Hey Cathy,  I am writing the story about Misty and the stall skins. 

 Due to environmental issues, some installations must be made over concrete where run off is contained.  The following is how the application of Stall Skins is performed. 

I hope this following information is helpful. (dated 5/21/02) We have been using the mats for over 18 months and are very happy with them. We have 10 stalls – seven 12 X 12 stalls and three stalls that measure 12 X 16 (for foaling).
Terry Thompson, TN

Dig out the center of the stall to a depth of approximately 8 inches by 10 inches wide. If you are going to do multiple stalls you should then dig a trench to the side edge of the stall so that you can join the drainage pipe to the next stall (going under the wall and continuing on in that fashion until you have joined all of your stalls in one continuous drain pipe). Put your PVC pipe in (we used 6 inch pipe in the trenches and an 8 inch pipe going up to the surface for the drain portion. We shaped the floor of the stall so that they dropped 1 inches from the outside edges toward the center. By doing this you provides a natural slope to the center of the drain that moves urine toward the drain. In other words, the concrete was 4 inches deep around the perimeter of the stall and only 3 inches deep at the drain in the center of the stall. Before pouring we also measured and shaped where the drain plate would go over the drain – making sure when it was in place it would be recessed into the floor and the surface of the drain would be flush with the floor. We instructed the concrete people to make the surface a smooth finish as opposed to a rough or brushed finished. The reason you will want a smooth finish is that you will want to seal the concrete and a rough finish will, with time, shed the raised particles and open up microscopic surfaces that are unsealed and will be prone to absorb urine and urine odors. As your horse will not be standing directly on this surface you don’t need to worry about how slick it is – in fact the smoother, the better. We went to a local steel store and had them cut plates of steel to place over the center drain. We drilled approximately 20 1/4 inch holes into the plate and placed it into the recessed drain area. After the concrete had dried, we then rolled the concrete floor with concrete sealer to insure our stall would never absorb urine. The next step was to place mats in the stall on top of the concrete. These mats were the type you would find in wash rack areas. They were 4 X 6 foot mats with 1 inch holes over the entire surface with nubs on the bottom of the mat which not only insures they provide cushioning for horses standing on them but also allow the urine to pass under them and move to the drain. These mats can be purchased through Hill View Farms (rubber ring mats) It will take 6 of these mats to do a 12 by 12 foot stall. You can trim them for an exact fit. We next installed the Stall Skins over the top of the mats per the instructions of the manufacturer of the Stall Skins.

We only use approximately 3-5 inches of shavings as we have found that thicker amounts of shavings tend to absorb the urine before it reaches the mat. That would defeat the whole purpose of moving the urine (and odor) out of the stall. We totally strip the stall approximately every 4-5 months and use a hose to fully flush the mat and stall floor underneath. Because they drain you don’t need to do anything other than spray them down thoroughly periodically. You don’t need to remove them to do this because the same principle for removing urine also removes the flushing water. You will need to let the stall set for a couple of days without shavings in order to dry thoroughly before rebedding it. The rest of the time we simply remove the manure each day. If we find a really wet spot we simply remove it also and put dry shavings back in those areas. What we have found is that because the urine can drain out through the mat fairly quickly, our shavings only get wet in circles of approximately 6 inches across because it goes through the mat instead of spreading out across it.

If you don’t remove the wet spots daily (which I can assure you isn’t necessary) then you will find that about once a month your will have a really wet area near the center of the drain. That area is only about 1 inch in depth and isn’t in contact with the horse because it stays covered by 3-4 inches of dry shavings. I have been very happy with this system. I have had a mare foal in a stall using this system and the birthing fluids (along with the odor) simply drained away. We stripped the stall three months later and flushed it with a hose when we moved her and the baby out of the stall.

Preparing 1/4 inch thich steel plate for insertion into the center drain of the stall. We drilled 1 inch holes in this plate as illustrated in next photo	Steel plate with holes drilled into it to allow for quick drainage into drain system. THis is important when you flush the stall with a hose every few months
Picutre of drain in center of stall. You can see that the sides are raised so the plate sits flush with the floor and the concrete (when poured) was shaped to slope toward the center of the drain. Concrete is about 4 inches thick around the stall edges and decreases to about 3 inches thick at the center of the stall	Finished plate installed in the center of the stall and covering the open drain hole. The top of the plate is flush with concreete floor.
Close up view of the mats. As you can see there are large nubs on the bottom so they sit well above the floor and have ample drainage. They are thick as well and provide cushioning.	Long view of what stall looks like when we start placing the mats. This picture doesn't show the drain cover over the darin yet, but the mats are placed on top of that steel plate that covers the hole.
Removing 4 x 4 wood door quard so the stall skin can be installed UNDER this piece of wood to avoid ripping the molding when horse enters/leaves the stall.	Shows the usual 4 x 4 door guard removed and ready to have mats and skin placed in the stall.
Shows Stall Skin being unrolled and preparing to place it over mats. Be careful that you follow manufacturers directions regarding "top and bottom" of the stall shins. If stall skin is upside down it will be easier to tear and won't wick moisture properly.	Mat has been laid out and is now ready to be attached to the sides of the stall per manufacturers instructions.
Finished view of stall with molding securing it to the sides of the stall	Shows 4 x 4 board covering the stall skin at the doorway to prevent horse from stepping on the dege of the molding and breaking it in the doorway.
	The photo to the left is at floor level with the stall. As you can see the shavings are not higher than the 4 inch thick door guard piece of wood. We have used only 3-4 inches of shaving since using this system. Additionally we only strip stalls completely about every 4-5 months. Shallow shavings allows for rapid drainage of urine. If you have a horse that paws it will make no difference if the shavings are 4 inches or 12 inches deep. With 4 inches we never get manure down to the mat either. 4 inches is sufficient and economical. One final note: as a general rule most horses only paw when the can smell dirt. If the stall is concrete there isn't' any dirt older. Horses that pawed the stall skins when they were installed on sand stopped after we installed concrete. Also our Vets here love these stall skins especially in the birthing stalls. It is safer and more convient for both mare and foal.