your thoughts on grass mats??

jackessex

jackessex

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Hi all,i was wondering if any of you have any experience with the grass mats that you get for gateways etc,they let the grass grow through them.I am wondering if they could be used on a bigger area for example a winter turn out area that gets VERY muddy,i am going to make a hardstanding in front of my stables but wondered if it would be worth having a load of these mats put down so the horses could still graze as well,your thoughts would be much appreciated!!!!
 
The chances are probably not too favourable. If you have ground prone to mud, the mats tend to sink into it with the horses weight, leaving you back at square one!
 
If you were going to put in concrete hardstanding, look at grasscrete instead. I agree, I have only ever heard of those mats sinking into oblivion in mud!
 
I have a friend who has put some down, and it's very impressive. So much so that I'm getting some as well. The type she uses is Fieldguard. They are linked together and the area you can cover is as big as your pocket! I have also seen it in use at a local, very busy farm shop, where cars were wrecking the grass car park. Now it looks like perfect pasture. You can get different types of honeycomb - I think they say the heavy duty type (probably more than you would ever need) will support an army tank....

My birthday money from the family is going on this project, so I'll let you know how it goes. And frankly, nothing could be worse than what I've got at the moment - a wallow in winter and a dustbath in summer.
 
rose folley,i have the same prob as you ie mud in winter dust in summer and i have seen the mats in use in a local park,from what i can see it takes a bit of time for the grass to grow through but does seem to work and its interesting to know about the cars being to drive over it!!!i will look into prices as it seems to be a good idea,thanks.
 
I've thought about those too. Would it depend in type of ground you have? I can imagine it sinking with our deep clay earth here but if you had good topsoil and firmer stuff underneath I can imagine how wonderful it would be.

Imagine if you had a laminitic - they would only graze the fibrous top stuff leaving the sugary sward root!!! It's a fab idea!! (grascrete also seems a good idea!)
 
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Silly phone

the grass will come though and help to hold them in place.

If you lie them on wet mud, they tend not to knit in so good.

Just make sure that you roll the area so its as smooth as possible before putting them down to

Very good if done right
 
I've seen them in use in raceways and they are very good, the surface they are put on does really need to be well prepared to ensure that they do the job they are designed for.
 
i spoke to some different companys yesterday and apparently so long as you use the heavy duty stuff and put it down now it works brilliantly,u have to keep horses off it untill grass has grown through,as the mats then form kind of a sub base,but it is designed for exactly that use and withstands them charging about on it!!a lot of it is guarenteed for 10 yrs plus,so i figure that in the long run its better to pay for this than spend £270 for a lorry of crushed concrete which wont hold up great with horses on it all the time in the wet,and it slowly dissapears into the mud.i will keep you posted as to how it works out!!thanks for all your comments :)
 
Hi Rose, Jack and anyone else who took the plunge...

Just wondering how your mats are working out a few years on? We are currently about to build a stable yard and thinking of using mats in place of hardcore for the parking area and track from yard to field. What have your experiences been with the mats?

We are a little later than we would like to be getting them in, so would likely need to leave them un-touched until the Autumn grass growth has finished, so we would be looking at leaving them 3 to 4 months I expect before they were used.

Thanks for any thoughts,
Dan
 
I put grass mats in my gateways at the end of summer last year and I have to say I was very impressed…… we had terrible flooding in my area over the winter and my fields were extra wet and muddy and although the gates did get a bit muddy with the mats they were a massive massive improvement on previous years.

This spring I pulled all the mats up and relaid them and the grass is now growing through nicely….. as i didn't lay them til late last year the grass didn't get a chance to grow through properly so this year they will work even better….

I don't regret using them at all….. have worked brilliantly for me and I have ordered some more.

The tip on using for laminitics- BRILLIANT…… I am going to cover my small paddock with them and then hopefully small pony can have all day turnout rather than just a couple of hours.
 
I've got some down and they have been great. They were £21 each delivered from eBay. In my local tack shop they were £35 each. I have 8 and am getting some more next month. One of my horses stays in a tiny paddock (about the size of 10 stables) with hardly any grass over night and I've put them in there.
 
Thanks Glinda & Copperpot - that sound's promising...my builder is not convinced but I'm finding a growing theme that if installed properly (i.e. allowed to bed in properly and have the grass mature) they are effective.

I think we'd be looking at one of the rolled products like http://www.horsematshop.co.uk/grass-mesh-poaching/17-heavy-duty-grass-protection-mesh.html as we have a bit of ground to cover so I think it ends up cheaper, plus less joins which I imagine would be a potential weak link...£21 each is a lot cheaper than I've for mats though so time to checkout ebay!

How late were you getting yours in Glinda?

Thanks v much!
Dan
 
Please DON'T DO IT. I put these mats down in a gateway which was only fetlock deep in mud at it's worst bought from an equestrian superstore selling english manufactured mats. Mats were placed an settled as instructed only for my 2 year old gelding to go through them and in the twisting of the mats of him trying to get free the the mats twisted, tightened and literally pulled his skin and flesh apart. Never ever would you expect the type of horrific injury to occur that that poor boy went through, he went through extensive veterinary care and over 200 vet wraps trying to get the flesh to go back as there was nothing to be stitched. This resulted in a 15 month triangular battle with superstore and the mat manufacturer we settled out of court by solicitors recommendation as we need to guarantee all our extensive legal costs, veterinary care and physiotherapy would be covered and they wanted it keeping out of the press. It came to light that the mats being sold as manufactured in England were being imported from India and were probably sun damaged and weaker than they should of been. Be warned!
 
I only put mine down 2 weeks ago. It was after some rain so the ground was soft. Little bits of grass are starting to grow through. It's mainly to give him somewhere to lie down and to keep anywhere from getting muddy. Pay day I'm investing in 8 more so half his paddock will be done and am going to put some outside the field shelter too. He must like them as most of his overnight poo's are always on the mats lol.
 
AnnieB-which mats are you talking about (you can give type rather than make if you prefer)? sounds horrific. I am not sure I like the idea of the ones that are pinned in without grass growing through first.

I had to build a small 'hard standing' area as a short term emergency measure for two ponies this winter. I used the interlocking plastic grids with heavy, escalator rubber matting on top. The whole area was about 5m x 4m and it stood up very well-neither pony is shod and these mats were not slippy when wet or frosty (they were left at our place by previous owner but theres an eBay seller) and extremely heavy. I may do similar on one the the gateways this year.
 
Dan I have a friend who has stables in Germany with 30 plus horses. All her winter turnout paddocks are built with Huebner-Lee paddock mats. They have been down for years and are the best ones I have seen.

Huebner-lee.de is the website and it's in English. Don't know about cost or shipping but as with most things German they are built well and built to last.
 
Mine came with fixings to stake them down. I also cable tied them together every few holes. So there are no gaps for a hoof to fit through and it is now one giant mat!
 
When I moved to the UK in 1994, I brought with me a dozen 5' x 3' rubber mats with holes which I purchased at Costco in Hawaii. They were marketed as 'fatigue' mats for people who stand for hours at work. I originally bought them to put outside our back doors so that our dogs wouldn't track sand into the house. Horses weren't even a consideration at the time, seeing as I acquired my first horse after moving to England, and the product was not intended for use outdoors.

Since we've been in the UK, I've used these mats in our dog run to minimise muddy tracks in the house. When we put flagstones in the run, we took up the mats and stacked them in an unused stable for years. Four years ago, I placed a couple of these mats in a gateway, where my two Shire geldings were churning up the ground with their dinner-plate-size feet. The mats have remained there ever since. We drive over them with various farm vehicles with no adverse effects.

This past winter, I placed a few mats in one of our chicken runs. The rain and mud were the worst I can remember, and I felt so bad for the hens. Well, this morning I realised that that run is the only one with grass. The grass has come up through the holes and the mats are being held in place by the roots. Likewise, I put several in front of our donkey field shelter last autumn, and the mats are now well and truly part of the ground. Prior to the mats, the donks were slipping as they stepped out of the shelter because of the mud. I've used them in a few other gateways to excellent effect.

My point: these mats are well over 20 years old; they weren't meant for farm/animal use; the ground on which they sit hasn't been prepped for their use; they cost next to nothing. If these have been so successful, I can only imagine how effective would be 'proper' ones. I'm now thinking about covering the ground in my 32' x 13' chicken enclosure. Now, if only I could find the ones I bought at Costco so many years ago!
 
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Annie - that does sound horrific...I hope your boy is living a happy life again now. I do wonder if the issue is the concept of mat/roll though or the quality. As you say, they were imported, potentially damaged mats which were not the quality you believed you had been sold. It definitely is a sign though that careful research needs to go into the supplier if one does go down this route...such a shame that you had such expensive legal and vets costs to cover so were unable to name and shame the companies involved...I can understand the catch 22 you must have been in there though!

Lindylouanne - those look amazing! I'm going to contact them right now...trust Germany to come up with something so robust.
 
Personally, I wouldnt bother buying "horse" ones, just go straight to the building site ones. Same product, or probably better, and will be a hell of a lot cheaper.

Grasscrete is a concrete form of the plastic ones.

They need to be installed over a sub-base of compacted stone, then soil put into the gaps to stablise it.
 
I have them, the key is to hardcore underneath the area as like some say its a natural area for mud. If you just put on mud they move a bit but still better than just mud. Grass doesn't really grow through to cover the area but its stops you or your horse wadding in the mud. I have heard people say that there horses have had accidents with the mats getting caught up but I haven't had any experience of this.
 
I bought the mats which were about 6x4 they were the type that had holes in a bit like a fifty pence piece we were sold them through a superstore whom now have gone bust as manufactured in Wales. The company from Wales came out to site and threatened us and the horses to try and make us back down( not a cat in hells chance). Fortunately we have excellent insurance with the Pru who got us a fantastic solicitor and investigator who fought our corner all the way, just shows sometimes the little guy can win. The horse now is fit and well I just glad I didn't the vet cut all the proud flesh I changed the bandages 3 times a day at first as tight as I dare and he has been left with some hairless lines and damage to the coronet band on one foot. We settled out of court because the mat manufacturer offered what we were after and they wanted it keeping out of the press. The chap who was the spokes person for the superstore told me on the phone he wished I would die ( what a lovely man).
 
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