Why Choosing The Right Horse Stable Flooring Materials is Important

July 22, 2010 · Posted in Uncategorized

How much time a horse spends in it’s stall is the absolute reason why the importance of a good horse stable flooring has become more evident. The fitness of a horse’s legs and feet can be considerably affected by the kind of stall flooring chosen. The most appropriate floor is very dependent on management style, while personal tastes may have a formidable influence. Thankfully, there are various options available for suitable floors for your horse stable.

Learn more about stable mats now!

Materials. Generally there are two key categories of stable flooring materials depend on whether the material is permeable or impervious to wetness. Floor construction, starting from the ground level up, is determined by what kind of material is chosen. Porous floors will have an underlying foundation of sand and/or gravel to support motion of the water down into the ground under the stable. Impervious floors could be steep toward a drain so that urine and water can run out of the stall. Even impervious floors have a couple of inches of sand or fine gravel below for the steadiness of material and subsurface water drainage. Whatever the stall flooring type, generally adequate bedding is used to absorb urine and excess water therefore actual liquid runoff is minimal other than after a stall washdown.

Characteristics. Some of the characteristics of an ideal horse stable flooring, ranked to ensure the horse’s health followed by the owner’s tastes, are: easy on legs, dry, non-odor retentive, provides traction, resists damage from horse pawing therefore durable, low maintenance, easy to tidy, and reasonably priced.

Stall floors need to be long lasting but also perform an important role in the all around health of the horse. The flooring material can significantly affect the horse’s leg soundness and fatigue, having more forgiving floors usually being recommended over hard floors. A horse needs to lie down and get back up with confidence and without injury, therefore good traction is important. Stall floors that retain odors could harm the horse’s respiratory system. Due to the fact that horses spend a lot of time with their heads down, high ammonia concentrations at the floor level can harm the lining of the throat and lungs. An ideal floor can prevent the survival of internal parasite in the stall environment.

Now, there are some things that one should keep in mind in installing horse stable flooring:

First, the behavior of the horse leads to uneven wetting and use of the flooring.

2nd, a wet, porous flooring material, like soil or clay, is much less effective at enduring the weight. Wet material works its way into next areas through hoof action, creating holes and high spots.

Third, horses usually paw near the stall door or feed bucket out of impatience, boredom, or just out of habit. This creates low spots.

Fourth, the majority of horses are good housekeepers, if given sufficient space.

Lastly, a female horse will often urinate and defecate in one spot in her stall, away from the resting and feeding areas. While, geldings are more limited in using their stalls but generally defecate in one area and urinate in the middle.

Views vary on which kind of horse stable flooring material is the best, but there’s a very important factor most owners agree upon. A good floor is essential to the horse’s well-being. Choosing the best stable matting is also important. Learn more about stable mats at http://www.horsematting.org.