter out every week and put in half a bale a week. I do start him off with 3/4 bales. Not smelly and looks clean.

After riding when he's in his stable I hold a pee bucket under him, when he adopts the pee stance - bless him he pees straight into it. That saves the shavings getting too wet.

I don't think a handful of shavings on the mats would work for us.
 
[ QUOTE ]
people are too quick to worry about what everyone else does - if it suits you and your horse and there is no welfare issue, what's the big deal?


[/ QUOTE ]

I am with you here, i do what suits my horse and she happens to have matting and some shavings, not lots, not a tiny sprinkling but enough absorb wee and be comfortable for her, i dont worry about what others do, i think this is something i have got with age, giving less of a monkeys of what others think, she i sonly in two days a week on average anyway, so she is out is then fresh air with good field shelter and a suitable rug according to the weather
grin.gif
 
If we're going to be scientific then all you shaving lot should switch to straw as horses ALWAYS prefer that according to the research done


(Will dig out the papers if anyone wants them)

Also there is a big differece between rubber mats and rubber matressing
 
ours all have good quality rubber matting i would happily sleep on and a blumming good bed very nice and deep shavings.
No offense to anyone who stables horses in turn out rugs,i can see the side of less dirty etc but i personally would rather sleep in my comfy pj's than in a waterproof coat meant to be worn outside.And i think i t should be the same for horses i could never make any of mine sleep in there outside coats.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top