I got myself a 12 ft stock trailer. Brand new. How do i protect the wood flooring? There is a rubberizing paint that my hubby is considering using to protect the wood from getting wet. Then i could put mats down. In my 2 horse, i have put shavings down, but i think it would all blow away in the stock trailer. What do you all do? I want to protect the floors but also make sure it is not slippery. My horse pees a lot.
Yes, put down mats over the wood floor. Regular paint or water seal is fine, I want to see the wood grain when I pull the mats to check that the wood is okay, so I wouldn’t do a textured coating personally.
Shavings will not blow away. There’s actually not that much airflow from the stock sides. I do use large flake shavings instead of fine sawdust to minimize what they breathe in, but that’s for any trailer.
Congrats, enjoy your new trailer!
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Our stock trailers have an inch opening all along the bottom.
If yours does, any bedding will blow around and so will dust from the roads.
When we had wood floors, the last trailers we had lumbar rubber lumber boards, for wood we would pull to a roofing company’s place and they would pour hot tar on the floor and about a foot up the sides. We later added sand so it would not get sticky in hot weather.
You looked at the floor from underneath to check for any bad boards.
Some trailers are decades old and still in excellent shape.
Once we had mats to use, that worked fine also.
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When I bought my stock trailer the dealer told me not to put bedding on the floor. He said the bedding gets down in the cracks and retains moisture, which makes the wood more likely to rot. I put interlocking mats on the floor and I take them up if I’m not using the trailer for a while. I don’t remember what brand the mats are, but they are not rubber. They are a material that is much lighter than rubber, hence much easier to pick up.
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I bought my 16’ stock used in 2016.
IIRC, it was a 1997 model.
Wood floors were fine except the nose where the first 2’ were rotted.
I replaced the entire floor with 16’ treated boards.
Shavings go on top of the mats.
After every use I sweep clean shavings to the center of the mat in back (behind the center gate, where horse rides). Then sweep soiled shavings out, including getting as much as I can out of places mats don’t cover.
Special attention to where full back door connects.
In Summer I pull the mats, powerwash the inside & mats.
Let mats dry in the sun, replace when floors are dry.
Caveat:
Never use pelleted bedding in a stock trailer.
IME, even sprayed down they blow all the hell over everything!
With center gate closed, after a 3h haul, everything was covered with pellet dust.
Poor mini riding in back too 
I use shavings in mine over my mats. I usually sweep them into a pile in the center if the stock trailer is going to be sitting.
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I would never put a horse in a trailer that didn’t have mats in it:)
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I have hauled my horses cross-country twice in my open stock trailer and never used shavings.
2.1. My stock trailer is also doubled floored and the top floor was my doing:). It is 3/4” marine plywood.
- I doubt you will get out of having to replace the original floor at some point in time. The best you can probably do is keep the trailer clean:). No matter how hard you try, there will always be some hidden spot for the rot to start:)
Thank you, everyone. You have given me a lot to think about.
Our is half stock slats and half horse windows (slant load). The direction we park it, not a whole lot of weather gets in the slats side.
DH just put a water sealer on the floor (like you would on a wooden deck). We have fitted rubber mats. Then I put down shavings. I do make sure to clean shavings out so they’re not sitting in there wet. And we deep clean/power wash once a year to make sure everything is REALLY cleaned out and wood is still in great shape.
