We have just moved to a new farm :D. There is an existing monitor style barn that I am renovating to be more horse friendly. It has a lovely 16’ wide center aisle and two side areas with concrete, in addition to 6 stalls.
In order to reconfigure the stalls and add a wash stall and tack room, I need to use a area with concrete floor for a horse stall. My horses are out most of the time year round. Usually, if they are in, it is during the day so time in that stall will me minimum.
My plan is to put rubber mats in all of the stalls. I think I should use the interlocking mats in the stall with concrete floors.
Does anyone have experience with mats over concrete floors?
Also, any suggestions for where to buy mats reasonably since I will be buying about 40 or so.
TIA.
Sue
Yes mats on concrete work well. 
I personally prefer mats over concrete floors and have never had any issues. I’ve had more issues with mats over other floor types (blue stone, clay, etc) - with the mats curling and causing horses to trip. They tend to lay better over concrete no matter how often you level other floor types. My horses are in their stalls anywhere from 1/2 a day to an hour or so for feeding, depending on the horse and the weather.
Some people complain about urine getting under the mats and having no where to go if you have concrete. I haven’t had this issue, maybe because I bed my stalls a bit on the thicker side. But nonetheless, once a year, I lift my mats and power wash my floors. Again, just my preference - love concrete!
When I bought my mats, I just waited for sales to pop up. I think I ended up getting a $40 mat for about $34 each with an additional $20 off each $100 I spend at Southern States last year.
I have also snagged up used rubber belts (4 feet wide x as long as I want) from the stone yards and used them in my run-ins for mats and in my isle ways. They are free!
Our barns have always had concrete floors with rubber mats and bedding on top. No issues what so ever.
I watched and waited for sales on mats, and over time I realized that they just don’t get discounted very much at all. I looked at a bunch of industrial matting places too–factories use a ton of mats–but for an equivalent amount of rubber, it was no cheaper. I finally snapped them up when the local farm store had them for $10 off regular price.
This place sells used conveyor belting, but even this is not cheap (and shipping costs are high b/c it’s so heavy. You’d prob need a tractor with forkifts to unload). I love their website, though-- I always get tons of ideas. Next time I’m driving thru the Chicago area, I plan to stop by and pick up a couple of those street sweeper brushes for the horses to use as a scratching post.
[QUOTE=HungarianHippo;7641508]
This place sells used conveyor belting, but even this is not cheap (and shipping costs are high b/c it’s so heavy. You’d prob need a tractor with forkifts to unload). I love their website, though-- I always get tons of ideas. Next time I’m driving thru the Chicago area, I plan to stop by and pick up a couple of those street sweeper brushes for the horses to use as a scratching post.[/QUOTE]
What a cool website. Ideas! Ideas!
If you are buying a large quantity of mats, check with your local farm or feed stores that sell them as they often will do a quantity discount, and may deliver. You can buy mats used (craigslist often has them listed here), which I have done, but for a large quantity like that, I’d be inclined to look for a deal on new so they are all the same type and uniform thickness and shape.
If the horses are out a majority of the time, I don’t mind stalls on concrete. I hated the concrete at a previous boarding barn, but that was because the horses hardly went out. My own stalls at home are packed gravel topped with mats and I’ve rarely had to adjust those - really the only time was when my one horse decided to tear his mats up (as in, pick them up and carry them out into his paddock, then literally tear pieces off). If you lay the mats right the first time, they should stay that way, and interlocking would probably help keep them in place (mine are not interlocking). Do remember that where the sun hits and the mats get hot, they will expand. I have a matted overhang area that is not bedded, so the mats get full sun in summer and will expand, making them curl up. Not a big problem here since we don’t get that warm that often.
I’ve also been at a place with the conveyor belt matting mentioned above and did not like that stuff at all. Thin and slippery. But that might vary depending on where it came from or what type of industry.
Be cautious with interlocking mats. I bought some years ago that were light weight and durable, but the edges always wanted to curl up. I could not keep them flat in the stalls. Later, I bought standard mats from Tractor Supply, which have done well.
we put soft stalls over concrete - works even better than mats.
