My pole barn is 40 x 60, completely concrete except for the stalls (3) that run down one side. They are packed gravel, with mats. I dislike stalls on concrete, they require more bedding in my experience, and the pee smell just stays in the concrete, too. I can’t figure out why anyone wouldn’t invest in stall mats if they have gravel or dirt stalls.
I have one stall that is concrete and with it is fine with mats. I do use (I almost wrote youse there!) a lot of bedding, though. My old guy would curl up happily in his stall and seemed quite comfy taking his afternoon snooze.
I have a cement aisle and it gets slick if the weather is just right.
Here is an article that touches on concrete floors for stalls in a positive way:
Scroll down to “Flooring”.
A barn I worked at has comfort stalls for about 6 years. They hold no smell if you bed them well - not as much bedding is needed as the concrete flooring but more than a shovelful as you need enough to soak up the urine.
So far no tears/rips and they are wonderful to stand on as well as to muck out! I love them 
They were put over concrete stalls as well but some work had to be done to them first to prep before they were installed.
Concrete aisle & clay in the stalls with lots of bedding, both pellet & shavings
My barn has concrete stalls with mats, where I board one horse it has dirt floor.
Pros and cons to both, but think I prefer concrete. Less smell, easy easy easy to clean. The con is that you need more bedding, however I also don’t feel like I am throwing more away, just more for a start up for wet absorption and comfy bedding.
What I like about the dirt is that if you miss a urine spot, it will just drain into the dirt (but on the negative I find d it more smelly). Another pro is you can use less bedding. The biggest issue for me is that they really need to be maintained at least annually or the horses will create uneven spots and ankle craters!
I’ve worked with barns that have concrete and ones with dirt/mats. I think I prefer the dirt under mats. I’m looking at what we want right now and I’m considering the comfort stalls,although they are pretty pricey.
Has anyone used the stall skins? What do you put under them? Are they durable?
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I’ve worked with barns that have concrete and ones with dirt/mats. I think I prefer the dirt under mats. I’m looking at what we want right now and I’m considering the comfort stalls,although they are pretty pricey.
Has anyone used the stall skins? What do you put under them? Are they durable?[/QUOTE]
If you do stall skins, or a similar product, and are putting it over dirt, be sure to give the floors time to settle. Had a horse out on lease a few years ago, in a brand new barn, and the dirt had not been given any time to settle. Those stall were so uneven that I actually felt woozy standing in them.
Absolutely not, and it’s not common around here, at least with my discipline. I have worked on concrete floors, and even with multiple mats it made my back and legs hurt. I dont have lame horses and none of the trainers I’ve had have more than the occasional lameness. My stalls are mats over stone dust, one has a wood floor. Concrete in my barn is limited to the wash rack and feed and tack room. My aisle is sawdust (just got a small dump load yesterday for $40- woohoo!) so as the green sawdust/shavings dry I can shovel into stalls as needed. I can also ride in the barn aisle if I want- it’s a Saddlebred thing.
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Absolutely not, and it’s not common around here, at least with my discipline. I have worked on concrete floors, and even with multiple mats it made my back and legs hurt. I dont have lame horses and none of the trainers I’ve had have more than the occasional lameness. My stalls are mats over stone dust, one has a wood floor. Concrete in my barn is limited to the wash rack and feed and tack room. My aisle is sawdust (just got a small dump load yesterday for $40- woohoo!) so as the green sawdust/shavings dry I can shovel into stalls as needed. I can also ride in the barn aisle if I want- it’s a Saddlebred thing.[/QUOTE]
Horses don’t stand on feet like people have, we need to remember that.
Maybe standing on concrete for humans is harder than what, sitting down?
Ever tried standing or walking all day in sand?
Talk about getting super tired and sore.
Horse hooves are made to stand on hard, flatter ground.
Our pastured horses preferred the old concrete slab in one pen to stand around dozing, then the soft sand pile to lay down and stretch out.
I think we should provide both, with flat, solid ground to stand on and soft bedding to lay down.
I think it is more important to a horse to have good traction to lay down and get up and have just a bit of a slope to lay down head a little higher and easier to stand up with body already somewhat higher than the hooves.
I also heard that horses seem to do better in rectangular, not square stalls, where they can align themselves to the longer sides.
Will be interesting to see if someone has information on that.
If so, there is more room to leave part of the stall less bedded, like where feed and water are and bed the other side banking it more.
I think that, in general, we need some more studies telling us what is truly best, not studies to confirm one or another opinion or bias, before we can say what many or most horses may truly prefer.
Great information bluey! I’m now interested in a study on rectangular stalls! Makes me want to open up every other stall and see what my horse does! I’m currently looking into crushed stone to put as a base in the stalls with that plastic like grate system for drainage and then do mats over that. I’ll lay down crushed stone in the aisle as well and see how it
Holds up. My barn is the run way to the field, so I drive the tractor through the center aisle to put out hay or bush hog. Thad why I don’t want dirt anymore. It makes it muddy.
I also think I’ve decided on an outdoor wash stall instead of in the barn. For now. My barn is very flexible, so I can change my mind later (and will if I get hot water in the barn). The outdoor wash stall will never not be needed as I like getting a tan while I wash the horses in the summer (I’m still a girl!).
I remember reading about size for horse stalls and considering rectangular ones, so googled and it came up:
Then, if a stall has outside run access practically all the time, does it matter which shape or size or footing it may have and if so, which is best and why that?
I also read somewhere about octagonal/round stalls, but that I wondered if it would not make horses prone to stall walk worse?
I think they would walk along the wall more than if they had some corners to walk around.
Who knows, we need more to go by.
Great post! I’m having the same concrete dilemma while planning my own barn. Can anyone post a link to the type of floor grids you’ve used under your stall mats?
Mine are all concrete with mats over. I really like them- easy to keep clean, no smell, and because the mats are one piece/sealed, nothing moves. I use a fair amount of bedding but deep litter because it works really well with the bedding I use (Equisorb flax- it clumps together and forms a semi-solid base that’s very comfy to walk on.)
Not at all a scientific study, but an area boarding/training stable has multiple barns. One is all concrete, and two of the horses that would stock up in that barn were fine when moved to a barn with a dirt floor.
Vets use concrete because they can blast clean it - not because it is easier on the horses but because they have to clean and sanitize often.
Another area barn with concrete floors has had a couple of serious horse slips on the floors - so if you DO concrete make sure it is well scored!
My barn is road base with mats laid over it. Without mats, your floor gets chewed up quickly, but with mats, it lasts. Totally a personal choice, there are pros and cons to both…
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I’ve had a dirt floor barn for 10 years now and I’m looking at laying concrete through the whole thing. I can’t decide if I want to do the stalls or not though. I’ve been told that even with mats, it’s hard on the horses legs and I have a senior mare who spends a lot of time inside during the winter.
What would you recommend? Concrete center aisle or all concrete?[/QUOTE]
Our aisle is asphalt. Our side entry door, tack room, wash stall are concrete. Our stalls are stone dust maybe with clay underneath. Stall floors are topped with heavy-duty interlocking solid rubber mats. One stall has EVA foam interlocking mats - which might be good when the vet recommends a softer base, but is not as durable.
For the aisle, concrete and asphalt are a good choice and concrete might be better. That’s another subject though.
I would go to the stone dust + rubber stall mats in the stalls. It is not (literally) a choice set in stone, and it offers some resilience and cushioning for the horses. It takes some labor to set and level the stone dust but it’s not unreasonable and you can “rework” this surface if need be.
It would be nice if my aisle asphalt extended about a half-foot into each stall, even if it sloped downward into the stall. As it is now, there is a gap on the floor at each door between the rubber and asphalt and the stone dust gets swept away when we clean.
My whole barn is concrete and you rarely see anything else here. I was in one barn with dirt floors and it was awful. The only place where my horse got hock sores.
I opted to put down EVA mats on the concrete then bed lightly with shavings. The EVA mats are ideal IMO since they provide much more cushion that traditional hard black rubber mats, but it is a firm surface. They are also much lighter than the black mats and interlock so they don’t shift underfoot. I also sweep the shavings to the back of the stall so that they have a firm surface at the front to stand and a bed to lie down. I agree with Bluey on all counts, horses like to stand on firm surfaces, and lie down on soft ones.
I have been in barns with the soft stall mattress system and didn’t like it at all for the horses. It was lumpy surface so the horse was always standing on an uneven surface, I think it gave un necessary strain to the tendons. I also didn’t like how it attached to stall walls making moving stalls or very labour intensive.
