Choosing The Right Horse Stable Flooring Materials
The significance of good horse stable flooring can become much more apparent as a horse spends more time in his stall. The type of stall flooring chosen definitely affects the fitness of a horse’s legs and feet. The most ideal floor is tremendously dependent on the style of management, while personal preferences can have a formidable influence. Thankfully, there are plenty of options out there for suitable floors in a horse facility.
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Materials. Generally there are 2 main categories of stable flooring materials based 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 the owner has chosen. Porous floors will have an actual foundation of sand and/or gravel to aid water movement down into the ground under the stable. Impervious floors may be steep toward a drain to ensure that water and urine can run out of the stall. Impervious floors also have a couple of inches of sand or fine gravel underneath for material security and drainage of subsurface water. Whatever the stall flooring type, often enough bedding is used in order to absorb urine and excess water thus actual liquid runoff is nominal other than after a stall washdown.
Characteristics. Some of the characteristics of an ideal horse stable flooring, ranked in accordance of the horse’s health followed by the owner’s interests, are: easy on legs, dry, does not retain odors, nonslippery to encourage the horse to lie down, durable, low maintenance, easy to tidy, and affordable.
Stall floors have to be long lasting but also perform an significant role in the horse’s overall health. The flooring material can considerably affect the horse’s leg soundness and fatigue, using more flexible floors generally being recommended over hard floors. A horse must lie down and get back up with full confidence and without injury, therefore good traction is important. Stall floors that retain odors could weaken the respiratory system of the horse. High ammonia concentrations at the floor level is not good… since the horses spend a lot of time with their heads down, this can damage the lining of the throat and lungs. A good floor can inhibit internal parasite survival in the stall environment.
Now, there are some things that one should keep in mind in setting up horse stable flooring: 1st, horse behavior results in unequal wetting and use of the flooring. 2nd, a wet, porous flooring material, like soil or clay, is much less capable of enduring the weight. Wet material will work its way into adjacent areas through hoof action, creating holes and high spots. 3rd, horses often paw near the stall door or feed bucket from impatience, boredom, or just out of habit. This creates low spots. 4th, most horses are great housekeepers, if provided with sufficient space.
Finally, a female horse will often urinate and defecate in one spot in her stall, far from the resting and feeding areas. Whilst, male horses are more limited in using their stalls but usually defecate in one area and urinate in the center.
Viewpoints vary on which kind of horse stable flooring material is the best, but there’s a very important factor most horse lovers agree upon. An excellent floor is essential to the horse’s well-being. Finding the right stable matting is equally important. Learn more about stable mats at http://www.horsematting.org.