Having a barn built and it is almost complete. I will soon be looking to outfit the stalls. There are four (approximately 12’ x 12’ each) stalls. My experience at other barns thus far has shown me that most people use some sort of substrate on the bare ground (like crush and run or concrete) then put Tractor Supply $54.99/each (I’ve seen people get them at lower prices on sale) stall mats down. This is okay and I may go with this over top of crush and run if I don’t find a better solution. My horses will be out in pasture 24/7 with the option to come into their stalls whenever as the stall door will be open. They will get their grain in the stall 2x’s/day. There’s also a 12’ overhang just outside the stalls.
My question is, I know there are better options for mats out there that don’t shift like the TSC ones do. I contacted someone regarding interlocking mats. The shipping costs as much as the mat. I live near Richmond VA and I believe the company was in TX. I understand they’re heavy. Another company I found is in WI. I’m sure those are cost prohibitive as well.
Does anyone have experience with this and know where I could pick up interlocking mats near Richmond VA? Or have a different solution I could look into? Thanks in advance!
If you fit the mats tight to your stall walls they will not shift.
This is what I was going to say too.
In a stall, a snuggly fit mat should not be moving around a ton.
The mats under the overhang, outside the stalls did require pinning so they would not push apart because they are only secured by other mats and the building on three sides.
If someone was still having problems, the pins are a good idea. My mats in my continuous 14x30 area aren’t budging because they were fit super tight to the walls. The ones outside have maybe 1/2 gaps in them, as I didn’t make time to anchor them down so they’re scooting around a bit.
I don’t know what TSC mats are currently like, but the ones I got from them 20 years ago are thick and sturdy, so if they’re the same, and you properly water/tamp/harden your substrate, and you cut and fit those mats TIGHT, they’re not moving.
Interlocking mats are an option, but you still have to fit them snugly on the straight sides, or they’ll shift, just not open a gap in the middle
They’re all heavy if they’re thick enough LOL Vice grip pliers are great, and there are some specific “mat pliers” that allow faster grabbing and letting go, they’re something I’d get if we ever re-did mats.
Leveling your stall, putting down “fines” that when watered and tamped become like concrete but still permeable, is half the battle. Then it’s about very snugly fitting them. That applies no matter what style of mat you use
I have Ramm mats in my barn. Seven stalls, twenty-two years, and am just now having some shift. They are very heavy, interlock, and I was able to get them from a store that was closing so saved a lot of money.
I did check prices a year or so ago and the shipping was what killed that deal. I wanted to put them in my barn aisle. I am using the TSC ones there. The good thing is I can buy a mat or two at a time so it is not a huge money outlay all at once. The bad thing is now they don’t all match but I can deal with that.
This is what my aisle looks like too.
I would buy a few more every year at the black friday sale.
Now I have most of the aisle covered in mats, but they certainly do not all match.
regarding Tractor Supply. do an internet store search to compare pricing between TSC store locations, here there can be and often is as much as 25% differences in pricing between stores as close as ten miles from each other
if an area is considered by TSC to be well off the pricing is adjusted up
the same stall mat is $42.99 in Ft Worth but go 10 miiles north the Roanoke the very same stall mat is $51.49
I’ll 3rd/4th/5th the 'make sure the mats are a snug fit on a flat and solid base and you shouldn’t have issues with them shifting. When I recently (re)did my horse’s stall, I got them as snug as I could, and then, to make sure the corners didn’t curl up, I used joist mending plates underneath the mats at the joints of two mats. So far, my current horse, a Belgian/Punch cross who drags his feet and is heavy enough to crack the vet’s xray box for taking navicular pics hasn’t managed to curl up any of the corners, and I’m sure he has helped stomp the mats down onto those plates, making them more solid (I did try mashing down with a tamper, but it didn’t do a great job). Granted he’s only been in the stall 6 weeks, but…
My setup is almost the same as that of OP. Horses are out 24/7, with free access to stalls and overhang. I do not use any stall bedding so I can see the seams in my TSC mats every day. They have not moved apart or buckled in ten years They were trimmed to fit exactly,
Now the negative part. The mats expand and contract with the temperature. The mats were trimmed and laid during a cold February, so they were at maximum contraction. In the warmer months the seams turn up a bit as the mats expand so there are ridges formed where the mats abut each other. They go away when the weather turns colder.
The TSC mats are manufactured in Canada, so expect price to rise if and when tariffs happen.
well maybe yours’s were but the ones TSC sells here (Thick Rubber Stall Mat, 4 ft. x 6 ft. Item # 221900399) are made in USA
Yes, all of mine were made in our fifty-first state, Canada.
Our local TSC has them for $54.99. The TSC 20 miles the opposite direction has them for $39.99.
I’m going to advocate for no mats.
My horses live like yours & have for 21yrs this year.
Out 24/7/365 by their choice. They come in 3X daily for hay, grain ,(twice a day) & nightcheck treats < lets me put eyes on them so I sleep better.
They come in from pasture when the barn lights go on.
Stalls & barn aisle floored with crusher-run limestone over 9" of packed gravel.
When new it was like beach sand. After about 5yrs it compacted like concrete, but still drains well. Never any ammonia stench.
If I wanted to, I could hose down the aisle.
I have 2 big pieces - approx 12X12 - of thin rubber roofing (ice dam) in the aisle so shoer & vet have a dry, cleanish surface to work on.
I use very fine shavings - a 50# bag lasts at least 2 weeks in a stall.
My Fail was not adding an overhang in back of the stalls.
So when the wind comes from that direction weather does get in at the back of the stalls.
Fortunately they face away from most winds.
There was a TSC sale here last Nov that had the same mats for $29 or was it $28? and still had the 5% off if you bought quantity
So IF I were looking to buy I would wait until toward the end of the first quarter of the year to see if a sale would once again come about.
I have mats over grids, which after years of having horses is a great solution. Expensive but everything stays flat and nice.
In a couple of stalls, I have the grids under interlocking mats, which Tractor Supply used to sell. They are nice until one of the locking pieces shifts up and then its a pain to get things clean under it and get it back into place. The regular mats do just fine. You still do have to trim them to fit against the walls tho.
The 4x6 mats from tsc don’t shift if set up on fine gravel over dirt. My run in is 12 x 24 and they arent clipped - no shifting. With that said, my aisleway is 2 of these mats side by side x 6 mats long, so 12 mats on crusher run over hard packed dirt. I used the nail in clips to secure those because I have 2 gelding that canter in for dinner nightly and cross that aisle into their stalls. 8+ years in nothing has moved.
I did without mats for 15+ years and I love having them down. Easier to sweep or hose or blow off. And you won’t lose that tiny screw you dropped 
Cashman’s in Sunbury. Ohio, sells interlocking mats.
Believe it or not, we used Gorilla Glue in the seams of our mats. They don’t shift.
Interlocking or straight mats? Mine are straight and most are just fine, but I have one corner that keeps popping up. I’ve tried gorilla tape but that lasts about 2 days.
I bought all nine that they had this year on that sale. Saved $15 per mat so worth making the trip to get them.
