I have been checking into all types of stall mats as it seems to be a better system for long term care for your horse.

If we are going to stand on our feet all day and a great portion of it in a rather small barn stall I am thinking of purchasing a good mat system.

So I guess my question is what system has worked for others. And what preperation needs to be done. I have read one were they suggested to rip out all the way to clean dirt. Then a light gravel and then a smaller stone. No I have laid rock for roads and other pathways and it always seems to "move" or settle without heavy packing of the rock.

I don't want to have all this work and then have to go back in a remove the top bedding over the mats. And move those mats. Some of the heavy guage mats are really well heavy.

Thanks again.

I personally prefer sand over anything else including mats. The sand seems to support them better than anything else. It is also very easy to clean out manure and the urine drains right through so the stall stays dryer and there is no need for shavings. Definatley more cost effective than mats and shavings or even just a plain dirt stall.

I did have stall mats at one time, they were just layed on top of a compacted dirt stall floor. The horses would periodically flip up a corner or even shift the mats. Although I have heard some good things about that stall skin product.

Good luck

i currently use sawdust but i like your sand idea!!! I will plan on switching over. Do you think it is a bit hard on the skin??? grainy???

Dixychick,

Actually it doesn't. I have found that it gives them support and cushion where they need it. They also love it, yes they role in it and get dusty, but for here there is so much dirt anyway it doesn't make much of a difference. We always put horses that have feet issues (founder, navicular) on at least 6-8 inches of sand. I have found that with my horses their hock sores have healed up and with my inlaws horse his capped elbow has gone down and looks normal again. I really like the sand and it doesn't spread out like shavings do, nor does it pack down. You don't have to buy the real expensive play sand, I get what is called reject sand, it is a little bigger but a lot cheaper. It is what my vet has used at her place.


I knew of a horse in the care of my vet that was severly rotated in both front feet and spent most of her time laying down in a deeply beded stall with shavings. On her hip bones she had huge bed sores that were almost 3 inches deep. The owners wanted everything tried to save her. So the last resort was major surgery preformed on her feet and the horse moved to my vets house and was put on 8 inches of sand in a 12 X 16 stall. In the month that she was there all of her bed sores had completely healed and some had hair regrowth. Unfortunatley we were unable to save her.

Personally I use the stall mats. I have had dirt floors and sand floors and I truely prefer the mats when installed proper. Everyone has there own preferance and what works for one won't work for another.
My reason for using the mats is because it is alot more forgiving on the joints, cleaner, stays dryer when used with a good bedding, prevents my horses and foals from eating to much dirt or sand causeing sand colic and also cuts way down on the amonea smell and dust which is alot better for my horses and my lungs. I have COPD so this is pretty important to me or I couldn't be in the barn.
I also love the pellet bedding alot more then shavings. Alot less dust, it's bug and mold resistant, it is very absorbant so all the pee and wet spots are removed also causeing less smell and amonea. The best part of all is I have 3/4 less waste to haul out and compost building up.
Hope this helps
Cathy C

Im between the mats and sand but urine gets into the pores of the rubber, between and underneath them and the stench is hard to get out with rubber mats. Mold will also grow under them so when you lift them to clean you have a mess right? If you still have to buy bedding it may not be as economical as permanent sand dont you think?

P8ntcrazy the sand sounds encouraging ! Im wondering if the stall skins would make it any better or not... probably not if its really deep. Any sources for reject sand? Did you ever have sand colic problems?
maria

The stall mats are not made to be used alone but with bedding, the bedding soaks up the pee and does not go under the mats, at least it hasn't for me and I've installed them myself here and the farm I used to live at. Sand or dirt bottom soaks up the pee as well and you can't get it out without digging out the wet spot which leaves you sooner or later with pits, holes or uneven stall floors which aren't good on the horses backs and you end up every year having to buy more fill sand , dirt or bank gravel which ever one uses to replace what has been taken out. The reason I went to the stall mats is because I am always left with an even stall floor which has a nice give to the joints. Because of having COPD I couldn't take the amonea pee smell in the stalls and it was stronge! there was noway to get it all out and most horses pee in the same spot over and over and it gets pretty soaked into the dirt and ground and really fermints. It is just my experiance with it. You could always try the sand if you think it would work for you, if it doesn't all you would have to do is level it out and or replace they wet spots and place the mats on top and use a nice bedding. I recomend the equinefresh pellets I love them.
Cathy C

I just read this site about sand colic http://equinecolic.org/report/
and now i am terrified to buy the sand. I guess I will have to consider the stall mats.
maria

WOW! I just went to the site and read it too. Now I am worride too! We are in a drought and my pasture is pretty much dirt now plus in the winter I usually keep my horses in the outdoor areana and never really gave it a thought about the sand out there. Hmm? Now I'm thinking about getting some of the Assure™ or Assure Plus™, and giving it to my horses just to be safe.
Cathy C

I have the stall mats and I have to agree that even with sawdust your horse can get "bedsores".
They do reduce the amount of bedding (sawdust).

I would personally love to be able to afford the "wood pellets".
Everything I have heard about them has been positive except for being cost prohibitive.
sigh.........

Budget.

Hey I thought the same thing but once I started to use them I found that they are really cheaper to use. I tried using one bag of pellets vs one bag of shavings and trust me the pellets went way farther ! really surprised me. I clean my stalls daily and with shavings I end up muckign out 1 1/2 - 2 muck buckets per stall, that adds up fast in the spreader when you have 7 horses. When cleaning out the pelleted stall I only end up with 1/4 - 1/2 bucket! and I only add one bag per week, even though the pellet bag is almost a dollar more per bag if you add up how much you have to put in and how much compst you take out the pellets are way cheaper.
My girlfriend Ginger tried to tell me this for over a year untill I decided to test it myself and now I'm totally sold!
Try it, use one in one stall and the other in another stall you'll be very surprised!

Oh I also love using it under straw at foaling time! it is so much easier to keep the stall clean and dry plus it takes half the time to clean it. It's great!
Cathy C

I guess I am lucky, being here in Arizona the pee spots dry quickly, we also have open air barns so they are not closed up with only a window and a door. As far as the sand goes as long as you feed Psyillium then you shouldn't have a problem with sand colic. Our horses are kept on dry lots here and we feed psyillium every day to every other day year round. Years ago I had a horse that had to have colic surgery (he rotated his colon 360 degrees). After they untwisted his colon they emptied it. I asked the doctor if they had found any sand in him and they said he was free of sand. This clinic also did a study on different products that are said to remove sand and Psyillium is the only one that did the trick. To each there own but I just wanted to say that sand is not all that bad if you take the proper precautions. We also feed out of 55 gallon plastic barrels that are laid on their sides and have an opening cut in them. Then on the bottom side we drill holes that let the dirt/sand fall through (since hay always seems to be a little dusty here). It has been several years and we have not had to add sand in any of the stalls yet.

I have used the pelleted bedding in the past for show livestock and it works great. But for our horses I find I like the sand over everything else that I have tried. For some reason my horse like to dig up the mats and play with them.

See that is what is great about getting into a forum that has such knowledgeable members.

I get my sawdust for free. ($5 to load onto my truck)
I think the pellets are $5 a bag.
But I also know from picking my stalls and my paddocks daily that the amount of waste can increase rapidly.

Here in Central Pa, we have such varied weather.
Our summers are shorter than most.
Our winters tend to be cold longer.
We have humidity in the summer, but probably not as bad as the southern states.

I really appreciate the info that other members have posted here.

I just tried the pellets and they are similar to sawdust when wet but swell to at least 3 times their original volume so they do go a lot farther. They also smell great and if put on top of hydrated lime, stall odor is much less.

I didn't replace all the sawdust though, i just tossed a couple bags of pellets on top of the sawdust and it worked fine. Stall cleaning seems easier since the urine spots seem easier to spot and stay more contained in swollen pellet patches. Once the urine patches dried outside they seem reusable actually. The odor went away and they just look like fresh sawdust. I am tempted to toss them back in the stall but i wont.