The benefits of rubber mats for your horse stable
Installing good quality rubber matting in your stables has an extensive range of benefits for you and your horses.
Rubber stable mats can save you time and money. They are warmer, quieter and more comfortable than many other flooring surfaces. Numat’s Rubber Stable Mats are long-lasting with little maintenance required and easy to keep clean; which saves you time and reduces your bedding costs.
Save time & money on stable bedding
Mucking out and cleaning your stables is something that needs to be done on a regular basis to keep your horses healthy and keep your stable from getting too smelly. If you have rubber floor mats in your stables, manure, wasted feed, and soiled bedding are easily swept, shoveled, or raked up. Rubber stable mats can also be hosed down and disinfected easily. The non-porous surface will clean up nicely. Research has also shown that non-porous, vulcanized-sealed rubber surfaces, like Numat’s Kura and Unimat products, have lower microbial counts than concrete.
If you have nice thick rubber stable mats you can reduce or perhaps eliminate the need to use any extra bedding for your horses at all. They will be quite comfortable laying on the soft warm rubber surface. Some absorbent bedding might be all you need to soak up urine if you don’t have enough drainage/slope on your flooring for it to run off.
There are many different types of rubber mats available. Choosing the right product for your requirements is crucial to their success and durability as a stable bedding alternative.
Numat’s Unimat is a popular choice for stable flooring and it comes with a 10-year guarantee. This means 10 years without having to replace or resurface your old dirt, clay, or gravel stable flooring.
Horse rubber mats require an initial investment, but they pay themselves back with the money saved on buying other forms of bedding, and the time saved on labour.
Case Study – Rubber matting reduces horse bedding costs
“The horses are happy to lie on the rubber matting, which eliminates the need for straw or sawdust. We simply rake off the manure, sweep the matting, and power wash it. It only takes around 40 minutes to clean the entire complex immaculately.”
Julie, Flying Horses
Rubber matting is warmer & quieter than concrete or gravel flooring
Rubber stable flooring has great insulating properties and is, therefore, warmer and quieter than many other flooring options. Thick rubber mats will also absorb almost all sounds made by your horse’s feet moving on the ground. Your horses will enjoy a warmer, quieter stable. Many of our customers have noticed improvements in their horses’ behaviour since installing our rubber stable mats.
Case Study – a quieter, cleaner, and tidier stable entrance
Eloise had recently done some renovation work to her barn. It became clear that the flooring needed some attention. The old flooring was a harsh and noisy dirt and stone mix which was messy and uneven. Eloise was after something that was both aesthetically pleasing as well as shock and sound-absorbing. After talking with one of our surfacing consultants Eloise decided to go with Unimat – a high-quality German rubber mat with a ribbed base – to ensure superior comfort and shock absorption.
Immediately, she found that when she brought her horse onto the rubber matting he was content. “He will happily stand on the matting for hours without his hooves clattering or scrapping, the flooring absorbs all contact”, she says, adding, “It’s brilliant for tacking up, grooming, and washing tails etc. We tie a hay net for the horse and the area can simply be swept afterward and it’s completely tidy again. It looks brilliant and is so smart.”
Eloise Stevenson, Taupaki
Read more about Eloise’s new rubber matting
Rubber flooring is better for joint and hoof health
Rubber stable matting will reduce the risk of falls and injuries, increase impact absorption, and improve tendon and joint health.
Stall floors must be durable but they also play an important role in the overall health of your horses. Leg soundness, circulation and fatigue are affected by the flooring material, with soft floor surfaces generally being preferred over hard floors. The problem with many soft flooring surfaces such as dirt or sand is that it is high maintenance and will need levelling and resurfacing on a regular basis.
There are many different types of rubber stable mats available. The various thicknesses and designs will have different effects on the impact absorption, padding and insulation properties of the matting. For the best impact absorption and joint health Numat recommend using Kura Interlocking Mats. This product is very hard wearing and comes with a 10-year guarantee.
Click here for more information about Kura Mats
Rubber matting provides a safer anti-slip surface
Horses often slip and struggle when getting up from a concrete-floored stable, despite the layer of bedding which is easily scraped through. Rubber mats give a similar grip as a horse would have on the ground outdoors in a more natural circumstance.
As mentioned earlier, there is a wide range of rubber mat products available today. It is important to choose a product that has a grippy surface such as Kura or Unimat rubber matting from Numat. Both these products have a durable grippy surface that provides maximum traction reducing slipping and fall injuries.
When the Wilson Sisters noticed their horses slipping on the concrete floors in their Northland stables they went looking for a solution. They found it in the form of Numat’s Unimat stable matting.
Resources:
- www.happy-horse-training.com/horse-rubber-mats.html
- www.extension.psu.edu/horse-stable-flooring-materials-and-drainage