Stall mats

[aurora]

I've got a mare that is a stall walker. She has dug a sizeable hole in the middle of her stall where she turns on her hind legs. I'm going to strip the stall and fill the hole with clay. But I know when I put her back into the stall she'll just dig it up again. I was wondering if I got some stall lmats if the walking back and forth would just disoldge them?

[Lisann]

You could try the interlocking mats. Also, Linear Rubber Products sells very nice mats - you can get them so 1 or 2 pieces cover the whole stall. If you fit regular mats tightly, they shouldn't shift much.

[Shammy Davis]

Some years back I managed a hunter/jumper barn at a nearby college during their school year. They used very heavy stall mats. Some the horses pawed. The mats were heavy but not interlocking. The incidence of pulled shoes was high with these horses and we often had damaged hoof walls. Getting very heavy interlocking mats is the best advice because my experience is that if a horse wants to destroy something, they can do it.

A couple of other thoughts are that once a stall mat section is lifted (by pawing or other reason) from its base, bedding and dirt gets under that section making it an obstacle for movements. This can be very dangerous as horses can stumble and fall in their stalls. Lastly, drainage can also be a problem. We removed stall mats every six months, replacing them after we had leveled the base surface again and insured a slight grade so that water would run off. Crushed rock is the best base for mats.

[madelyn]

Everything depends on the kind of mat plus the base you put in. The base has to be PERFECT. I like dense grade topped with limestone dust, watered and Packed with a really heavy tamper along the walls and a roller in the middle. Very heavy, thick mats, cut PERFECTLY, should not dislodge. I have never used/needed interlockers. If you put a layer of sand over the mats, it gives the diggers something to do.

[Diane]

I put bagged asphalt under my mats, hand compacted. Our ground shifts and settles by nature plus I wanted something that might keep the rodents from tunneling up. I like it. I have heavy mats over it, they're 6 years old now and have not had to replace any. Yes there is maybe an annual add a bag or 2 of asphalt here and there but I'm not ordering loads of rock like others in my area.
Bagged asphalt isn't cheap ~ $7.99 per 60 lb bag. 12 x 12 stall might easily take 20 bags to make a thick useful layer. The weather is a factor, warm sun softens the stuff so it's workable. A hand compactor can be found at any Lowe's,Home Depot.

[Shammy Davis]

Joe Taylor in his book recommends using soft compacted asphalt as stall flooring, so I think Diane comments are something to think about. I don't think soft compact asphalt as stall flooring would hold under hoof pawing but surely would be a great base for the mats.