Has anyone used them?
I’m planning to build a barn this spring and I’m going back and forth on mats. Has anyone used the interlocking mats?
Thanks!
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE stall skins. I’ve had them in the barn for 10+ years and they still look new. In fact, I’m on the testimonial page on their website. They’ve taken some abuse over the years and I’ve had to pull them up to relevel the base gravel, but that’s it. One time we had a horse pass away in his stall one night (it was -20 degrees and the horse had a heart condition and died in his sleep). The neighbor with the backhoe came over and thought the stall skin was asphalt. He scraped the stall skin with the bucket of the backhoe in pulling the horse out of the barn and the stall skin didn’t move. He was impressed with them. Easy to put in, durable, inexpensive considering their lifespan. I like the fact that in the summer, I could deodorize the barn with cleaner in a watering can and have no standing water anywhere. 
My barn smelled great and my stalls looked awesome!
I have them in my stalls now. My horses are out 23/7 so I’m not the best judge of how durable they are. No matter how well you do the base, if you have a weaver/stall walker expect to have to re-level underneath. 3 out of 4 stalls I did are still perfect, 1 (the weaver) has dips and valleys in it.
I love the traction. If a horse does shift the bedding and get down to the stall skin, it won’t be slippery.
They do “drain”… but I had put Groundmaster grid flooring in my previous barn (at 2x the cost of stall skins) and THAT stuff drains like… well, a drain. I could hose down the stalls and in minutes I could put bedding in. I can’t quite do that with stall skins, but I still like them better than mats. The Groundmaster floor was very slippery, it had to have A LOT of bedding on top of it.
The one thing I will say negative is the little plastic border that they send with the stall skin is not very sturdy. I’ve replaced some of my border with 2x6’s. Maybe they’ve improved it since then, I got mine 4 years ago.
Agree with Oldpony
How do they hold up with repeated, not-so-gentle, shoveling?
I’m very interested in these but I can’t help but question the durability.
Eileen
What are you doing that you would need to do “not-so-gentle” shoveling? We never let the stalls get so bad that they required any heavy duty equipment or backbreaking work. That’s just how we roll.
I’ve used an aluminum scoop shovel and the plastic dura-forks on them. I would not use metal pitch forks with them though.
If it helps you out for durability - I had a 19.2hh belgian draft with shoes who also pawed in the stall like the dickens. He shifted the base, but the stall skin was fine even after a year.
Snowflake ^ scraped hers with a backhoe!!! I certainly wouldn’t try that on a regular basis though.
Honestly, our horses are out most of the time, so I use very little bedding, way less than the manufacturer recommends. Our horses are barefoot, so no shoes, but the stall skins are regularly getting nearly direct contact with their hooves. When I strip the stalls, I use a metal snow shovel. Not the new light-weight ones, an old heavy duty one. It doesn’t hurt the stall skins at all.
I have on TINY tear in the weaver/stall-walker’s stall. I’m pretty sure that as she shifted the base, a piece of gravel turned up and was sharp enough to puncture it. The rip hasn’t spread and seems to be a non-issue.
When (if) you get the stuff, you have to trim it and you’ll get a feeling for how tough it is. It’s way thicker than most of the geotextile out there.
What the heck is FELT doing in my new Stalls?!!
I know this is an old thread, but I had to share this story! I was out yesterday at our soon-to-be new horse property getting the barn/stalls ready for my horses to come home (:D), and realized a few of the stalls were matted with this FELT type stuff. I was so confused- who the hell would matt a horse stall with FELT? :lol: I was thinking of all the $$ I was going to have to spend to buy mats.
So I came home, googled “felt horse stall mats”, came upon Stall Skins (which I’d never heard of), and realized the website installation pics were exactly the same as what was in a few of my new barns. And then of course my next stop was here on COTH to read reviews of these new-fangled Stall-Skin thingys. And am thrilled to read that most people are very happy with them! :yes:
I will of course run my own usage tests/ assessments, but I’m already thinking about replacing the stalls that are rubber-matted with the Stall Skins (although having said that, I certainly don’t plan my horses to spend much time in their stalls… can’t wait until they are back on unlimited TURNOUT!!!)
Thought I would dredge up an old thread as opposed to starting a new one! Any new opinions? Care to confirm you still love your Stall Skins? I am planning to refit an old barn very soon and trying to decide on flooring options!
Thanks!
I have stall skins in 2 stalls. Essie’s stall is harder to keep because she is quite messy. She is a big drinker and that translates into lots of urine! If the weather is bad I let her have full access to her stall and the skin has a hard time keeping up. Yes, I have more than adequate shavings in the stall.
My youngster is easier on the skin and the stall looks good and smells like a well cleaned stall.
Overall, I like them and probably will use them for the last stall.
[QUOTE=Dance_To_Oblivion;7684866]
Thought I would dredge up an old thread as opposed to starting a new one! Any new opinions? Care to confirm you still love your Stall Skins? I am planning to refit an old barn very soon and trying to decide on flooring options!
Thanks![/QUOTE]
I have them in my barn and absolutely love them! Very durable but want to add that I used a different base than recommended. The foundation of my barn is 20" of road base and 6-7" of mulch. Very absorbent and fluids drain well through the mulch and road base. Every year or so, the stall skin is pulled back, mulch added and evened out, and the ss reattached. Oh, mine are 8 y/o.
I have had them for 11 years and most need replacing soon. There are rips in them.
I really like them though!
Thanks for the thoughts! I really appreciate it! I am fine with replacing them every 10 years or so (or maybe in 10 years I can afford the stall mattresses I really want!).
For those of you who have “peeled” them back to re-level the base; how in the world did you do it?
The property we bought in 2012 has stall skins in the stalls, and I assume they are original to the barn construction in circa 2000. So they are roughly 14 years old, and EVERY screw has corroded due to urine/moisture. I guess I can cut holes around each screw head, but even that is proving difficult. I’ve tried scissors, carpet knives, etc and cannot cut through the skins easily. Cutting around one head took me 30 minutes of “knawing” at it. Frustrating. I need to re-level the base badly - the stalls look like the Himalayan Mountains, and my ancient boys are always literally tripping over the mounds. I am afraid one of them is going to fall down completely one day.
I really like them still and have put them in the run ins at my cousin’s barn for her. I did find a cheaper option that you can get than the brand name stuff. Stall Skins are essentially 10oz non-woven geotextile fabric. You can find this stuff a whole lot cheaper than Stall Skins (because anything marketed for horses seems to have a 200% markup!) I found this by the roll and for doing several stalls and run ins - it’s much, much less $$$!
1 Like
[QUOTE=moving to dc;7685712]
For those of you who have “peeled” them back to re-level the base; how in the world did you do it?
The property we bought in 2012 has stall skins in the stalls, and I assume they are original to the barn construction in circa 2000. So they are roughly 14 years old, and EVERY screw has corroded due to urine/moisture. I guess I can cut holes around each screw head, but even that is proving difficult. I’ve tried scissors, carpet knives, etc and cannot cut through the skins easily. Cutting around one head took me 30 minutes of “knawing” at it. Frustrating. I need to re-level the base badly - the stalls look like the Himalayan Mountains, and my ancient boys are always literally tripping over the mounds. I am afraid one of them is going to fall down completely one day.[/QUOTE]
Get a screw extractor set - http://www.harborfreight.com/12-piece-screw-extractor-set-40349.html
Or just use a drill and drillbit to drill out the heads. Then, replace the trim with pressure treated 2x6 and use outdoor (corrosion resistant) wood screws to screw the trim in place. No need to cut the stall skins doing this.
[QUOTE=Snowflake;7688293]
Get a screw extractor set - http://www.harborfreight.com/12-piece-screw-extractor-set-40349.html
Or just use a drill and drillbit to drill out the heads. Then, replace the trim with pressure treated 2x6 and use outdoor (corrosion resistant) wood screws to screw the trim in place. No need to cut the stall skins doing this.[/QUOTE]
Tried both those options. The original screws destroyed the drill bit(s), and “ate” the extractor after removing 3 screws… Manufacturer said they were “hardened steel” and that I wouldn’t be able to remove them that way??? My latest attempt is a hole saw… which works where the trim is still flat, but it won’t bite in where the trim is warped into a valley around the screw.
It’s getting really frustrating…
I really want to preserve the skins and “reuse” them vs. destroying them in the process of removing them and then having to put rubber matts in their place.
I had always wondered what made the skins so magical compared to the geotextile fabrics in catalogs like Farm Tech. But I never knew until now what “size” they were. I guess if I destroy them when I try to remove them, I can replace them cheaper thru Farm Tech. Thanks for the hint!
I recently inquired with the company on those, and they steered me to the interlocking grids as more durable and easier to manage. Those are now installed, of course the new barn hasn’t had horses in it yet so I can’t give you ‘use’ feedback, but I’m happy with the concept.
[QUOTE=moving to dc;7688610]
Tried both those options. The original screws destroyed the drill bit(s), and “ate” the extractor after removing 3 screws… Manufacturer said they were “hardened steel” and that I wouldn’t be able to remove them that way??? My latest attempt is a hole saw… which works where the trim is still flat, but it won’t bite in where the trim is warped into a valley around the screw.
It’s getting really frustrating…
I really want to preserve the skins and “reuse” them vs. destroying them in the process of removing them and then having to put rubber matts in their place.
I had always wondered what made the skins so magical compared to the geotextile fabrics in catalogs like Farm Tech. But I never knew until now what “size” they were. I guess if I destroy them when I try to remove them, I can replace them cheaper thru Farm Tech. Thanks for the hint![/QUOTE]
What kind of drill bit are you using? You may need to invest in a cobalt bit made for drilling hardened steel and have a can of wd-40 or other kind of lubricating oil to put on the screw to reduce friction and heat which dulls the bit quickly.
If you can’t get the screws out at all, how about using a hole drill saw just a tad larger than the heads to drill over them into the stallskin:
That will get the stallskins loose, then you can get a large sledge hammer and pound those heads in flush or cut them out with a grinder wheel.
Work your base level and packed to suit you and reattach the stallskins with screws close to the existing holes, or if you can offset them a bit, thru the same holes with a larger head screw or adding washers to regular screws.
Last resort, if you just can’t get the existing screws to come loose with the backouts, or cut the heads out with a grinder wheel.
