We have a concrete aisle; we put a few stall mats down the center, and the when cross-tied, the horses tend to shift to one side or the other, to get their feet off the rubber..
I think I know what my favorite barn set up would be but I just can’t afford it. There are a couple of large facilities in our area and they all use the same thing for a floor.
They start with a good compacted road base, then added decomposed granite which is compacted. On top of that they put rubber bricks that are dog bone shaped. This makes them interlocking yet still with some cushion. On top of that they set the stall mats and then dropped the free standing stalls on top of the mats so they were held down.
Admittedly these are pretty pricey set ups but I sort of like the idea of those interlocking rubber bricks. I also know that they tend to bed very deep and clean 2-3 times a day which is pretty nice. Heck…..given the chance I would move in.
The other thing to consider is that these are performance horses which are being ridden 5-6 days a week and some of those will be on cows which adds to the bumps and bruises. If your horses don’t get ridden that much, don’t lie down a lot and have access to a turn out daily then maybe the stall does not need so much attention.
Thanks for asking. We have another world champion in the family now. My youngest won the world championship at the National Little Britches Rodeo in Pueblo, CO. Mesa continues with her winning. She recently won the Midwest Rodeo Finals. At the finals she won all three go rounds and the overall championship. This was against adults. She was the only person under 18 that qualified. I'm pretty proud of them.
I can't imagine too many things, that involve horses, that are bad for a kid.
To me, one of the cutest things in the world, is an honest horse that packs some little kid around. All the while there is this little flea of a kid sittin' up there spurrin' the saddle pad. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Congradulations on the girls achievments Doc. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Must keep uou and the wife on the run from before can't see to after can't see. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
I just finished my barn. We concreted the aisles and then I took out about a foot of dirt from under where the stalls will go. I added in rock and the last four inches I put in 2 inches of crushed stone then Equiterr panels filled with another 2 inches of cruched stone. This allows the drainage for the horse urine and keeps the pawing from deforming the stall floor.
Haven't been in this forum for a while. Here's a bit of a status report on tyhe equiterr flooring. Curently have it in four of my five stalls. Only have two horses and the one stall that doesn't have the flooring is occupied by a goat. The two stalls that we use for the horses are holding up well. Of course over the summer the horses were outside more than inside. BUt now that the weather has changed here in northern Illinois they are in more. Results are great.
The equiterr panels are holding up well and there are no dips or ruts that you would get with mats or dirt. The equiterr panels are covered with pine shavings for bedding. The drainage system of rock and fill below the panels seems to be working well. So far so good and no problems.
Hi all, new person here. I thought I would add my two cents. My wife and I have three barns with a total of 23 stalls. I also happen to deliver pole barn materials for a builder with ten crews on so I see a few barns.
Starting with an existing small pole barn, we put in 6" of stone dust, rubber mats and just set free standing stalls up that had been purchased used from a horse show.
The next barn which we built for stallions is made of concrete block. It is open on the south side, has three 12x16 stalls, stone dust and mats. The stalls are set in 8' from the south side to minimize bad weather. The mats exposed to the sun move around and require periodic matenance.
The newest barn is 40x120, has 14 12x12 stalls, a 12x16 double wash bay, 700sq ft of service rooms, 16' wide concrete aisle, stone dust and mats in the stalls. The stalls are set about 3-4" lower than the concrete aisle. This helps keep debris inside the stall.
I bed with sawdust. I don't bed deeply, rather, I bed per horse per weather, ie; wet stall needs more dust.
Pole barns are not built for full 12x12 stalls, due to centers, the stalls end up ~11.5x11.5'. I did build my block barn with full 12x stalls. Due to inevitable irregularities, I had to trim the mats anyway. Plus, when I built the south facing header, I waisted lumber.
My builder (who did the stalls cheaper than I could buy the material) did not cut the mats to lay tight (as I had done). Rather, they have 1/4 to 1/2" gaps which fill with debris. The builder said this would minimize lifting (it does).
My wife wanted a dirt aisle, I wanted concrete. I won that compromise. She praises me on that foresite. It is more easily cleaned. If your pockets are deep, concrete with rubber paving blocks would be nice. Horses make a lot of noise on concrete. They need to be led a few times to be assured that it is okay. I have arabs, quarters and drafts on it, none have slipped and fallen.
Rule number one for a barn is to have drainage. I don't see where the base has to be any particular type of stone or even if it needs to be stone. My new barn was built on graded and rolled brown shale/clayish soil.
I have heard the argument that stone dust will compact hard like concrete. Yes, it will. However, being porous it does not "draw" like concrete. Still, I have talked to Penn State folks about it without a definite conclusion. I will stick with dust.
Not all rubber mats are created equally. A 4x6 mat weighing 100 lbs is hard to move but stays put better than a thinner lighter flimsy one.
An alternative to sawdust is gypsum. Ground up pieces of drywall from the modular industry, it is formulated for either cows or horses. It is kind of alien looking almost like a stone dust. It absorbs like you would not belive, last long and is excellent for the soil. It is no where near as dusty as fine sawdust but can get a little dusty if you have a horse that wonders in the stall. Mice and flies don't like it! There is little waste when you pick your stalls. It is available bagged or bulk. The bagged I tried seemed a bit musty initially but the bulk load I got later was perfect. One drawback! Some horses will eat it. For those, I would mix 50/50 sawdust/gypsum.
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