# Stall Mats and bedding



## deineria (Mar 22, 2009)

TSC is going to have their 4x6 mats on sale for $29 ea, and I planned to buy them for our stalls IF I would really see a savings on bedding all around. Is this going to be the case?

Also, what is the most economical bedding you've found for stalls? Just straw?


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## AussieDaisyGirl (May 21, 2009)

I'm curious about this too. The stall that CoCo is in is dirt floor and very uneven. I've been putting down four large wheelbarrows of sawdust but I feel like the dirt underneath just makes it difficult to clean up completely KWIM??


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## starlinestables (Nov 24, 2008)

I think stall mats are indispensable. Shavings are meant to absorb pee and poop only.. you don't need a ton of shavings.


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## Production Acres (Aug 26, 2009)

We service a lot of horse barns! It never ceases to amaze me at the different styles of floors in stalls. Dirt floors with shavings or sawdust are generally the worst. A good % of those customers will tell you the horrors of having their horse stand on concrete or pavement, etc, but then you look at the stall and it is 2-3 ft lower than the barn aisle and shaped like a bowl. Or there are potholes all over the floor. they can expain the virtues of a dirt floor, but they can't ever get the maintence done to keep the floor level. These are my prefrences.
1. Concrete sloped 1" in 12' to back drain with 2-4 inches of bedding
2. Concrete with drain - rubber pad on top with bedding
3. pavement with 6" straw
4. wood floor on top of french drain bedded with sawdust/shavings
5. gravel covered with mats covered with sawdust/shavings
6. dirt covered with mats with sawdust/shavings
7. dirt with sawdust/shavings

One of the nice things about solid floors ie. concrete, they can be cleaned, powerwashed, and sanitized - very hard to completly clean dirt floor. And your horse is never standing in a bowl!


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## sillybunny11486 (Oct 2, 2009)

i personally dont like our concrete floor at the barn, they dont have a train and they've got some low spots, i guess from all the years of pouring different levels. we usually put a bale of straw in each stall and clean it once a week or so, and rebed. we use the stalls as shelters the horses can come and go as they please. the person we rent from didnt clean the stalls all winter, then he goats were in them. there were about 3-4inches of solid waste at the bottom. pretty gross. i pitchfork full was almost unliftable. i scraped everything out and let it dry for a week.


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

You still need the sawdust or shavings. If you won't half of pee will stay on mats, half will go under and smell won't be all that nice. I have mats in stalls and run-in shed and I put sawdust in stalls (and everyone I know does either that or shavings). The barn I used to keep my horses didn't have stall mats, but REALLY hard ground and the owner just put sawdust on top of that. However I personally wasn't very impressed, because part of pee still went to the ground making it "soft" and stayed there. With the mats you have far better chance everything will go to the bedding.


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

Production Acres said:


> Dirt floors with shavings or sawdust are generally the worst. A good % of those customers will tell you the horrors of having their horse stand on concrete or pavement, etc, but then you look at the stall and it is 2-3 ft lower than the barn aisle and shaped like a bowl.


Completely agree! It always amazed me WHY ANY dirt floors are shaped that way. :?


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## Jillyann (Mar 31, 2009)

kitten_Val said:


> Completely agree! It always amazed me WHY ANY dirt floors are shaped that way. :?


I think its just because the pee and poop makes the dirt sink down more. A friend of mine helps out at a barn with all dirt floors, and to clean the stalls well, she literally needs to get a shovel and shovel out the WET dirt. Its SICK!


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## themacpack (Jul 16, 2009)

We started using the pelleted bedding last year and LOVE it! We have our mats on top of a 4-6" layer of crusher fines and then top the mat with a layer of pelleted bedding.


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## themacpack (Jul 16, 2009)

BTW, do you know when that sale is set to kick in? I need to pick up some more mats and might as well get them on sale, lol.....and always good to have another excuse to make a trip to TSC.


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

Jillyann said:


> I think its just because the pee and poop makes the dirt sink down more.


It's really just because of the weight of the beasties. Try riding down a well traveled horse path and you'll see the same thing...you're riding in a valley!


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## deineria (Mar 22, 2009)

October 24 I think? I will look for my flyer.


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## bubblegum (Oct 6, 2009)

i use straw only, about 2-3 bales of straw for each stable and sweep it all up once a day clean it out and bush down the floor. i find this the easiest, and cleanest, but i do have to clean it out at least once a day


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

deineria said:


> October 24 I think? I will look for my flyer.


Yeah, I'd appreciate that too. I need couple.


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## RadHenry09 (Mar 22, 2009)

Any word on when the mats with be on sale? I need to stop in at TSC and check what is going on this weekend. They are having a Horse event advertised on their website for Oct 24....I have been thinking about getting some for my guys stalls too.


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## deineria (Mar 22, 2009)

It is this Sat ONLY!


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## mls (Nov 28, 2006)

PaintHorseMares said:


> It's really just because of the weight of the beasties. Try riding down a well traveled horse path and you'll see the same thing...you're riding in a valley!


No it is not the weight of the horse.

The holes develop as you clean the stall. Each time you remove the wet shavings, you take a bit more of the surface.

We have mats in our box stalls and tie stalls. Tie stalls are 100% and the mats in the box stalls are placed for the horse who lives in the stall. We line it up with their normal urination spot.

Even with the mats, we pull them once a year and level the stall - adding fill if needed and flip the mat.


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## 7Ponies (May 21, 2009)

I love the pelletted pine at TSC. Started using it about a month ago and can't say enough about it.

I have one mat in each of my stalls, in the front, because my horses tend to dig holes at the door and their feed buckets and I got sick of constantly filling in the holes. With the one mat (4x6) it really helps cut down on the amount of pellets I need. I don't put any on the mat. They don't pee or poop there anyway. The rest of the stall has pellets and it absorbs really really well.


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## RadHenry09 (Mar 22, 2009)

Yeah , that is what I wanted to do . Just put them in the front of their stalls. I have used the pine pellets (equine fresh ) I think is the name and the corn cob bedding. I love the pine, the corn cob is ok but the horse like to eat it so I dont know about using that.
I would love to get a couple of mats but we are going to the 4H state show on Sat so I dont know if I will be near TSC (wonder if hubby will make a detour?)


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## deineria (Mar 22, 2009)

I wondered if doing one mat a stall would help - so that is good news!


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