Having a stall issue...

[PasoPerson38]

Hey guys!

Ok, I have a mare who has a large whole in the middle of her stall. The flooring now is dirt/limestone and her urine pores right into the whole and that only makes the whole bigger. Plus we are fighting thrush in her rear feet because of the icky whole and because the pastures are real wet from a lot of rain. In my stallion’s stall we built a slightly raised wood floor but I don’t remember how we planned it and the woman who explained to us how to build it moved. Is there something I should fill the whole with? Such as cement? Or does anyone have any plans on how to build a wood floor?
Thanks!!!

[Linda Y]

I have an old gelding her that does that. We dug out the center of the stall and filled it with very fine rocks...pea gravel it is called here. Then put sand on top of that, then the rest of the stall filler. It has worked real well, but he doesn't stay in the stall all the time either. There are a lot of products on the market that may help. One is a grid type affair that you embed into the stall floor and cover it with dirt. It keeps the dirt from shifting. Stall mats won't work for you?

[pnalley]

Wood will eventually rot, it also gets slick. I would build up the base of the stall with pea gravel. Fill in the hole, then raise the stall about 3 inches and have it level. Then put mats on top of that. Now you will use minimal bedding, your horse will have a safe, cushy bed, and the urine will run down to the ground and eventually dry up.

[Terry Wallace]

I'd do it just a bit different....in that I would trench from the center of the hole to the outside of each stall...you can take that trench right out the stall door to the outside. I would want that urine to have a place to go other than in the center of the stall as that will really stink in time. I'd put my breeze (breeze is fine rocks similar to pea gravel) in my trench bottom also before I put road base over top of it and then mat the whole thing.

I'd make real sure the stall is level before putting any mats down, as any place not level will pool urine. Once you mat it..your bedding becomes your "soak-up" material. Also...if you want her to go in a certain place in the stall...you put more bedding in "that" corner and less bedding everywhere else. Mares do NOT like any "splash back" on their legs...so if the bedding is fairly thin where you don't want her to "go"... she likely won't "go" there.

The trench I'm speaking of woulfd be about ten inches wide..and ten inches deep. I just shovel out mine. If the ground is really nasty bad & smelly...be sure to put down some lime to help it "sweeten up" before you mat it.

[Finogirl]

Over here we used pavement slabs from the sidewalks, the gaps in between does the drainage especially on sand and gravel base and you can sweep and clean the slabs really well.