I’m very happy with my stall savers. They are similar to stall skins.
Use a hooked carpet knife to cut the mats. Still takes time, but makes life easier.
I’ve seen people use old conveyor belting in stalls then sealed the seems with rubber roofing.
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[QUOTE=Princess Sparkles;9043995]
Second thing–people saying “bed more” are unrealistic… I like a horse with a soft bed. [/QUOTE]Thank you! As I said, I put down enough that it feels soft to my feet. I know plenty of boarding barns that bed with less, including 2 of the “enough to soak up pee” variety. The owner of the horse agrees with me that no matter how much bedding I put down, the horse will likely move it aside with his hocks and still get sores.
[QUOTE=Carrera;9044138]Use a hooked carpet knife to cut the mats. Still takes time, but makes life easier.
I’ve seen people use old conveyor belting in stalls then sealed the seems with rubber roofing.[/QUOTE] I think this knife is what the guy in Farm and Fleet recommended, and I couldn’t cut my mats with it.
The stall with the mats ending up with small spaces between them. I wish I’d thought of the rubber roofing stuff to seal them. I filled the spaces with sand. I might see if belting is available anywhere. I’ve really been looking for any easier-to-cut solution to cover the limestone, be it 1/4" mats or Stall Skins or whatever.
We only bed with straw and never have this problem. We have LOTS of horses of all different ages.
A lot of young horses that lay down much more than older horses. No mats. IMO this is more marketing than value in these. Too each their own on this.
I understand that bedding on straw is not an option to a lot of folks. In this case IMO you have to spend the money for more “bags” for a horse that needs it.
IME the BEST way to cut mats is with a power circular saw. Measure, strike a line, put the mat on top of a piece of scrape plywood, 2X, set the saw blade a tad deeper than the thickness of the mat and have at it. Bob’s your uncle done. A nice straight cut with little to no effort. Cutting with a knife if a total PITA. Anybody that recommends this has never done it.
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I cut mats for 6 stalls using a industrial box cutter. I just flipped the blade when the cutting seemed to get harder. The place I board at just uses a skiff of sawdust over mats and so many of the horses have hock and fetlock sores. 
I buy extra bedding for my guy because he started to get sores when I first brought him there. To say a horse will dig thru 8 to 10 inches of bedding and get sores anyway tells me you have a problem at your barn. Either the stalls footings aren’t set up right or the horses are not happy. Hungry or anxious horses pace and dig.
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I agree that the best way to prevent sores is more bedding…sorry, I know how much it sucks having to muck a deeply bedded stall. I work for a vet clinic and when we have a laminitic horse they get about 12" of straw to entice them to lay down more. I hate it when they’re messy as well, but at least my bosses don’t mind much if we waste a little bedding. Have you tried piling the bedding higher in the spots where the horse lays down and then leaving the rest of the stall lightly bedded? Sometimes that helps.
I also think that, in the long run, mats will keep your stalls much nicer and if properly fitted they are so much easier to clean than stalls that aren’t matted. I would try to put them in the entire stall, otherwise you’ll just spend time cleaning out the crap that gets stuck underneath them. And I love gumtree’s suggestion about using a circular saw to cut them-- I’m going to mention that to my bosses when we start installing more stalls in the big new barn at work.
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We have cut mats with our grinder with a cutting wheel.
Some times also with our sawzall.
We didn’t have many to cut, most around a few columns.
The stall with the mats ending up with small spaces between them. I wish I’d thought of the rubber roofing stuff to seal them. I filled the spaces with sand. I might see if belting is available anywhere. I’ve really been looking for any easier-to-cut solution to cover the limestone, be it 1/4" mats or Stall Skins or whatever.
Stall mats need to be installed with the outside edges butted to something solid (stall wall etc) and should be cut 1/2" larger than measured to fit TIGHT. You wedge them together.
Properly installed stall mats have no gaps between them.
When I installed the mats in my Preifert stalls I was worried about the “no solid edge” on the front and side. Sure enough, they slid under the front and side edge of the stall, opening up gaps. Reinstalled them with stall mat clips to HOLD the mats in on those edges. Tight as a drum. They’re not going anywhere.
I love my stall skins, cost effective and easy to install. I bed with straw and have no issues with hock sores at all. Does your base drain pretty well?
[QUOTE=gumtree;9045544]
We only bed with straw and never have this problem. We have LOTS of horses of all different ages.
I understand that bedding on straw is not an option to a lot of folks. In this case IMO you have to spend the money for more “bags” for a horse that needs it.
IME the BEST way to cut mats is with a power circular saw. Measure, strike a line, put the mat on top of a piece of scrape plywood, 2X, set the saw blade a tad deeper than the thickness of the mat and have at it. Bob’s your uncle done. A nice straight cut with little to no effort. Cutting with a knife if a total PITA. Anybody that recommends this has never done it.[/QUOTE]
What kind of blade did you use on the saw? I always heard that the rubber gums up any kind of saw. I can’t remember if I tried my circular saw or not–I know I was going to try oiling the blade to try and avoid the gumming up.
I need to look into having my manure hauled away. If I can find someone who will take straw that would save bedding $$ and solve the hock sores.
[QUOTE=billiebob;9045582]
I would try to put them in the entire stall, otherwise you’ll just spend time cleaning out the crap that gets stuck underneath them. .[/QUOTE]This is why I never wanted mats in the first place. At the boarding barn I’d have to periodically complain so the guys would clean under the mats when the edges were sticking up. If I wanted mats I definitely wanted to go with interlocking ones. I figure if I don’t mat the whole stall, and do the 10x10 in a 12x12 stall, the interlocking mats and the sheer size will keep it in place. Plus the horse with the hock sores doesn’t potty on the edges of his stall, it should work for him if I decide to do it. Still haven’t measured stalls to see if 12x12 mats @ 11’7" square might fit with minimal trimming though.
Not to dissuade, but it costs much more to bed on straw than shavings. There is way more wasteage. Unless you can get straw for free.
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I still can’t quote, but I actually situationally disagree about the cost of straw! I have the stall skins over a draining base and bed with straw, because the urine drains through I actually don’t waste a ton! That being said all of my horses are pretty neat poop in a pile type horses. If I had bad stall walkers it might be different. Straw composts really well too which is great for gardens.
It costs about $5 to bed a stall with a bale of straw, about $20 to bed with shavings. No idea on difference in cost to haul them away though.
I finally measured a couple stalls. Of course the 11’7" mats still need to be trimmed to fit, I measured 11’3" and 11’5". Still may go with “10x10” kits.
Ok having used straw extensively, and shavings, for the same horses under same set up, straw is cheaper initially to bed, but costs way more in the long run.
I guess we have bigger boxes or smaller bales than you but one bale of straw wouldnever be sufficient for my boxes. Generally four. And I will add on average one bale a day. Or at least every other day.
in contrast I will start with six bags of shavings and only add one or two bags a week.
of course this is for show jumpers with limited turn out so on average in the box maybe 20hrs a day; ymmv
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This debate is why if money is no object, I think I’d go with one of the newer pour-in rubber floor coverings for stalls. I forget some of the brand names. I don’t know how the cost compares to a stall skin like product or stall mattress, but the skins you do eventually have to replace.
One of the men who helped cut mats for the first stall mentioned Rhino lining. I’d love to hear any brand names so I could Google them. When I looked up Rhino, it seemed like it needed to be rolled on, and truck bed liner was sprayed on at shops that do that kind of thing. Definitely want pour/spray as the application method.
Though money IS an object. I called Ramm today and found out shipping for 6 stalls of 10x10 mats is $390–not cheap, not terrible. Fun to unload, I’m sure. I’ve got 12 days to decide before their sale is over, mats vs stall savers.
I agree with Ladyj, I have bedded on straw before and it takes me 3-4 bales and a bale a day to keep it super fluffy with no smell. And nothing is worse than a poorly cleaned straw bedded stall for smell…a well cleaned one is lovely.
i did my own stall mats. I use an electrician’s knife, maybe because my dad is an electrician so I am used to them. It works well as long as you change the blade often. I just buy a large pack of good blades for ten bucks, then change the blade every time it takes me more than 2-3 swipes to get through. Each blade has 2 edges – I didn’t go through an entire pack of blades doing my 6 stalls.
measure, draw line in pencil, put the thing on your knee so the bend helps you cut…takes me around an hour per stall with no help. That said, I am not a stickler for super tight fit — I have not found that a half an inch variance around posts and doors makes any difference at all on the edges of the middle is super tight. I wouldn’t do it for someone else because it would take me more time to do the kind of fit I would feel comfy charging for.
i have 10 by 12 stalls and use those 4x6 mats so every single one has to be cut along the outside (due to interior posts). I think maybe one per stall can just be set down as is.
(Also, haven’t tried a circ saw but just might next time if gumtree recommends it…it sounds easier. Either way, I didn’t find it any worse than dozens of other random farm jobs.)
A very quick Google turns up this for the pour ins:
http://www.equiturf.com/poured-rubber-flooring.html
I didn’t dig around. I wonder if you have to put that on top of concrete?
Oh, no. Just anything compacted. Interesting.
