# What do you like better for stall flooring...dirt or concrete (or other)?



## ecasey (Oct 18, 2013)

I'm in the process of building my first barn. We've got all the posts and beams up and the roof is on, so our next step is leveling out the interior and putting in the flooring for the stalls. (Where we live in France, we couldn't do the ground work first as we were "renovating" a 300+ year old barn and dismantling as we went...don't ask!)

I am really torn about what flooring to use in the stalls. My daughter had her horse in a concrete floor stall with heavy rubber mats in them, and the smell of urine was absolutely disgusting, even though the straw bedding was changed daily. Even a power washing of the mats and floors with disinfectant couldn't get rid of the stink that got into everything including tack, hair, clothing, etc. Our horse now lives out 24/7 at that club because I feared what that stink was doing to his lungs.

I know concrete is easier to maintain, but I worry about the above ^^ and the fact that it's so hard on their legs without adequate cushion.

I could do dirt, but never being in a barn with dirt floors, I don't know how they are with urine smells. 

I saw the Stall Saver material that is permeable which could go over dirt or sand, but I'm not sure if that will stop smells from lingering in the material beneath the Stall Savers...

Anyway, I'm looking for input from people who've been there/done that with various flooring. What I want is something that is comfortable, easy to clean, doesn't retain urine odors, and not expensive to maintain.

What is your favorite flooring for horse stalls? What are the pros and cons of your favorite?


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## lexrucker (May 11, 2017)

We have a dirt floor in our barn with heavy stall mats and I have never noticed it smelling bad, I think the dirt helps anything that goes under the mats drain better

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## Anniemay (Nov 4, 2016)

It really depends on the kind of bedding you are useing. My stalls are bedded in shavings currently. We have a fabric Matt covering stones and river matts in the front of most of them. I don't really notice a smell but our stalls are cleaned several times a day and the horses are usually outside. However if the horses paw they destroy the mats. My trainer however only cleans stalls 3x a week. She has dirt floors with matts and uses shaving also. The matts do not lay evenly and the barn often smells but it is not overly awful. A local university with a large equine program has concrete floors with very deep bedding. They use shavings and only clean 3x a week. It often smells pretty bad when it's cold and the barn is shut up but in the summer it's not too bad.


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## ecasey (Oct 18, 2013)

I have access to unlimited free sawdust, so I'll probably use that.


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

My stalls have several inches of limestone crush with grid mats (mats with holes) on top, then shavings on top of the mats.

Even though the holes in the mats fill with shavings, the urine still drains thru for the most part.

Were it my 300 yr old barn (where ARE the pictures. I would dig the stalls out, fill with rock, then a driveway size gravel if possible, then sand to level them out, then grid mats and shavings.

If done right you should never have to redo the stalls, except to replace mats if they see a lot of use. My first grid mats were cheap and thin and still lasted nine years under hard use.

Far as cement? I have boarded my horses where their stalls were cement - no *no* and *NEVER* would I have purposely put cement in stalls


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## k9kenai (Jul 1, 2017)

I agree with walkin's suggestion. I've been researching flooring a lot lately too and that seems to be the general consensus in the articles I've been reading from different places and companies. A lot of people around my area just use dirt but the dirt does eventually need to be replaced/added to over time and it can get quite dusty and muddy even with stall mats. Odor does not seem to be a huge problem with it, though. I have never kept my horses on anything but dirt, but just going off of the various dog kennels where I have worked most of my life, the urine odor is MUCH stronger on concrete/cement even after being power washed daily with strong chemical cleaners so I would probably avoid those materials in stalls as well.


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

I like clay if I can get it, even though there is maintenance with it. Dirt is my second choice, even though there is even more maintenance with it. 

Concrete is my least favorite. Unless it is for an isolation stall/barn.


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## ecasey (Oct 18, 2013)

thanks for your feedback everyone!


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## avjudge (Feb 1, 2011)

Way, way back in the first winter I had horses at home, when I actually put them inside overnight (that only lasted the one winter), we had use of a barn with concrete floors in the stalls. This was in the late 1970s, and mats weren't a widespread "thing" yet. We bedded with shavings, then sawdust, which we got by the dump truck load (northern NH where industry until recently has been woods-related) so we were generous, a nice thick bed. 

I _loved_ the concrete floors. The urine sank to the bottom but then was all soaked up into the bedding which was easily completely scooped up with a wide shovel because of the smooth hard (concrete) surface underneath. We'd give the wet area a good sprinkle of lime before covering it with (lots of) clean bedding. There was no lingering smell of ammonia there.


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

We use lime screenings (lime dust, crushed lime, ag lime...seems like everyone calls it something different) for the floors in our lean tos. Since they are on 24.7 turnout we don't use mats or bedding but do keep a pile of the screenings on hand to add a layer when needed. This time of year when they stand in there all day it can get a little stinky but add a fresh, thin layer and smell is gone. It helps if you have a tractor with a front loader on it because the stuff is heavy and carting it with a wheelbarrow will break your back (figuratively speaking). The rest of the year they don't hang out inside much and the floor is pretty maintenance free.


Edited to add: The stinky part is even though it gets cleaned daily but there's 5 horses on it. The lean to with 3 horses doesn't get bad at all but they aren't as bad about peeing in it.


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## NewbyRC (Feb 12, 2018)

*Proper cleaning/mucking of dirt floors*

I have a 3 sided, open face to the south, metal barn with dirt floors. When I say dirt, I mean the gray, tiny gravelly looking stuff that is stamped down. It sits in a 3 acre fenced pastures will be used as walk in shelter. I am looking to keep a pair of small standard or mini donkeys. What is the proper way to clean out dirt floor stalls? Do all the shavings or straw need to be removed daily and replaced fresh? Or just add fresh on top daily and then remove all completely and replace fresh once a week? How often does the barn/floors need to be disenfected/sprayed down or dug out? I want to keep them healthy and prevent worms etc. How do you dispose of the manure/muck? Not sure what donkey poop is specifically called 😏


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

With shavings if you were to clean it out seasonally with a front end loader you will likely do damage to your floor. You'd want a snow shovel to clear it more frequently. Straw would be your better choice and you can either leave everything and add a thick fresh layer then at the end of the winter season fork it all out or you can fork it every day and add a thinner fresh layer. Have a place to put the poop that is out of the way so it can compost as it sits. You'll want to pick out the shelter if they use it on a regular basis or semi regular basis. The pasture if large enough to support them will benefit from having the manure spread so that it can help kill parasites and spread the nutrients over a greater area. Fecal counts are your friend. They will tell you whether your animal is a low, moderate or heavy shedder which can determine your maintenance level and worming schedule. Some of ours tend to choose a fence line and poop in one place so I just leave it and remove every so often. The others spread it out where they eat so we drag that to pull it away from that area and get it where it can do some good. I do know someone that insists on keeping pastures looking like a golf course so it is mowed to the point of being useless for pasture and is picked by hand EVERY day. There is a couple that gets paid to pick it up and haul it off. 

My preference is clay/dirt if the choice was that or cement but I would be happy with crushed run under grids or Stall Savers if that was a choice. This for stalls that are used on a daily basis with turn out. If it is like a friend who has cement standing stalls with mats that are well sloped and for feeding/harnessing only clean up is much easier.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

When we had rubber mats over concrete our stables soon got smelly and we had to lift the mats several times a year to scrub and disinfect the floors then leave them all day to get the air to them. 
The next place we moved too we tried rubber matting laid over concrete paving slabs (not sure how that translates into US) rather than a solid base of concrete. It worked better as there was some drainage between the gaps in the slabs but we still had to life the mats once a year
When we moved to the US we had a crushed stone floor in the barn that was already here so when we extended it converted it into stables we used a coarse gritty sand to level the floor and then laid rubber mats over the top. We never need to lift the mats now. I use Stall Dry over any wet areas and in the summer I spray the floors over with disinfectant a few times a week. There's never any strong smell of urine in there


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## RJones (Feb 12, 2018)

We had dirt floors in our barn for years and it was always so dusty. After having a horse with an eye injury this year we put stall mats with shavings on top in his stall. We needed to keep his eye as clean as possible. Later we decided to mat the whole barn to cut down on the dust, mud. Now he is getting scraps on his hocks from laying on the mats. This did not happen the first time he was stalled with the mats. They have free range of barn and lot out back during the night. But they do tend to sleep in their stalls at night. And we have a bed of shavings over the mats in the stalls. I am wondering why he is getting the scrapes and sores on his hocks now and not before. The horses have free range of barn, lot and 7 acre pasture during the day.


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