What type of flooring/bedding for a shelter?

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Rosehip

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As above really!
Im hoping to get a shelter put up for the girls in the next 3 - 4 weeks. Its on skids, so obv no flooring, so do I use grass mats/stable mats/shavings etc or do I just leave it grass? I dont want the girls standing in fetlock deep mud, and getting MF etc, so rather lothe to just leave it as grass with nothing to soak up/drain pee and wet.

Any ideas? Thanks x
 
We use grass mats with shavings/woodchips on top. We find that just using grass mats or normal mats is too slippery (no matter how good the mats, when horses have muddy feet they slip on anything!). Make sure you do around the shelter as well, as often the entrance gets very poached, and they avoid going in as it means walking through a bog
 
Depends where you are, and what the land is like. We're in the boggy pennines, and our grass mats disappear under a sea of mud in the normal fields. We put normal matting down in ours, and don't find it too slippy. Put it on the best drained corner of your land . Ideally you could do with a bit of hardcore underneath. I know your landlady is difficult - could you persuade her? Shavings on top is easiest, but straw would work too, and the muckheap seems to rot down better with straw, which may be good in your case, as she was fussy about that too wasn't she! Hope you''re ok. Did oyu change your mind about moving?
 
I dont have anything down at all, the inside stays dry so we get no mud inside just outside. However I think this year we are going to put down shavings.

Liz
 
Thanks for your replies!
Honey08, Dad put his foot down and basically said I couldnt move the horses (Im 27, but what Daddy says goes!lol!) so Im stuck up there, waiting for the witch to kick off again....not a nice way to live tbh, especially as Im now "in charge" at my main yard, and at another clients yard whilst people recover from injury/ops etc...working pretty much 7.30 am to 9pm with maybe a couple of hours break in between...joy!

My field is pretty well draining, and the site of the shelter is the flattest, driest bit, so I wass wondering if I could get away with shavings under straw and then mats outside??
The lady next door has put down these little 1ftx1ft squidgy square things in her shelterr and they work ok, but they look messy (to anal people!) and their boys trip on them a bit as they are all skew-wiff if that makes sense?!

Just hope that the YO doesnt stop me putting the shelter I want up as I desperately need something up for the girls!!
 
Try putting rape straw down as a base. Thats what I am doing. As long as you can keep the inside dry it should be ok! Will let you know if mine turns into a mud pit!!!!
 
guido16 said:
Try putting rape straw down as a base. Thats what I am doing. As long as you can keep the inside dry it should be ok! Will let you know if mine turns into a mud pit!!!!
Click to expand...

:) Cheers!! :) God knows how long I will have to wait till I get the OK for this shelter!! Then manage to scrape the £ together! x
 
My shelter is at the lowest part of our field due to neighbours and issues with siting.

We use rubber matting, sometimes with straw but normally with just the matting. It has stayed remarkably dry inside, even when the outside is a complete bog.
 
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