Thanks so much everyone. My horse is never locked in her stall she has access to a large turn out area 24/7. But her hay is in her stall and she does hang out there to eat. The unevenness in the stall is a depression in the middle of the stall which might be 3" deeper than the rest with bedding the stall floor looks even.
Scribbler. What are the green interlocking cushy kind?
They are called equimats.
Another vote like NancyMâs for wood. We have rough cut hemlock 2x8s over a framework of pressure-treated lumber. Warm(er) in winter, softer than a concrete base. Weâre in Vermont where there are lots of trees and small local sawmills. My horses have run-out stalls, and we bed on shavings. Very happy with our arrangement.
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@alfonsina do you have fill in your framework, or an open gap between your floorboards and the ground?
I was wondering the same thing.
Seems like leaving space would be like advertising rat condos with no down payment needed.
Another vote for concrete with mats.
I havenât done this yet in my stalls, but I have put a wood floor in my aisle and my workshop/storage/chicken area, also local rough-sawn 2x8s over pressure-treated joists/sleepers. I love the aisle. I love the air break between it and the cold damp ground. Flooring the stalls similarly is on the to do list (eventually).
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Crushed rock is important, for the reason Ghazzu mentioned.
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Oh, I hadnât even thought of rats - Iâm in an unusual position, they arenât even on my radar. Havenât had one on the property in 50+ years (just once, in our house, when I was a little kid, donât know how it found us). Our critters are chipmunks, squirrels (red, gray, flying), voles, field mice. Of course the squirrels are upstairs, not under the floor.
termites would be the end of the wooden floor here
Yet another reminder that local conditions are so important in so many building decisions!
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