We all know how versatile rubber matting can be. But here is one use that not many people have thought of – as stable mats. As it turns out, using rubber mats for your stables has a number of benefits, which we are going to explore in this article. One of the best ones however is reducing your costs on horse bedding significantly.
Cost, labour and time
Having rubber matting, either as the only bedding or in combination with straw, wood shavings or other materials, will greatly reduce the amount of money you spend on horse bedding. It will also reduce the time and labour you expend on mucking out the horse’s stables. With rubber horse mats as the sole bedding, a quick brush and a wash with a pressure hose will take no time at all. Two other pluses are that you will have more storage space where you have been keeping bulky bedding, and that rubber mats will stop horses from eating their bedding and ingesting things they should not.
However, make sure that, if you only use rubber mats for bedding, the horses still have enough clean straw to eat to keep their gut moving.
Get up confidently
Rubber mats will provide a non-slip flooring that helps your horse to get up more easily. Often when getting up from concrete floors horses will slip and it may take them a few times to get up completely. Even with straw, wood shavings or other kinds of bedding they can be easily scraped aside and not provide the non-slip surface needed. Getting up with a rubber mat will be similar to getting up from the ground outside.
A warmer bed
Straw, wood shavings and other materials cannot provide proper insulation between a concrete floor and the horse’s body. A rubber mat will help minimise the cold felt through the concrete making it more comfortable for your horse.
As a bonus, a rubber mat will also provide superior cushioning and shock absorbency for the horse’s joints.
Reduced odour
Rubber mats with a drainage system
Regular horse bedding can trap urine and create an ammonia smell in the stable. A rubber mat with proper drainage will trap urine underneath where a natural septic breakdown occurs over time. This greatly reduces the ammonia smell and just needs to be cleaned from underneath once or twice a year.
Rubber mats without a drainage system
Rubber mats that do not have a drainage system should be used in conjunction with other bedding material that can trap the urine and other liquids and will need to be changed as usual.
