My horses live in/out 24/7 with a shed row and hay on matting on a fenceline. Despite putting in stone dust, the area on front of the stalls and the rubber hay mats is muddy and gross. Would it be crazy to lay down these mats and cover with stone dust in those areas?
Our barn guy is going to lay mats from Linear Rubber in front of our stall doors. We already have bluestone but after just a year, it had to be releveled and re-compressed. He has a set up at his own barn with mats in front of his stall doors and it’s fabulous. Loved it. I wouldn’t put stone dust on TOP of the mats. I’d roll/compress your existing stone dust nice and level and flat. And put the mats on top.
The reason I was going to put stone dust on top is to avoid slipping when there is rain followed by a freeze.
The mats will not lay flat for long on top of dirt - the ground will heave and they will wrinkle and roll. Your best bet will be to get a couple TONS of gravel and dump it in front of the stalls. I had to do that in one corner of my closest paddock so the hay truck could drive through.
I would not put a product that water won’t drain through (i.e., rubber matting) down, covered in stonedust, as that will just create more of an issue. You’d be better off using something that water WILL drain through, so geotextile fabric or soil stabilizing grids, then covering with stonedust or gravel. Or just use gravel.
And, no, I wouldn’t have the mats down exposed as they will get slick in ice, but also when wet as they’ll get dirty, and that dirt and water mix and make them super slick, IME. My partner had the bright idea to put some old stall mats on a path by our barn and I HATE them – they get slimy slick and I can’t lead a horse over them without the horse or me slipping. So now I avoid the path until he pulls those mats up and fixes it with a load of gravel.
I would not recommend the product linked, it is much too lightweight to stay in place for doing the job you want.
We have a cement aisle, no issues with compression of stone, mud or dirt being uneven.
I have laid older stall mats in place in front of the front and back aisle doors outside. The heavy matting does prevent the mud, holes, problems you mention. Tractor is driven in and out both doors with the spreader, then brings in clean bedding, so the traffic is not causing a mess with wet dirt. Mats are 3/4"thick, laid out in pairs with 6 mats in place at each end of 12ft wide aisle.
I am pretty happy with the setup, mats help hold each other in place fairly well to be driven over. Unless "he who won’t be named’ is riding the clutch, mats don’t move with tractor or trucks going in or out. Being black they absorb heat from sun most days, warm up to dry off, melt snow and ice. Cats like sitting on them on cold days!
Husband buried a drain tile along one fence, then filled the paddock area there about 18ft into paddock with large rounded stones for good drainage. Have to say it was a BAD CHOICE in rocks. They never settle and made for flying rocks when horses slid to the fence!! They are fair sized from an inch to a couple inches and it hurt when they hit you! I got a deal on used 4ft wide stall mats so I laid them in the inside of fence, end to end the length of the wire. Horses see mats, plan to stop sooner, no rocks flying outside the wire now. Any flying rocks seem to end up on the mats.
These mats are thick and heavy, mostly stay put. They do need some attintion every 6 weeks or so. This would be shoveling rocks and manure off which collects if horses stand by the gate to come in. Sometimes a sliding horse will shove mat back a few inches, so I pull mat back into alignment.
I have other stall mats under the main gates going into barn yards that open into the fields. These gates get a lot of traffic with tractors and hooves, would be a slurry without the mats laid on thick gravel over geotextile fabric at the bottom. Gates have 6 or 9 mats under them and in front of them, barn yard side. So many mats in front gives me a dry place to halter horses for leading in.
I had to collect mats gradually, took a while even getting used mats. I did not want cement in front of barn doors, hard to keep from being slippery on our sloped ground in winter. Can’t change it once poured. I am pretty happy with this solution. Mats have ridges or tread patterns and don’get very slippery wet or if snowy. All mats are in sunny places, no shade to get mossy because of moisture.
Thanks all. Took the advise and moved some older stall mats in front of the stall doors. Will keep you posted as to how well it works:
Keep us posted on how it works for you. I’ve been thinking of doing something similar to your pictures, but many of the comments above reflect my concerns. Slipperiness, shifting, etc.
[QUOTE=Texarkana;8428500]
Keep us posted on how it works for you. I’ve been thinking of doing something similar to your pictures, but many of the comments above reflect my concerns. Slipperiness, shifting, etc.[/QUOTE]
Will do. It’s a work in progress. I would love to use a grid like light foot but I need something now before the ground freezes. I have used small remnants of stall mat in this area in the past, and it did not get slippery , but it did shift. Hoping the full size mats will help control the shifting.
Out around my gates it was very muddy. I lay down stone, about 8" deep and then covered the stone with a couple of inches of screenings. I put some mats down to compact the stone and screenings. After a week I lifted the mats and took a pail of fast drying cement and spread it over the compacted stone/screening. I did this when there was a rain shower. The cement hardened and bound the stone and gravel. I didn’t put a whole lot of dry cement but enough to hold the gravel and screenings in place. The rain washed some of the cement down through the screenings and into the stone. This was done about 4 months ago and so far - good!
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My horses live in/out 24/7 with a shed row and hay on matting on a fenceline. Despite putting in stone dust, the area on front of the stalls and the rubber hay mats is muddy and gross. Would it be crazy to lay down these mats and cover with stone dust in those areas?
The mud is from decomposing hay and manure. If you dig this out, yes, down to the hard ground, then lay down stone dust, you can control it. Just be sure you follow up by picking up all old hay and not letting it decompose into mud. Picking up the maure and hay where horses eat controls the mud.
