# The purpose of stall mats???



## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Well they will provide padding too. Lots of peops here use old sawmill conveyor belt rubber, way cheaper. I suppose the dedicated specific use mats are better padding, but those other mats will work as well. Way better than just bedding over concrete.


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

I have dirt floors, so I can't put shavings on the floor or it will erode the clay. I use stall mats to make the bedding easier to clean.


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## Cinnys Whinny (Apr 10, 2010)

OH yes, we don't have cement on the ground. It's dirt but the BO put a 2 inch layer of pressed lyme (he put it in and then pressed it with a big heavy roller drum). Then put the matting over, and then we use whatever bedding we want. I use the corn cob pellet stuff (I like the smell ha ha), and Cinny uses any hay I buy that he decides in inedible.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

No need to worry then Cinny. Your horse has ample padding. Even bedding on dirt floors is ok. It's a solid floor, such a cement, that poses problems with inadequate padding. A pet peeve of mine, when I go to a overnight/weekend show, and all you get is a stall with cement floors. Takes hours to bed that stall up and hours to strip afterwards.


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## Cinnys Whinny (Apr 10, 2010)

waresbear said:


> No need to worry then Cinny. Your horse has ample padding. Even bedding on dirt floors is ok. It's a solid floor, such a cement, that poses problems with inadequate padding. A pet peeve of mine, when I go to a overnight/weekend show, and all you get is a stall with cement floors. Takes hours to bed that stall up and hours to strip afterwards.


I know what you mean. I always buy an extra 3 or so bags of bedding at shows myself!


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

Do you have any pictures of the corn pellet bedding? I've heard of them but haven't tried them myself.


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## Cinnys Whinny (Apr 10, 2010)

I don't have any pictures but it looks like a lot of grain pellets do when you first lay it down. After it gets a little wetting (either you can add water or wait for your horse to naturally wet it) It then looks like dirt, only it's very absorbent. When my horse was stalled all day I only had to strip and replace it every two weeks. Now that he has an attached run I only have to add a couple bags every few weeks. You do have to give it a daily stir or "fluff" as I like to call it, but it only takes a few minutes, just rake it into a pile in the center and then level it back out...(after apple removal of course) your done.

You can find it here Horse Stall Bedding & Pellets | Corn Cob Horse Bedding | Biodegradable Retail Products | Best Cob


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## maura (Nov 21, 2009)

Yes, I believe that stall mats increase comfort for the horse. 

Have you ever worked on your feet on a concrete floor? 

That may not be the reason *your* BO uses them, but it is one of the benefits. Other benefits are quicker mucking, using less bedding and doing less maintenence on the stall floors.


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## Beauseant (Oct 22, 2010)

Be careful of the corn cob pellet bedding!! Some horses think they are quite tasty! Even horses that you THINK would not eat bedding, will eat the corn cob pellets.

We usually buy pine pellets and have no problem with the horses eating them. Then we bought the corn cob pellets one day and Epona started gulping them down by the mouthful....she was on a feeding frenzy. :? We had to immediately pull her from her stall and strip it bare of the corn cob pellets.....Beau, however, did NOT eat his. So it depends on whether your horse has a taste for corn or not, I guess!!????

I have no idea why a horse like Epona who is super finicky and is NOT prone to eating non food products suddenly starting engorging on these corn cob pellets....


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

waresbear said:


> , and all you get is a stall with cement floors. Takes hours to bed that stall up and hours to strip afterwards.


This caught my attention for 2 reasons. Out here they always use either asphalt flooring or cement at the fair grounds where we go to show and since they generally require that you buy your bedding at the show for twice what you pay at home, I bought those lightweight rubber mats with the holes in them, like you find in a wash rack, and I put them down in my horses stall first. Then I bed on top of that, only takes about 15 mins per stall that way. When we leave, I toss the bedding to the side and yank out my mats, hose 'em off and off we go. 

Now did you SERIOUSLY mean that you strip those rental stalls after a show????!!!! :shock: When they're charging me $100 for the weekend to stall, they can dayum well bring the tractor through when I'm gone and strip those stalls themselves!


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

That is a good idea Dream, with those mats. Around here, the shavings are provided free (we live in forestry country), but you are charged whatever they charge you for your stall rental, then a deposit to leave the stall clean. If you don't strip the stall, they keep your deposit. Oh, by the way, the bedding is located at least a 1/4 mile away from your stall.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Oh wow! That's way different from down here. Normally the show premium has a comment about, No outside shavings, bagged shavings available at the shavings and feed office for $10 or so a bag and they deliver right to your stall. They have temporary stalls, at the end they just come along and pull the pins holding them together, load them out of the building and bring in a tractor to shove the bedding all in a pile and then they scoop it right out. 

Since I was bedding down with 8-10 bags of shavings for a weekend, that added up real quick. Now I bring in my mats, buy 3 bags and call it good. Since I started doing that, the Fairgrounds has even started renting stall mats that you don't have to pull, they do it all. Of course the rental for the 6 mats it takes to cover the floor costs as much as buying new mats for your stalls at home.......LOL! They get you coming and going.


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## proequine (Jul 9, 2009)

I love forms, I've never heard of _corn cob bedding,_ but makes since if you live in Nebraska. When I had a facility in Eastern NM, we used peanut hulls. They were good and free if you pick them up from the mills. In CA we sometimes would use rice hulls. (didn't care for those)


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