# clay , gravel ,or concrete for stahls



## White Foot (Jun 4, 2009)

I would never put concrete down unless you were to put rubber mats over it. I would invest in rubber mats, they last a lifetime and make stall cleaning so much easier.


----------



## kevinshorses (Aug 15, 2009)

Gravel on the bottom and sand on top then put the straw or shavings down.


----------



## ididasku (Mar 15, 2010)

im going to get mats soon but mud and anything is bad,im also worried about mold


----------



## foreignmusic (Mar 7, 2010)

Clay, with stonedust on top, then your mats. If no mats, clay. Concrete can be the Kiss of Death, frankly. Too slippery, too unforgiving under feet, even with bedding, and way to rigid for good solid layed-out sleep. Hate concrete, hate mats even more. Jmo, of course : )


----------



## halflinger (Mar 11, 2010)

i am building new stables and was thinking off putting concrete floors in as i will be using only one of three stables for horse,others will be used for storage and winter fuel store.with enough bedding horses feet shouldnt get sore?


----------



## foreignmusic (Mar 7, 2010)

Not so much that their feet will get sore, just generally leg achey, and not ALL horses. A lot will depend on how much time the horse spends in his stall and how hard he works while out of it. People that stand or walk on concrete floors all day long have tired/achey backs often. Not ALL, of course, but it is common enough to take flooring materials into consideration. 

The thing for me with concrete as well as mats, is that too much bedding and the horse can't stand flat-footed as easily. Not enough and the horse comes up with hock sores and front fetlock burns from laying down/getting up, or they don't lay down at all... Fine line there : ). And then there is the mucking out factour. Too soft or too hard, the happy medium is in between there somehwere, regardless of what you choose for your floors.

Where you have a drainage problem, gravel is always good for a base beneath any types of surface material with mats, or not.


----------



## ididasku (Mar 15, 2010)

*my concrete floor*

what my concrete consists of , first replace wett dirt with 4in gravel ,then apply 2in thick by 8in wide by 16in long concrete block. then tighten it up with sand . I did the walkway from gate to barn last fall , it layed in water and mud and held up with them walking and standing on it .

Its hard yet it can move a little , the gravel keeps the mud or dirt from coming thru, its similar to paverstones for driveways


----------



## StormyBlues (Dec 31, 2008)

I would invest(if you have the money right now) in Equitare. It is gravel, with an alomst egg crate looking thing ontop, with fine gravel on that. You bed with shavings and NEVER have foot or drainage problems, they NEVER have to be redone, they never get craters in them from pawing horses, they never get dips from getting to soggy like clay. They are HEAVEN!


----------



## ididasku (Mar 15, 2010)

thanks for all the imput .i hope i can get my barn built by winter ,thanks again


----------



## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

Like foreignmusic said, the problem with concrete with nothing over it but straw is the horses legs will become sore.
Think about how you feel after you stand on something hard all day.
That is why cashiers at Walmat have those rubber mats to stand on, so their legs do not get fatigued.

The other problem with concrete is that it would take LOTS of straw to make it such that the horse would not go thru it when laying down and standing up. This will cause sores and maybe an injury when they slip on the wet concrete.

Concrete is also impervious. Which is fine if you have bedding that absorbs all the urine (saw dust, shavings, etc). But straw does not absorb that well.


----------



## ididasku (Mar 15, 2010)

who hoo I ordered wy rubber mats for all 3 stahls


----------



## BigGirlsRideWarmbloods (Mar 28, 2010)

In bulding my own barn I've had to go through this whole process for the foundation and barn flooring. after looking at everything from stall matresses to bare dirt I eventually Iwarnt with French drains installed under the stalls leading away from the barn, with the customary fill of gravel, but then topped it with porous asphalt topped with rubber mats. The porous asphalt allows air and liquids through. Then covered by rubber mats with 1/4 - 1 inch spaces between them. Thus allowing water and urine to soak through instead of pooling drying faster and having to use less bedding. Plus it allows me to hose out the stall, and it drains and drys super quick!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Super Nova (Apr 27, 2010)

When I built my barn 10 years ago I did compacted gravel with rubber mats over top......but didn't like them plus I had to use too much bedding to keep the horses from getting hock sores........so I switched over to soft stalls and have never looked back.

Super Nova


----------



## MuleWrangler (Dec 15, 2009)

BigGirlsRideWarmbloods said:


> In bulding my own barn I've had to go through this whole process for the foundation and barn flooring. after looking at everything from stall matresses to bare dirt I eventually Iwarnt with French drains installed under the stalls leading away from the barn, with the customary fill of gravel, but then topped it with porous asphalt topped with rubber mats. The porous asphalt allows air and liquids through. Then covered by rubber mats with 1/4 - 1 inch spaces between them. Thus allowing water and urine to soak through instead of pooling drying faster and having to use less bedding. Plus it allows me to hose out the stall, and it drains and drys super quick!
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


I agree, BigGirls! This, in my opinion, is the best solution. Easy to thoroughly clean and no pooling for horses to stand/lie in. I hope to do this in my barn when we are able to redo the stalls (right now one is dirt and one is pea gravel over dirt: gravel was there when we bought the barn, also for the center aisle--yuck).


----------

