Would you use just rubber matting, no bedding?

Personally No, unless they were coming in to eat/groom and straight back out again, but not to sleep on especially coming into winter.

Is your YO struggling to get bedding or trying to cut costs :confused:
 
My yard has just rubber matting. Horses are fine on it and really easy to muck out. Stable floors are on slight slope running down to outside drain so can run the hose pipe under the matting or chuck bucket of disinfectant down to keep them smelling fresh and it works well.
 
My RS did it. The stables were very easy to muck out, literally just sweep out but they needed to be washed out very regularly. It worked fine, just meant the rugs were a bit stinkier too :p
 
We use rubber matting at work and sprinkle shavings on top. All the horses lie down etc. and yes the mucking out is easy however, your rug cleaning bill will go up as the rugs do get very skanky. You would be best to use turnout rugs in the stable as thease help repel some of the moisture!
 
Well they are horses and don't nest, after all they lie down on hard earth in the field. I have EVA mats so they are quite springy. I have a good drain in mine. I sprinkle some shavings down to absorb the wee and that is it.:) He lies down happily.
 
Personally i wouldnt put a horse on just rubber matting. We have some down for a ffew at work as however thick the bed is they get down to concrete and scuff themselves, we still give them full size beds though, i can imagine it wouldnt be very comfy!!! If you owner does manage to pursuade you (although dont be pressured its your horse) i would make sure you get a resuction in your livery as they will be saving quite alot on bedding!!
 
I wouldn't do it overnight or for long periods. Quite a lot of horses won't pee straight onto rubber matting and will become quite uncomfortable without bedding.
 
I do sometimes - my TBx mare is vile in the stable so everything gets swept out and then I chuck a bucket of water down and wash it out. The only problem was her rug was horrible so I used a TO rug and hosed it then scrubbed it once a week.
 
I tried it a few years ago as a trial with just one pony (a grey). He lay down and was quite comfortable, however his rugs stunk, and he turned yellow down one side (his favourite to lie on) so the experiment was not repeated as it took an entire season for his coat to return to his normal colour!
 
I've nearly always had my pony on just rubber matting with banks of shavings. So he still has something to pee on and lay on if he kicks it down but it saves a lot on bedding as don't us anywhere near as much bedding as if he had a full or even half bed.

In 4years have never had any problems with doing it like that and had previous horses stables like that as well. The riding school where I kept him and worked at had nearly all the beds like the same and never had any problems, a couple of the ones where I am now (same YO) are the same as well.

I wouldn't use just rubber matting and no bedding at all though as think they do need a bit of bedding.
 
No never, I worked at a yard where only rubber matting was used and the horses that weren't rugged were soaked in their own pee and stank, as mentioned above rugs also stink and were very wet (so hope they can be dried off by the afternoon when you bring in again). Yes they are easy to muck out and have less waste but I prefer to think about the horse personally..

Also a lot of them wouldn't pee on it as it splashes their legs too much.
 
Not overnight, no .... and my girl won't pee in the stable.

I use wood pellets and push the bed back during the day when we're in there pampering.
 
I would never do that, all mine have nice deep beds on top the rubber matting. It's just there so they don't scrap themselves. I wouldn't dream off bringing my horses in to a stable and basically say " lie on all your piss and ****" for the night. Nothing to soak the pee up, no nice bed, ( mine love coming and having a roll and will not pee on the floor without bedding as it splashes up his legs) stinking rugs and poo down the horses, sorry that's disgusting. Nice clean bed any day.
 
While it is perfectly safe for them, I still prefer beds, and whilst they aren't nesting animals, my mare lives in a foaling box with half bed, half bare - guess which end she chooses to sleep on - the bed side, and to wee, and for droppings. We had a livery who only put down a tiny thin bed, and, as mentioned, the horse stunk, its rugs were dripping, and it laid down in the field a lot more than the others.

We have mats, and I don't mind them having smaller, easier to muck out beds, as I know they won't injure themselves on concrete, but I personally wouldn't choose nothing..
 
i have huge banks.... and a thin layer of shavings. works well

woudlnt have no bedding though. nothing wrong with that but just not for me :)
 
i love my mats in all stables, but they all have a full, banked bed as well. matts on their own equal wet stinky rugs, wet stinky horses and worst of all foot rot. no i would never leave a horse on mats alone overnight..... would rather leave them in the field with hay.
 
I use rubber matts but I have big shavings banks and a light covering on the floor.

I would not have just matts. The horses end up swilling around in their own piss and **** all night and as mentioned they get covered and the stable and horse stinks!! The rugs just look like a horse pooed straight on them and they stank of urine. My old y/o just used to use matts to save time and honestly the smell in the stables made me retch.

Mats are great and do save bedding but you should still use bedding, just a bit less than normal. All the matting companies I know reccomemd to use bedding :)

it's up to you but I bet u will end up putting some bedding in there! Even if it's just a bale in the corner :)
 
No. I have mats and have been on both straw and shavings - Always had a bed though! Personally I don't think its very nice to have just rubber mats, it's not exactly comfortable. Grass and ground will soak up wee much more than a rubber floor, so its not like how they would sleep outside at all.
Each to their own but definitely not for me.

Why not suggest to your YO, laying newspaper in the places where the horses wet patches are. This is pretty good at soaking up wee (obviously over a bed) and can help reduce the amount of waste as well and savings in wet bedding, as then you can just pick out the poo.

X
 
Well I'm going to be different by saying that I have used rubber mats for my horse with a full bed of straw on top in the past. It was disgusting. The pee went through the straw and managed to get through the tiniest gap under the mats. They were absolutely disgusting to clean underneath and heavy as well. I use a full deep litter bed on concrete with a strip of rubber at the front of the box where they look over the door. Much cleaner, less smelly and more hygienic! Anyone else not use them or am I in the minority?!?!?!
 
Before I bought my horse he was on a racing yard which used matting and a sprinkle of shavings. Since I have had him hes had a bed of shavings on top of my matting although its not too thick. Thinking about it though, they are quite happy to lie down in the field on the hard ground so they cant mind it too much!
 
I would like to just point out although horses to lie down on grass in the field the dont do it on a place where theyve just wee'd or poohed!! they would move elsewhere!!!! And whenever ive had horses out overnight when theyve come in they always make the most of a nice deep bed and have a good lay down when they came in. So they must prefer it!!!!
 
Try an experiment. Bed one side of his stable and not the other. I think that you will find that he will always choose to lie (and to pee) on the bed and not directly on the mats. The result will speak for itself.

I would never bed on mats alone or mats with a smattering of bed. There is a very well known advert for mats and I cannot understand why the supplier uses it. It shows a small pony curled up in one corner of his matted stable looking ever so sweet. Look a tiny bit closer. He is trying desperately to lie on the only bit of bed the stable has in it.

They may lie down on mats, but it's because they have to, not because they want to. If you think they are lying on hard ground - go and check where they lie. They usually find a dip that their belly fits into, and if there isn't one, they dig one, which is why you find bare patches in fields where their bedrooms are.

You'll have guessed, I'm not a fan of mats without beds!
 
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