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 type of stall flooring chosen definitely impacts the fitness of a horse's legs and feet. Although the choice of flooring materials to be used is based on the owner's tastes, it is often reliant on management style. Fortunately, there are many options available for suitable floors for your horse stable.
Materials. There are two major categories of stable matting materials based on whether the material is porous or impervious to moisture. Floor construction, starting from the ground level up, will depend on what type of material is chosen. Porous floors will have a basic foundation of sand and/or gravel to assist water movement down into the ground under the stable. Impervious floors may be steep toward a drain to make sure that urine and water can run out of the stall. Impervious floors also have a couple of inches of sand or fine gravel below for material security and subsurface water drainage. Whatever the stall flooring type, generally ample bedding is used to absorb urine and excess water so actual liquid runoff is minimal apart from after a stall washdown.
Characteristics. The characteristics of an ideal horse stable flooring are often ranked in significance to the horse's health and then followed by the owner's preferences. The flooring shoul be easy on legs, dry, does not retain odors, has good traction, stays level therefore durable, low maintenance, easy to wash, and of course inexpensive.
Stall floors need to be durable but also play an important role in the overall health of the horse. The flooring material can significantly affect the horse's leg soundness and fatigue, using more forgiving floors usually being recommended over hard floors. A horse must lie down and get up with full confidence and without injury, thus good traction is necessary. Stall floors that retain odors could damage the horse's respiratory system. High ammonia concentrations at the floor level is not good, since the horses spend a lot of time with their heads down, this can harm the lining of the throat and lungs. An excellent floor can lessen the survival rate of internal parrasite inside the stalls.
Now, there are some things that one should keep in mind in installing horse stable flooring:
The behavior of the horse brings about unequal wetting and use of the flooring;
Wet, porous flooring material, soil or clay for example, is less efficient at enduring the weight. Wet material works its way into next areas through hoof action, creating holes and high spots;
Horses usually paw near the stall door or feed bucket out of outright anger, boredom, or simply out of habit. This will create low spots;
The majority of horses are good housekeepers, if provided with enough space; and
A female horse often urinates and defacates in one spot in her stall, away from the resting and feeding areas. While, male horses are more limited in how they use their stalls but normally defecate in one area and urinate in the middle.
