Stall Mats - Part III

Saturday we had little things on the list, I got up early, did the horsey maintenance thing; cleaned stalls, the dry paddock and like that. Then I moved on to laundry, bathroom, vacuuming, sweeping, kitchen duties, etc. Boring, right? Yea, I think so, too.

He got himself busy finishing up KC's stall prep, moved on to Sprite's. Two stalls are prepped! Wahoo! Around 4 o'clock my nephew stopped in, with four friends in two cars. Tom continued cutting stall mats while our visitors made them selves at home down the hill. They love to target practice here because I don't charge like a firing range, but I do collect 'fees.' I insist on hand-delivery of my favorite coffee: Illy, whole bean. He brought me two cans.

The mats, from Humane Manufacturing Company in Baraboo, Wisconsin, are made from recycled tires. The slip-free surface is easy to keep clean. The interlocking dove-tail design, like a jigsaw puzzle, prevents the pieces from separating and folding over.

The schematic shows how the pieces should be placed in the stall and each mat is given a number corresponding to the schematic. The trail-and-error method of cutting the mats resulted in using a utility knife with a straight edge. That straight edge is the Mahogany level. We've had that level for many, many years. It was recommended by a neighbor in West Virginia when we were building the first barn there. He called it a 'mahiginee,' which we still refer to it as that, but when we were looking for this in the hardware store we weren't sure what we were even looking for. I had never heard Mahogany pronounced this way, neither had he. It's been the best buy, too, unlike the metal levels, the 'mahiginee' will not ever twist or bend.

Marking them with white chaulk, drawing a straight line using the 'maghiginee' and using the utility knife to cut through the thick mats; slow going as it got cooler and harder in the dark. Did I mention that only 1411 didn't need to be cut? That particular mat weighs 105 lbs. Ugh. Lifting that mat onto the wheel barrow was hardest, but made some of the others feel light. It's all relative, right?

We started laying the mats into KC's stall, then Sprite's. It got dark in the meantime, we were working with a work light on the driveway. Got them both done before their dinner, but we didn't eat until 9:00!

KC was a little distressed over the sight of his stall conversion, but he remembered that his feed was in the bin. After blowing a hard breath he jumped into the shavings. He likes it!

Sprite likes hers, too, but we haven't put shavings into it yet. She hasn't fouled the stall yet, either. Skip and KC were literally relieved to have shavings in their stalls. Glad they feel comfortable and relaxed, right? No more mopping up urine with wasted hay and throwing away stone dust.

The fifth stall has the mats cut but not installed. I don't know what we'll do with the cut pieces of rubber. I've known it to be used to line stalls of stall-kickers or 'cribbers,' but we don't have any cribbers or kickers.