Who uses rubber mats and minimal bedding on here?

[MileAMinute]

Am going to try this with my youngster who will be in over winter. Plan is to rubber mat the stable and then just have some shavings (about a bale) to soak up any wee.

He doesn't lie down in the stable anyway, he has an aversion to touching his own poo (which is fine by me as he's blue and white, the less muck the better!).

If I can get it to work it will be a lifesaver! Any others use this method? How do you find it?

 

[stencilface]

I use a bed of half straw - fairly thin, probably about a loose foot or so deep. I have just started putting some megazorb underneath as he is on full box rest atm and the stable wasn't drying out at all and really starting to stink

 

[Gracie21]

I tried it and hated it. My youngster is fidgety. He now has rubber matting plus 4 bales of miscanthus on top. I take the wet out once a month or so. So much cheaper for me.

 

[Dirtymare]

Yep, I have rubber matting. I use sawdust (which CWG are now stocking).
Its brilliant stuff, and not as dusty as you would think.
My mare does like to lay down at night, so I put a thinish bed down for her.
Mornings take 10 mins to muck out and sweep the sawdust back. Dead easy.

 

[AmyMay]

I've tried it and hated it also.

Stable stank.

 

[leflynn]

I do it as Red trashes a full bed, full rubber mats and a piddle patch about 3 feet in diameter about half an inch thick (he spreads it round himself). It does the job for him and a bale of shavngs will last me a week

 

[alfiesmum]

i had full matting and shavings, stank like anything cos foaly is wet! now moved 1 row of mats out at the back put shavings down at the back only (where mats were) and much nicer now however changing to wood pellets after september as i hear they are even better

 

[Bay TB]

We use rubber mats with shavings although not that minimal as my boy loves a lay down and a snooze and i like him to be comfy (thin skinned TB!!). Saying that, however, once his first bed for the winter is down I only tend to use a new bale of shavings every 2 weeks (maybe I'm just lucky and he's not too messy!)

 

[TGM]

It can work well with the right horses, the right routine, the right mats and the right drainage! Works well with most of mine, but I have Fieldguard M2 mats with little rubber legs underneath which makes the mats soft and springy and allows the urine to drain away underneath. Our stables also have floors sloping to drainage gullies to take the wet away plus horses are not in for long periods of time. None of the present horses are very wet either, however, when I had a Cushingoid laminitic who was very wet and in a lot then a bigger bed was needed.