Favorite low cost barn aisle?

[2LaZ2race]

When I bought my farm I converted a large machine building / shop to my barn. I don’t keep horses in it, but use it for tack, feed, hay and tractor storage and tacking up. I made 2 grooming stalls with rubber mats and I painted the smooth concrete floor with a textured paint. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be textured enough. My horse slipped twice last night and is now nervous about it.

I dont really want to mat the mat the entire area so I was looking for some creative ideas. I did a search on coth and google and some people recommended roofing rubber , rubber paint and some other ideas. Has anyone used anything cheaper than mats that was safe for the horses ? I’m not as concerned about looks.

Thanks !

[PeteyPie]

It’s really hard to find any waterfront property which is low cost. But just for fun, here is a barn on its own isle:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/barn-island-forest-harbour-could-7893902

Just teasing you, OP. I think you meant aisle, right?

[2LaZ2race]

Hahaha. Very fair dig! My thumbs are too fat for my iPhone and it just guesses half the time what I’m talking about.

[csaper58]

I have seen regular concrete/porch paint mixed with sharp sand work well. Make it really rough where you need that not so rough where you don’t.

Buy a few 12"x12" pavers to test your mix of paint and sand. You can also scatter dry sand on top of freshly painted pavers.

Experiment and see what works for your situation.

Or try the heavy duty anti-slip tape they use in warehouses. By 3M. Amazon sells it, 50 feet of 2" tape for about $50.

[fourfillies]

I had good luck with liners designed for keeping garages clean. Not perfect but heavy enough to stay in place and cut the slip factor tremendously. It’s been quite a few years but I think I got mine at Sam’s Club. And, they are gray which was a nice bonus. Two overlapped by a foot lengthwise did my 40’ long aisle (mine are 10’ wide)​​​​.

[2DogsFarm]

I have 2 large (10X10) areas in my aisle matted with the roofing rubber (ice dam?) I was given when I built the barn 13yrs ago. Just laid it over the stonedust aisle.
They have lasted this long, provide a relatively clean area for shoer & vet to work & are easily swept clean.

That said, they get pretty slippery when wet < as in when it is rainy out & humidity slicks the mats.
Not sure how stable they’d be over cement.
If I have a Pro coming to work on horses when the mats are wet I just spread some (pre-soaked) pelleted bedding over them for traction, then sweep up when work is done.