Your experiences with stable mats..

Mr Ed

Mr Ed

Active Member
Mar 1, 2009
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I've been researching options over the last week.

It seems there are mats that allow wet to soak underneath and drain away (assuming stable floor slopes in the right direction), there's those that are water-tight and the shavings soak up the wet. There's heavy rubber and EVA that can be easily lifted. Would love to hear the pros/cons and what works well.

If you have the sort that need cleaning, how often is than needed (for a horse that's stabled overnight)?

Any good offers or cheaper alternatives?
 
I was keen on the drain through ones until I talked to someone who had them.

Apparently you do need to keep them very clean and degrease regularly and also have a means of flushing underneath them. The person I spoke to had had their barn purpose built with slopes and drains to the back of the stables and a hose flushing system installed round the edge!

I opted for instead for heavy Equimats which we have now had for 10 years and have been great. We only need a smallish amount of bedding and wash out under the smelly ones so about 1 a month out of 36 stables, the rest of the time I swill the mats with disinfectant about once a month on warm days.
 
Thanks EML, so the urine still drains through your Equimats, but you don't have to lift them that often, just disinfect the surface??

Thanks.
 
I was on a livery yard with rubber mats and I hated them so did my horse. They did have a square of shavings at the back of the stable to help soak up the wet but everytime Star had to pee he had a look of utter disgust on his face because the wee was splashing off the mats onto his legs and he hated it! Also with him being grey it made a right mess of his legs and I ended up having to get some stable boots for his front legs to help keep him clean and stop him weeing on himself, poor boy.
 
I dislike stable mats, but I do know (apparently) they save money on bedding. I didn't like them when we were on a yard, because they became dirty and smelly pretty fast. The stable didn't drain properly - this might be the cause, but I remember having to lug them out - and hose them down and clean the whole stable out quite often. It was a horrible, heavy, stinky job!
I now have both of our pair on a bed of Nedz Bedz and fluffy straw. The deeper the better and they don't seem to scrape themselves on the stone floor either - I did worry that might be the case.
 
The Equimats fit together like jigsaw pieces and should be laid with gaps round the edge. Wet seeps down through the joins but not through the mat itself so with a wet horse you need a bit more bedding.

We have tried most beddings and this year have half on free office shredded paper ( about a bin bag full a day) and the other half on straw ( a flake off a 1m square bale about every third day)...only because we cannot get enough paper and straw is the next cheapest. Before prices became silly we used shavings and varied how much according to how wet the horse was.

You really only need to lift them if you don't have enough bedding down for the particular horse or have a particularly smelly one otherwise a good wash over the top also rinses underneath!!
 
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We have had the Equimats for years now, fantastic for wear and the ammount we have saved on Bedding over the years has more than paid for them. we lift them once a year for cleaning, odd shaped stables but they cut them to size for us before shipping so it was just a case of fixing them together.
 
I am just looking at this for Izzy. Has anyone used Equifloor?

They are the same interlocking system as Equimats but cheaper. Just wonder if they are poorer quality.

I won't be saving anything on bedding or time as Izzy is on part livery anyway but I want to move him to a bigger stable and the only one available doesn't have matting so I need to buy some. Want to spend as little as poss but not if the quality is poor.
 
The same as tiga I am on part livery but my horse is going to get capped hocks as he moonwalks the bed to the far corner and then lays down on the concrete. The YO has put 2 mats in but he is so big he moves them so I need interlocking soft mats for a 12x12 stable. Any recommendations appreciated
 
I have rubber matting in my stables. It was here when we moved in.

I have to say it is excellent. Our neighbours said it is the best you can buy. Don't know the make as as I say it was here before we moved in.

Now the stables have excellent drainage so obviously this helps loads so works very well.

Don't know what they would be like if the stables didn't drain very well.

I really like the matting and saves ooodles on bedding.
 
Thanks all - liking the sound of EVA type matting.. Just an issue of drainage and hw often they'd need cleaning. Also, there's the issue of cost... Need to find a bargain, but phoning companies may well be a good idea. Thanks akl
 
I mainly got my mats for cushioning for joints and insulation opposed to saving bedding. I'm on straw anyway as I like to give a decent bed and he's too mucky for me to economically do it in shavings for him.

I have had my mats for 6/7 years and they are showing no sign of wearing out. I bank up my bedding and then use a mop and bucket once every 6 weeks or so just to wipe over them with dettol. I fold them back every spring/summer/when he start living out and it's a warm day and then do a proper wash out from underneath the mats.

I paid £22.50 per mat. They are 6x4 foot, 25mm thick and weigh 42kg each. I got 5 mats which covers my stable almost completely except along the back wall by about a foot or so. At the time I was student and couldn't justify a 6th mat just to use a small bit of it. We didn't really need it I guess anyway.
 
I had a good look at all the different types of rubber matting before I purchased mine a couple of years ago. I am not sure what make mine are but I bought them from a company on ebay and they have been excellent. They don`t interlock together but come in large sheets, I think about 8ft x 4ft. I DID look at the EVA mats on ebay and checked the feedback. However feedback is left when people have just bought them, so I e-mailed someone who had bought them a year previously to see what she thought. She said they were ok but not a long term investment, especially if your horse was shod. You also had to be careful if using a metal fork when mucking out. I would have a good look round by googling rubber matting. If you see some on ebay then it is a good idea to e-mail someone who bought it a while ago like I did. Hope this helps.
 
We had the whole place done out with really heavy cattle mats, horses and byre. They have been down about 16 years now, it takes 2 folk to move one mat, but worth every penny. Not a mark on them, grooved on the bottom to let them drain underneath and bobbly on top for grip.

Folk I know who have had the light ones with jigsaw sides have not had the wear out of their we have had out of the heavy ones.
 
Wally said:
We had the whole place done out with really heavy cattle mats, horses and byre. They have been down about 16 years now, it takes 2 folk to move one mat, but worth every penny. Not a mark on them, grooved on the bottom to let them drain underneath and bobbly on top for grip.

Folk I know who have had the light ones with jigsaw sides have not had the wear out of their we have had out of the heavy ones.
Click to expand...

Yes these seem like the type I have. Very heavy, takes 2 to move them, grooved on the bottom and bobbled on the top. Excellent mats.
 
I have really cheap, really thick (50mm) EVA mats from ebay, since october 2010
Pro:
lovely and soft - no scrubbed hocks at all
VERY warm
I have fitted them edge to edge filling the whole stable, and they squished together so hardly any urine at all - really nothing - gets through.
Fitted like this, even my box walker hooligan doesn't move them
very light and easy to move

Cons:
I imagine a shod horse would tear them to shreds. You definitely need a mat fork with rounded ends
the wind gets through the door if I leave it open, and lifts the mats up.
the middle ones spread too much, and end up bulging, so you need to trim a bit off, so they lie flat again. They can be trimmed with a bread knife, easily.

in summary - despite initial concerns about their fragility, I would actually buy them again - my old mare esp seems much better on them, and they really save on bedding
 
I imagine a shod horse would tear them to shreds. You definitely need a mat fork with rounded ends
the wind gets through the door if I leave it open, and lifts the mats up.
the middle ones spread too much, and end up bulging, so you need to trim a bit off, so they lie flat again. They can be trimmed with a bread knife, easily.
Click to expand...

We have had no bother at all as described above. Ours are easily trimmed up with a hacksaw! :D A muck fork wouldn't stand a chance of making an impact and shod feet and even cows have never been able to make an impact....and cows can wreck anything.
 
whitby which said:
I have really cheap, really thick (50mm) EVA mats from ebay, since october 2010
Pro:
lovely and soft - no scrubbed hocks at all
VERY warm
I have fitted them edge to edge filling the whole stable, and they squished together so hardly any urine at all - really nothing - gets through.
Fitted like this, even my box walker hooligan doesn't move them
very light and easy to move

Cons:
I imagine a shod horse would tear them to shreds. You definitely need a mat fork with rounded ends
the wind gets through the door if I leave it open, and lifts the mats up.
the middle ones spread too much, and end up bulging, so you need to trim a bit off, so they lie flat again. They can be trimmed with a bread knife, easily.

in summary - despite initial concerns about their fragility, I would actually buy them again - my old mare esp seems much better on them, and they really save on bedding
Click to expand...

I think I have the same ones. About £20 each off Fleabay.
Excellent value and as the stables were built in an old shed with not the best of drainage they have not been smelly.
They did spread after the first cold snap but trim easily and I would definately buy them again. I use about half a bale of shavings then just poo and wet pick till there is just a sprinkling. I bought as pallet of shavings last year and have only used a tiny amount and use more for my chicken sheds and ferrets! I havent washed under the mats since installing last year.
My boy is shod and if you install as recommended i.e wall to wall with no gaps I shoudnt think they would suffer much damage. I have one hoof print embedded in mine and thats it.
 
I put a bit of bedding down just to keep the horses cleaner than they'd be without bedding.

The reason I got them was there have been times the boat has not been able to get in and the whole of the islads has run out of shavings and straw. IN an emergency you can easily do without bedding.
 
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