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.
Low Maintenance Costs
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 mats, have lower microbial counts than concrete.
Reduced Bedding Costs
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.
Your horses 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.
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.
Horse Comfort
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.
Animal 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 to wear and comes with a 10-year guarantee.
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.
It is important to choose a product that has a grippy surface such as Kura which has a durable grippy surface that provides maximum traction reducing slipping and fall injuries.
