Stall mats in dry lot? Easy clean solution?

[4horses]

My horses all have a designated manure spot in the back of the dry lot. The problem is that the manure gets mixed with the dirt/mud when it rains and can be very difficult to muck. I try to muck everything before it rains but sometimes that is impossible, especially during mud season.

If I put down stall mats, would the horses just go around them?

The paddocks are on a slope so everything drains well. I’ve thought about putting a truck load of fill down but it would probably just erode away. The gates are not wide enough to get a tractor in. I would have to take the fence down if I wanted to add fill.

[Simkie]

Worth trying, especially if that area is well out of the normal “buck and fart around” zone. My main concern would be horses slipping.

Mats DO move A LOT if they’re put out with nothing to keep them in place, so be prepared that you might have to drag them back where you want them every few days. You might get lucky, but don’t be surprised if they really shift around. Stall mat clips will pin them into place if you find they’re shifting too much.

[ladyj79]

Not if you deal with any kind of mud. Ask me how I know. Even on a slope, nope, nope, nope.

[BlueDrifter]

Maybe the manure spot needs to be dug out and replaced with something like blue stone dust or decomposed granite and compacted to be pretty darn hard?

[Simkie]

@ladyj79

Not if you deal with any kind of mud. Ask me how I know. Even on a slope, nope, nope, nope.

Huh. I have a mat at every run door (runs get muddy), plus six in one run for the horse that eats outside, and three loose mats in my sacrifice area (also gets muddy.) What problems have you had? Short of mats MOVING, everything works fine. I do clean the crap off of them…daily for the runs, periodically for the sacrifice area, depends on how much it’s used. And I’ve pinned down the several mats in the one run because they kept shifting. But overall it’s done what I wanted in each location without a whole lot of headache.

[4horses]

I would be tempted to have a tractor scoop the mud out but again, it’s not easily accessible. Plus some of the mud is directly under the tree which means there are roots everywhere.

[ladyj79]

They shift and sink. Horse standing on mat, ground wet, mat sinks. On incline that has been graded and gravelled. If your property or location isn’t very wet, maybe you’ll be fine, but similar issues in Maryland, Washington, and no way would I even suggest or attempt where I am in Jersey this year. Ground is way, way too wet to avoid sinking in high traffic area like a gate or where horses stand and eat. Digging mats out of mud is not my idea of fun.

[Simkie]

@ladyj79

They shift and sink. Horse standing on mat, ground wet, mat sinks. On incline that has been graded and gravelled. If your property or location isn’t very wet, maybe you’ll be fine, but similar issues in Maryland, Washington, and no way would I even suggest or attempt where I am in Jersey this year. Ground is way, way too wet to avoid sinking in high traffic area like a gate or where horses stand and eat. Digging mats out of mud is not my idea of fun.

Shifting is easy enough to solve with stall mat clips, but the sinking hasn’t been my experience at all. Perhaps we have enough rock in the soil here in CT to avoid it. There’s plenty of mud, though…

@4horses I’d say it’s worth a shot, particularly if you have mats lying around anyway. You have little to lose Might work well for you, like it does here!

[ladyj79]

Definitely new England is way way rockier than many other areas, think back on posts about how to dig post holes/set fences in massachusetts. Places with significantly more top soil have way more mud and sinkage is real.

[BlueDrifter]

I put TrueGrid pavers under my mats to prevent sinking. I also use interlocking Summit mats so that I don’t have to pin them, nor build a barrier to corral them – (interlocking mats require a level/flat prepped surface to work, though). You could try the Truegrids in your muddy areas and then top with sand, mats, whatever you want. I put 3 Truegrids in the corners of the pen where they stand a lot to prevent a worn/dug out area.

Amazon has Truegrids – $150 for 18 2x2 pavers

[Simkie]

@ladyj79

Definitely new England is way way rockier than many other areas, think back on posts about how to dig post holes/set fences in massachusetts. Places with significantly more top soil have way more mud and sinkage is real.

Lol, I don’t need to go think back to posts about setting fence in Mass, I’ve set posts here. I’ve also kept horses in Minnesota, land of amazing topsoil that turns into feet of mud.

Sure, sinkage is real. Is it guaranteed? Nah. A few mats are an inexpensive experiment, and if it doesn’t work, it’s still handy to have them around the farm. Worth a shot.

[ShotenStar]

My mares also have designate poop spots and I have mats down in one of them. I do have a heavy gravel / geotex fabric / stonedust base under the entire sacrifice paddock, so major mud is not an issue for me… The matted area is definitely easier to maintain, even in the winter – the black mats warm up faster and make dealing with frozen poopies easier. One of these days i might get around to adding more mats to the other area. The mares are totally committed to their designated spots and the presence or absence of mats makes no difference to them.

Star

[Kyrabee]

I have a 10 x 12 matted area where my horse eats in her dry lot paddock. I just put a heavy layer of shavings under them. It does need to be re-done every 1-2 years but keeps them from sinking in the mud. BO won’t allow sand or gravel so the shavings works well for me and horsey isn’t standing ankle deep in morass of mud and poop:p. She will use the mats for her bathroom if the pen is really muddy (which is has been that last week) but they are so easy to clean vs. the picking the poop out of the mud.

Susan