This new weekly series talks about the details that matter when building or renovating a barn or equestrian facility. It’s a known fact that horses know a million ways to hurt themselves, and our best defense is to share our knowledge on how to keep our friends safe. Our colleague, noted equine facilities designer Holly Matt of Pegasus Design Group, has generously agreed to write this weekly column. Have tips you’d like to share? Send them to [email protected].
Last week we covered two things that were absolutely free to do, that would improve your farm’s safety and productivity. This week, we’re going to look at two things you can do for your floors that will cost money, but we included a range of budget options. The better your floors, the easier your chores are, and more importantly, the safer you and your horses are.
Wash stall drainage: we’re all familiar with that nasty pool of water that grows and grows under your horse’s feet. Sure, it may help desensitize them to getting wet up to their cannon bones (aka “in-barn xc water training”) but it’s really not healthy or safe for you to be rooting around in poop soup under their bellies to clear the drain. Plus, slow drains tend to muck up the surface quicker and more enduringly, making it more slippery to stand on, and they definitely create way more maintenance… time that you might actually use to school water complexes outside, on an actual cross-country course.
The answer is to replace that old center floor drain with a commercial trench drain, and never have a clogged drain again. And the best news? Repairing and re-pouring concrete is not difficult or as expensive as you might think.
Commercial trench drains.
The other thing you should definitely consider is refinishing aisle and wash stall floors.
Dirt floors are inexpensive, and aren’t slippery. But they can seriously impact air quality, and are difficult to keep tidy and level, especially with pawing horses. For these reasons, we can’t really recommend them, but we do understand budgets. So if you have to have a dirt floor, you can keep down dust levels by finishing them with one of several products out there that will greatly improve the safety and air quality, not to mention appearance, for very moderate expense.
Concrete floors are better for many reasons, but they can be seriously hazardous with slip/fall risk. Even a horse walking calmly on concrete can easily lose its footing even if it’s shod all the way around (bare feet don’t eliminate the problem but do help). If you have a worn out concrete floor, on the low end of expense, it’s not a lot to re-grip it with a sand blast treatment. A middle option, traditional 4×6 black mats, are better than standing on concrete, but they can be not as grippy as we’d like when wet, and the gaps and cracks between them can trap horse hooves momentarily, potentially leading to Wash Stall Ballet culminating in the grand finale move: Doing the Splits. If you have those kind of mats, be careful to keep the area clean, including underneath, and mind the gaps to avoid issues if possible.
Naturally, our favorite option for high performance floors, a unitized high-grip rubber floor covering, is also the most expensive. (Sigh.) However, in the high-risk nasty-maintenance wash stall environment, it’s definitely worth exploring, because the small square footage means it’s actually quite affordable to do. With wall-to-wall no-gap coverage, it eliminates the trap and slip risk, but a great side benefit is never having to pull mats to clean underneath. This floor ends up looking a bit like a gym floor or a jogging track, but they’re way more durable for horses and steel shoes, and are far grippier than the usual 4×6 black mats. In terms of cost savings, the lack of maintenance alone will pay for the upgrade eventually, but the big savings are vet bills for your horse, and chiropractic bills for you. Plus, since it’s basically a wall-to-wall rubber carpet that comes in many colors, there is great curb appeal for equine businesses or farm resale.
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Polylast unitized floor surface.
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Unitized rubber flooring in crosstie area.
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Polylast up close, showing the high-grip nature of this type of rubber flooring.
