"Stall Skins" vs. Rubber Mats

[stevenmann]

Hi Folks - I'm about 3 weeks away from actually having a small horse barn (finally). In regards to the stalls themselves, I wanted to get some input from folks who currently have horses, and how they feel about the Stall Skins, versus using rubber mats.

My stalls will have about 8" to 10" of 3/4 stone topped by landscape fabric, then another 3" to 4" of pea stone (no pun intended [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] ). I was planning on adding the mats right over the pea stone, and then add shavings or pelletized bedding.

I know the skins allow liquid to pass through, leaching out into the lower layers. With the stone base that I have in, plus soil with very decent drainage below it, perhaps the stall skins would be a good alternative for me.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve Mann

[lbrown59]

What are "Stall Skins"

[MikePA]

Hi Steve,

We had Stall Skins and found that unless the base is very firm and level, they are hard to install and keep in place. If your horses paw at the ground in their stall, (one of our horses does this at feeding time) they will quickly rip the Stall Skin.

To be fair, we had them when our stall floors were not firm and level. I've since taken care of the firm and level problem (dug out 12" of clay and replaced with well tamped stone) and replaced the Stall Skins with the Groundmaster product.