BELMONDO® Trend for coldbloods
Ilka Buhl's two coldbloods live in the open stable and enjoy lying outside. Seeing as they have a tendency to injure their joints when lying in sand, their favorite lying surface was covered with BELMONDO® Trend mats.
Problems with injured joints
The exercise area in Ilka Buhl's open stable is underpinned with plastic paddock panels and filled with sand. This is also where the preferred free stall of her two coldbloods is located. If the two heavyweights would lie down on the soft bedding in the stable, there would have been no problem at all. Instead, they had to struggle with scuffed and sore joints.
Ilka Buhl initially tried to solve the problem with the scuff marks by adding a thicker layer of sand. But that only made things worse. She believes this was due to the deeper sand making it more difficult for the horses to get up. It scuffed and injured their joints even more than before.
Remedy provided by installing BELMONDO® Trend on the lying areas
As a result, the Buhls decided to install the soft rubber flooring BELMONDO® Trend in the lying areas for their coldbloods. Despite being informed that this mat is not actually recommended for outdoor use, they still wanted to give it a go. The air-cushion structure on the lower side, which makes the mat extremely soft, was particularly impressive. For their special case, the Buhl family "repurposed" the BELMONDO® Trend and used it exclusively for their horses' favorite sleeping area.
"The mats offer excellent slip resistance even when wet. Overall, a really good choice for our heavyweights!"
The wounds healed up really quickly
Ilka Buhl and her heavyweights were completely satisfied from the start. The animals immediately enjoyed lying down on the new lying mats. The scuffed and sore joints were much better within a few days, and after only eight days there were almost no signs of abrasion any more.
Even the sand that the horses bring onto the rubber mat does not cause a problem. Ilka Buhl's original concerns about the sand were unfounded. Further, the sand can be swept away quite easily, something that she does regularly.
Still intact and in use even after many years
The BELMONDO® Trend mats were installed in 2017. Now, after many years of use, Ilka Buhl describes the mats as extremely weather resistant and robust. Despite each horse weighing almost one ton, the mats exhibit no visible wear and remain securely in place even when the animals get up. The investment has really paid off for Ilka Buhl, as the quality of the BELMONDO® mats makes all the difference.
"Despite each horse weighing almost one ton, the mats don't exhibit any visible wear or shift when the animals get up."