Horse Stable Flooring Materials and Drainage

Two Major Types of Horse Stable Floors

The two major categories of stable flooring materials depend on whether the material is porous or impervious to wetness (Figure 1). Floor construction, from the ground up, will depend on what type of material is chosen. Porous floors will have an underlying foundation of sand and/or gravel to aid water movement down into the ground below the stable. Impervious floors may be sloped toward a drain so that urine and water can run out of the stall. Even impervious floors have a few inches of sand or fine gravel underneath for material stability and drainage of subsurface water. With either type of stall flooring, often enough bedding is used to absorb excess water and urine so actual liquid runoff is minimal except after a stall washdown.

Stall Floor Materials

Opinions differ on which type of stall flooring material is the best, but there is one thing most owners agree upon: a good floor is important to the horse's well-being. No one type of material seems to offer all the attributes of an ideal floor. Material selection depends on which disadvantage you are willing to work with. For example, concrete may meet most of your stall flooring criteria, but more bedding or solid rubber mats will be needed to protect the horse's legs. Table 1 summarizes the attributes of common flooring materials that will be described in more detail.

Characteristics of the ideal floor

These are ranked in importance from the horse's well-being, followed by the owner's interest.

• Easy on legs; has some "give" to decrease tendon and feet strain
• Dry
• Non-odor retentive
• Provides traction; nonslippery to encourage the horse to lie down
• Durable; stays level, resists damage from horse pawing, and has a long life
• Low maintenance
• Easy to clean
• Affordable

Stable management for stall floors

Consider manure and urine management when selecting the stall flooring material. On average, a horse produces 0.5 ounce of feces and 0.3 fluid ounce of urine per pound of body weight every day. So a 1,000-pound horse produces about 31 pounds of feces and 2.4 gallons of urine daily. Floors that allow urine to be absorbed and travel down through the flooring material layers can retain odors. A well-bedded stall will have less odor problem since the urine is more readily absorbed into the bedding. Impervious floors depend on slope for drainage and/or bedding to soak up urine.

Stall floors must be durable but also play an important role in the overall health of the horse. Leg soundness and fatigue are affected by the flooring material, with more forgiving floors generally being preferred over hard floors. A horse needs to lie down and get back up with confidence and without injury, so good traction is necessary. Stall floors that retain odors can deteriorate the respiratory system of the horse. Since horses spend a great deal of time with their heads down, high ammonia concentrations at the floor level can damage the lining of the throat and lungs. A good floor can inhibit internal parasite survival in the stall environment.