Stall Flooring Setups – The Horse

Stall flooring may not be one thing we spend a lot of our horsey time pondering, nevertheless it’s essential to our horses’ well being. Like people, the floor a horse spends hours standing on can have an effect on his consolation, soundness, and high quality of motion. Stall flooring additionally impacts how effectively and completely you possibly can clear the stall—which, in flip, can have an effect on horse well being if ammonia accumulates within the airspace or grime collects on surfaces on which they eat.

Flooring Varieties

There are two fundamental classes of stall flooring: pervious and impervious. Pervious, or porous, stall flooring can both be conventional packed clay, or it could possibly embody a specifically designed geotextile membrane manufactured from a strong plastic rubber-type grid which may maintain stonedust inside it. Within the latter case, the membrane layers separate the horse and bedding from the bottom materials beneath. Whatever the kind, it’s best to place pervious supplies on a base of well-graded crushed and packed stone.

There are drawbacks to utilizing pervious flooring: Packed clay is mushy (in comparison with cement or asphalt), however it could possibly simply turn out to be uneven with added moisture, particularly should you don’t apply deep bedding. Membrane layers can contribute to urine and moisture buildup within the base materials beneath, leading to odors. Groundwater contamination is one other concern with any such stall building.

Impervious stall flooring is designed to forestall urine and moisture from draining. The horse both has entry to an outside space for defecating and urinating or bedding to soak up moisture and supply cushion.  

“The factor about stall flooring is folks normally obsess in regards to the prime layers, however that’s solely the icing on the cake,” says Eileen Fabian, PhD, professor of Agricultural and Organic Engineering at Pennsylvania State College, in College Park. “You have to have the entire layer cake beneath for it to work accurately. The flooring in a stall is one thing like constructing an area; there’s the bottom layer and the layer or materials on prime. If the bottom isn’t appropriate, nothing else goes to work proper.”

Resolve how you plan to make use of your stalls earlier than designing the flooring. Will your horses be confined in field stalls for many of the day? If that’s the case, do you intend to mattress the stalls deeply for consolation? Will the stalls have connected pens or paddocks horses can entry at any time? Is the proposed flooring in a shelter or run-in shed in a turnout or pasture?

“If you’re solely utilizing the stall for feeding or as a run-in shed, the flooring doesn’t have to be as sturdy as when horses are stalled all day,” says Fabian. Base your flooring decisions on how a lot you intend to stall your horse.

Rubber stall mats “are the gold customary within the business for overcoming hardness and facilitating cleansing,” says Fabian. Over time, producers have engineered stall mats to assist scale back fatigue in horses’ legs and make stall cleansing simpler. Cleansing a stall with easy, flat stall mats simplifies the duty of sorting manure and dirty bedding. You’ll be able to full the chore quicker and have extra clear bedding left behind. Stall mats additionally scale back the quantity of bedding you employ or permit you to mattress solely in a nook space “potty spot.” All these components could be money-savers.

Select rubber mats which might be not less than three-fourths of an inch thick—thinner mats are likely to migrate and put on with visitors. You’ll be able to place stall mats over cement or 4 to five inches of extremely compacted highway combine or one other crushed rock product akin to limestone. A correctly put in rubber mat must be stage and agency, whereas offering some “give” for cushion.

“Mats with ribs on the draw back will assist with some drainage and grip to maintain in place,” Fabian says. “A textured floor (on prime) retains horses from slipping. Use sufficient bedding to maintain urine from getting beneath.”

Rubber mats could be dear, however they pay for themselves in stall cleansing comfort, diminished bedding prices, and horse well being and luxury over time. You’ll find many types and types available on the market, together with interlocking mats and customized wall-to-wall installations. Stall mattresses—waterproof pads of various densities that add extra cushion and insulate in opposition to chilly flooring—could be choices for stalled horses and people liable to hock or fetlock sores. Some stall mattresses prolong wall to wall, whereas others are supposed to be positioned within the heart of the stall the place a horse is more than likely to lie down.

In some conditions, you would possibly place a drain in an impervious stall to gather liquids. “A stall drain could be necessary for a vet or maternity stall that’s incessantly washed down,” says Fabian. “A drain shouldn’t be positioned within the center the place the horse will lie. As an alternative, find it towards a wall,” and grade the stall accordingly. Should you do set up drains, place cleanout traps in them to catch and take away strong materials, she says.

Troubleshooting Flooring Issues

Not all stall flooring are completely even, secure, and maintenance-free. Listed below are 4 points you would possibly encounter and the way to tackle them.

1. Stall mats curling up

That is normally a base administration subject. Crushed highway base must be made up of variable-sized angular items, so it could possibly pack tight. If attainable, keep away from sand, pea gravel, different spherical rock, and even straight run gravel, as will probably be too free to pack down. As talked about, stall mats lower than ¾-inch thick are liable to transferring round. Slicing and becoming mats tightly in place is essential to conserving corners comfortable and safe. You can too use a bolt with a flush, rounded prime to lock mats to a concrete flooring safely.

2. Horses carrying holes in stalls

In case your horse is carrying holes in his stall flooring, first discover whether or not it’s a coaching or environmental enrichment subject or a flooring materials subject, says Fabian. Is the horse bored? Does he want extra turnout or pasture time? If he’s not spending a major period of time indoors and continues to be carrying holes, you would possibly contemplate totally different flooring sorts. Traditionally, arduous pack clay was the usual stall flooring materials, however one of many challenges with clay or grime is it will get moist from urine. As soon as moist, “soil loses its ‘bearing energy,’ and something heavy sinks in, making a trench or pothole,” Fabian says. Protecting stalls dry by utilizing absorbent bedding, cleansing incessantly, and checking for roof or different water leaks will assist stop holes. An impervious floor, akin to a concrete apron across the stall door, hightraffic areas, and even throughout the entire flooring, can stop holes, as nicely. Any correctly constructed flooring with stall mats on prime, nonetheless, must be resilient sufficient to resist pawing and visitors.

3. Uneven floor

Right this case by renovating the stall floor utilizing one of many aforementioned supplies. Should you select to put in mats, first stage the bottom with a base of crushed highway combine, then compact it earlier than becoming the mats on prime. Appropriately put in, stage stall mats are a lot better in your horse’s physique than an uneven, damp stall floor.

4. Air high quality and ammonia points

Odor points normally happen whenever you don’t take away urine and feces from the stall quick sufficient. Moisture—which might be from urine, rain, or a leaking waterer—mixed with feces creates that ammonia scent. Urine accommodates the precursor (ammonium) to ammonia and when that mixes with feces, which has the enzymes for this conversion, the result’s  ammonia volatilization and odor. The answer? Use sufficient absorbent bedding to seize urine, and clear completely day by day. You can too buy stall merchandise that take up ammonia.

Take-Dwelling Message

Construct your stall flooring from the bottom up. Select one that’s simple on legs, with sufficient give to reduce tendon and joint pressure. Be certain you possibly can successfully maintain the stall dry to keep away from odor points. The best flooring is one which’s easy and even for stall-cleaning ease however nonetheless affords traction and luxury that encourages the horse to lie down.