What would be a good absorbant product to use inside a matted (one piece giant mat, no seams) run-in stall? Not sawdust or wood pellets because they get packed in hooves, get drug out into the paddock and make a mess. Not looking to bed the floor. Horse uses stall as toilet but sleeps outside. Would like to absorb slick wet layer remaining after cleaning stall. So far have pondered stall dry, floor dry, kitty litter.
I know: train horse to potty outside, sleep inside! Problem solved! :lol:
there really isn’t anything you can put in the stall to absorb urine/manure that won’t pack the hooves and be pulled out into the paddock.
IMHO, wood pellets work the best for this situation; better than shavings because shavings can be blown around into the T/O, get very waterlogged, and can cause runoff/drainage issues while decomposing. pellets are the way to go; quick breakdown and don’t seem to pack as much into the hooves if the horse is just going in/out, and are nowhere near as impacting re: drainage as shavings can be.
i’ve put down a barrier/‘retaining wall’, a 4x4, that the horses step over - sweep the pellets back about 6-8 inches and that’s usually enough that the wastage is minimal.
some horses won’t use the interior as a toilet if they get splashed. Have you tried not bedding with anything?
we simply matted the inside of our run in, and the horses potty outside now. One will still poop in there but it’s easy to scoop out off the mats. No one pees in there with the mats. If we need to, we can divide it, bed it, and lock them in (like a budget shedrow) for bad weather, but 99% of the time we just leave the bare mats and it works fine.
I have not had problems with wood pellets getting packed into hooves. If you can put a wooden “barrier” such as a landscape timber, small log, between bedding and the outside more bedding should stay inside. From what I have heard, the horses just learn to step over it. Good luck.
[QUOTE=beowulf;8907829]
there really isn’t anything you can put in the stall to absorb urine/manure that won’t pack the hooves and be pulled out into the paddock.
IMHO, wood pellets work the best for this situation; better than shavings because shavings can be blown around into the T/O, get very waterlogged, and can cause runoff/drainage issues while decomposing. pellets are the way to go; quick breakdown and don’t seem to pack as much into the hooves if the horse is just going in/out, and are nowhere near as impacting re: drainage as shavings can be.
i’ve put down a barrier/‘retaining wall’, a 4x4, that the horses step over - sweep the pellets back about 6-8 inches and that’s usually enough that the wastage is minimal.[/QUOTE]
Thank you Beowulf. The run in stalls have a 14" treated 6x8 across the doorway. During the summer when it’s hot and bone dry, she mainly poops outside. Leaves a pile inside every few days. It’s when weather changes, colder at night, there’s precipitation, that she stands inside, poops and pees. Hay is outside unless it’s raining. Then hay is both inside and outside so horses can choose.
When the ground is wet, hooves are wet. If bedding was put down it sticks to hooves when the horse comes in, then get drug outside when it leaves. Before long the stall has wet bedding and bedding is in the paddock. I don’t think there’s any good solution. 
[QUOTE=ElementFarm;8908115]
some horses won’t use the interior as a toilet if they get splashed. Have you tried not bedding with anything?
we simply matted the inside of our run in, and the horses potty outside now. One will still poop in there but it’s easy to scoop out off the mats. No one pees in there with the mats. If we need to, we can divide it, bed it, and lock them in (like a budget shedrow) for bad weather, but 99% of the time we just leave the bare mats and it works fine.[/QUOTE]
Thanks. The run ins are never bedded. This horse poops, then pees on top of the poop.
[QUOTE=Mukluk;8908127]
I have not had problems with wood pellets getting packed into hooves. If you can put a wooden “barrier” such as a landscape timber, small log, between bedding and the outside more bedding should stay inside. From what I have heard, the horses just learn to step over it. Good luck.[/QUOTE]
When it’s completely dry out, I don’t either. It’s when it rains that it’s a problem. Wet hooves meet dry bedding. Bedding sticks to hooves, horse walks outside taking bedding with it.
The run ins have a 14" treated 6x8 in the doorway. Inside stalls have the same in the doorway into the attached paddocks, as well as wood across the interior lower doorway to keep shavings in. The interior stalls have a similar problem with bedding getting drug out into wet paddocks despite the wood across the doorway. Some horses have learned to enjoy their doorstep a little too much and stand on it while watching the world go by, contantly depositing bedding outside the doorway. Darn circus ponies 
[QUOTE=Color of Light;8908857]
When it’s completely dry out, I don’t either. It’s when it rains that it’s a problem. Wet hooves meet dry bedding. Bedding sticks to hooves, horse walks outside taking bedding with it.
The run ins have a 14" treated 6x8 in the doorway. Inside stalls have the same in the doorway into the attached paddocks, as well as wood across the interior lower doorway to keep shavings in. The interior stalls have a similar problem with bedding getting drug out into wet paddocks despite the wood across the doorway. Some horses have learned to enjoy their doorstep a little too much and stand on it while watching the world go by, contantly depositing bedding outside the doorway. Darn circus ponies [/QUOTE]
So is it an issue of just being ugly, or does it create mud…or something else? I would still probably go with wood pellets, even if some get tracked outside. I switched from shavings to pellets in part because of the shavings being tracked outside…but I don’t really mind the little bit of sawdust that ends up outside my stalls (which are open to the outside with dutch doors.) I don’t bed my run in because they tend only to poop in there and it’s just wasted bedding.
[QUOTE=S1969;8908878]
So is it an issue of just being ugly, or does it create mud…or something else? I would still probably go with wood pellets, even if some get tracked outside. I switched from shavings to pellets in part because of the shavings being tracked outside…but I don’t really mind the little bit of sawdust that ends up outside my stalls (which are open to the outside with dutch doors.) I don’t bed my run in because they tend only to poop in there and it’s just wasted bedding.[/QUOTE]
Thanks. The goal is to soak up the slick slimy layer after cleaning, if possible. Absorb moisture. I also don’t bed run in stalls because of the waste. It’s more a matter of wasting pellets, creating mud, causing more cleanup work. Pellets are so light and fluffy, they get wasted by being pulled into the wet paddock.
Could you just do a thin layer of fine shavings, just enough to cover the floor? That would soak the pee up, but wouldn’t be enough to make a mess or get stuck in hooves.
Don’t use kitty litter. It is a huge disgusting mess, I have seen people try that before.
Perhaps you could use PlaySand, or any locally available equivalent? Just a little bit sprinkled on the slimy spot?
Is it possible to paint the mats with one of those anti-slip floor paints to give it a gritty texture?
My horses live out 24/7 with a large matted run-in. During bad weather, they’re hayed in the shed, and will pee & poop there too. Occasionally one will sleep inside too.
I used to bed the shed with sawdust, but it got tracked around, became dusty from mud being tracked indoors, and would make a mess when being tracked outside. A few years ago I switched to peat moss.
Peat moss is incredibly dusty all on its own, so after wetting it down, I spread uneaten hay on top. Its been the perfect solution for me. The hay keeps the dust down. The horses can pee all they want and there are no puddles or smell. The peat moss cakes when wet so its easy to remove. If they poop, it sits on top of the hay layer and is easy to remove. If they want to lie down, its on clean dry hay, so their coats and blankets don’t get sticky or smelly from urine soaked bedding.
And the best part is the hay layer knits together and doesn’t allow the peat to get tracked around.
Once in a while if they get to fussing around with each other, the “mattress” will get churned up a bit, but its easy to put back together with a manure fork.
Its been the most hassle free bedding I’ve ever had and I’m thrilled.
Can you use the mat somewhere else? I fill my run ins and the apron around the front with several inches of stone dust. I can pick them as needed but it stays nice and dry in there. Pee drains.
Those products you list are deodorizers, not absorbent. Except kitty litter which is both but will turn into a clay mess. Pellets are your best bet if you have to absorb.
I had good luck using the Best Cob bedding pellets - they’re expensive, but I found that they did a much better job at absorbing liquid than the sawdust pellets. (My pony pees in her run-in stall whether you bed it or not - apparently peeing outside is utterly uncivilized…)
It’s less common in the US, but have you ever tried straw bedding? My horse always lived on shavings but she LOVES a good fluffy straw bed now, and the poo doesn’t get buried/hidden as much!
i think that you’re probably out of luck, op. Anything that would be absorbent enough also would run the risk of getting tracked around, etc.
Ah. I have the same set up. Solution: don’t bed. Scoop poop, throw a shovel of pelleted bedding in the wet, let sit until it absorbs the pee, scoop up and dump.
Bedding inside encourages toilet behavior. We have a divided run-in (10 x 12 on each side, rubber mats over layers of stone/blue stone), goes out to a divided blue stone pen (each side is 12 x 20), and then out again to pasture. Horses are hayed outside in Rubbermaid troughs when it’s dry and poop out there. One horse is “housebroken” even when it’s raining out, other horse is a slob with weather, but good when dry. It did take him about 2 months to figure out the merits of “going” outside. Most do figure it out eventually.
My horses like a soft place to lie down and both have had various “bed sores” when they don’t have a soft place. So I bed with wood pellets. Many mornings I find my girl lying down in her soft bed. She is the sort that needs to be happy!
I like the sand idea.
[QUOTE=fordtraktor;8909322]
Can you use the mat somewhere else? I fill my run ins and the apron around the front with several inches of stone dust. I can pick them as needed but it stays nice and dry in there. Pee drains.
Those products you list are deodorizers, not absorbent. Except kitty litter which is both but will turn into a clay mess. Pellets are your best bet if you have to absorb.[/QUOTE]
This. Your problem isn’t the pee- it’s drainage. You won’t arrive at any solution that will be sufficiantly absorbant that isn’t also quite labor intensive. Sand is an incredibly heavy material to put on top of mats. Rocks, sand and bluestone UNDER mats that drain might be another story.
Try changing your mats to ones that allow drainage, or change your flooring (ie bluestone / French drains) so the pee will not just sit there, or resign yourself that what you have is not so much a labor saving run-in, as it is an in/out stall that requires the same daily maintenance as a regular stall.
I have a shed that has a bluestone surface, but still develops wet areas during periods of heavy use. I fill them with pellets, and wil even over bed these with straw at times (we have a foal every other year, and they appreciate a soft bed, even outside!). This works well, and though I end up with a monthly or weekly chore, it’s not something I need to worry about on a daily basis.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
