How To Properly Maintain A Horse Stall
How To Properly Maintain A Horse Stall For Your Horse's Health And Comfort
Posted: July 1, 2010
I have long believed that purchasing a horse is the cheapest part of the relationship between you and your mount. Keeping your horse, and maintaining it in the best possible manner, is where the expense comes in to the equation. When it comes to providing the best possible environment for your horse, care should be taken with the choices made regarding its stall. If you have a horse that is stabled regularly, the selection of flooring should be seriously considered as a potential hazard to your horse's health, unless careful attention has been given to it.
Considering the length of time that your horse will be stalled, the correct footings should be selected to ensure that you are not creating any tendon or ligament damage that can often result from excessive time on hard ground. The base foundations should be a selection of asphalt, concrete or lime stone fines. All of these surfaces are used with success in horse stalls. The most important aspect of the foundation that you choose will be budget and the ability to minimize stress on your horses legs and health. Having a solid base as your stall foundation can be successful in curbing pawing behavior by horses, especially around feed bins. Horses that grow sour from extended stall time can develop unwanted behavior such as pacing and pawing. The foundations of your stall should be able to withstand negative habits such as these, by not warping or creating a “gully” from the path that has been worn. Concrete and asphalt are easily hosed clean and can last for extended periods of time if cared for properly.
Using a base such as compacted dirt can be hazardous to your horse's health. Dust is a major contributor to a horse developing respiratory illness and should be managed as a serious threat to the health of your horse. Because we tend to close a barn tight over night in order to keep the warmth in, this restricts air flow around your horse's stall. Bedding, feed and flooring all play a part in increasing the dust content in your stall and as such can render your mount unsound if it contracts a respiratory illness. Measures to ensure the least amount of dust within the stalls should be priority to the horse owner. This can be combated by wetting hay and dry feed prior to feeding, hosing out the barn and stall complex, as well as choosing a suitable dust minimizing surface for the stalls. Revulcanized rubber horse stall mats are the preferred choice in providing your horse with a strong, durable base that can be cleaned easily and not contribute to the excessive dust problem from dirt based flooring.
Oftentimes, bedding such as sawdust, shavings, husks and straw are placed on top of the hard asphalt, concrete or limestone foundation. This acts as a buffer between the horses feet and the hard surface of the foundation. It can, however, allow urine and feces to escape through the bedding and on to the surface, and this can cause a stain and prolonged ammonia type odors. The hard foundations are favored over other surface materials as they are easily cleaned and can withstand prolonged use, but they have their faults. Many of these surfaces require excessive amounts of bedding in the stall as the hardness of the floor can render the horse stiff and sore if left without adequate bedding. Dust is able to sit within the natural grooves of these types of surfaces and will be disturbed with basic movement in the stall. Hosing and cleaning these surfaces can result in the stall floor becoming slippery and posing a risk to the horse and the handler. The ammonia smell of urine can become almost embedded in the flooring unless it is cleaned thoroughly and without delay. The cost of cleaning these surfaces along with the excessive amount of bedding required to buffer the hardness of the foundations, should be weighed up against providing your horse with a rubberized mat.
Revulcanized mats are produced by chemically bonding the rubber under extreme temperature and pressure. This results in a mat that is incredibly dense and durable. When compared to polyurethane bonded mats, which are glued and pressed with far less pressure, the revulcanized rubber mat outperforms and outlasts this inferior product. The polyurethane bonded mat will absorb animal urine and feces. Moisture is easily absorbed through the mat and can make cleaning and odor control just as difficult as having bare asphalt or concrete flooring. When the acidic urine lays on the polyurethane mat it causes the binder to deteriorate and will create a wear spot on the mat. This means that the mat will slowly start to flake away leaving a weak spot in your flooring. This will trap the urine and feces in the mat and provide an ideal environment for bacteria to harbor and grow. Rubber horse stall mats are available in standard, straight edge and interlocking styles.
Choosing a revulcanized rubber mat is the most sensible and economical of choices in equine footings. Due to its superb durability when compared to the polyurethane mat, it is able to withstand the harshest of treatment from stall use. Cleaning is far easier to carry out as the revulcanized mat will not absorb urine and feces and a hose or a brush with warm soapy water will remove the residue left from animal fluids. Care should be taken with the cleaning agents selected for your revulcanized mat. Oil, grease and solvents should be avoided as they can damage the rubber compound. Should you spill any of these liquids on your revulcanized mat, a simple clean with warm water and mild dish washing liquid as soon as possible will remedy the problem.
Using a durable rubber mat can minimize the need for bedding. Considering these mats provide a cushioning effect on the horse's legs, the amount of stall bedding required will be far less when compared to a bare concrete, asphalt or limestone floor. Less bedding means that there is a decrease in the cost associated with purchasing bedding. You can also expect to spend less time cleaning the stall, and therefore a decrease in time for mucking out will also benefit the horse owner. Given that revulcanized rubber flooring is an otherwise smooth profiled material, dust is not able to sit within grooves or cracks. This means a decrease in the amount of dust that can accumulate in the stall that can be disturbed with movement by the horse.
Selecting the right footing for your horse's stall is paramount to your horse's health and well being. A stall that has revulcanized rubber matting is easier to clean, cushioned for the horse's comfort and cost saving when considering the reduction of bedding required. These specially designed rubber mats offer maximum traction for horse and handler when wet and can also insulate a horse from damp and cold. Identifying the problems that can occur in a poorly thought out stall can save your horse's health and your hip pocket in the long term.
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