Rubber horse mats.

[whistlepig]

My wife is constantly wanting to move these things. They weigh about 50 pounds each and are like trying to handle warm jello. We have bought a couple of the plastic mat grabbers. These things work well for a couple of times and then they are toast. I've tried rolling these things up, hog tying them, and putting them in a loader bucket. That works very poorly. I've tried sumo wrestling them into the back of a pick up truck. That's even worse. I have tried c-clamps and vise grips. I'm thinking about buying some bolt on pallet forks for my loader and trying that next. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Panik]

I can definitely sympathize. I used to work as a zoo keeper and we used to use similar mats for our Aldabra tortoises in their barn during the winter. At the time everyone who took care of them except the tortoises' main keeper used to complain about using the mats because we had to wrestle these heavy feces covered mats upright in order to clean under them. We finally took a cutoff tool to them one day and cut them to more manageable sizes when the tortoise primary keeper was on her weekend.

Anyways, if I were you and had the ability to get a loader/tractor close enough to pick them up, I'd use a hole saw bit and cut two holes on one edge of each mat. That way you could use slip hooks and a couple pieces of short chain and pick them up with a F.E.L. and move them where necessary. Whatever you do, check with the misses first - we caught **** when our teammate came back and saw what we did to "her" tortoises' mats :biggrin:

 

[NHmitch]

We have a lot of them in our barn and around our small farm. I have fought with these stupid things for about 15 years and they seem to get heavier when they get older. The best way that I have found by far to move them is by using a carry all attached to your 3 point hitch with a pallet on it. You just lower it next to them and slide them onto the pallet. The weight of the Mats holds them in place from sliding off of your lift all. The lift all is a very useful tool to have for many other projects as well. I use ours to do fence line by a putting my compressor on the back with my portable generator so I can use my pneumatic nail gun. I also haul hay and grain with it all the time. Hope this helps a bit and good look with those back killers..

 

[whistlepig]

She won't let me cut them or drill a hole in them. These are usually coated with wet horse feces and on top of everything else they are slick as snot. I'm getting older now and the rubber horse mats are faring much better than me these days. When I move these mats she wants them laid like floor tile with no gaps in them. I can, have, and still do lay horse mats like this. It does make a remarkable long lasting floor if done properly. I just am just looking for an easier way.

 

[whistlepig]

We have a lot of them in our barn and around our small farm. I have fought with these stupid things for about 15 years and they seem to get heavier when they get older. The best way that I have found by far to move them is by using a carry all attached to your 3 point hitch with a pallet on it. You just lower it next to them and slide them onto the pallet. The weight of the Mats holds them in place from sliding off of your lift all. The lift all is a very useful tool to have for many other projects as well. I use ours to do fence line by a putting my compressor on the back with my portable generator so I can use my pneumatic nail gun. I also haul hay and grain with it all the time. Hope this helps a bit and good look with those back killers..

Thanks much for the advice. I'm not going to try to pick these up to put in a loader bucket or the back of a pick up anymore. They will have to be slid onto something.

 

[bcp]

Maybe some variety of steel plate lifting clamp would work on them without breaking like the plastic clamps.

Dawson Lifting Clamps, Lifting Clamps China Manufacturer

Some are almost like the plastic clamps, but without the hand grip.

Or weld up a duplicate of the plastic grip with steel.

Bruce

 

[NHmitch]

Thanks much for the advice. I'm not going to try to pick these up to put in a loader bucket or the back of a pick up anymore. They will have to be slid onto something.

Hope that helped a bit! We move them around all the time, and I fought with them for years before using the carry all. They are not very expensive to buy one, just about $125ish. This is mine with the pallet attached. I just lower it and slide the on. The pallet only sits about 4 in high.

 

[whistlepig]

Maybe some variety of steel plate lifting clamp would work on them without breaking like the plastic clamps.

Dawson Lifting Clamps, Lifting Clamps China Manufacturer

Some are almost like the plastic clamps, but without the hand grip.

Or weld up a duplicate of the plastic grip with steel.

Bruce

I appreciate the suggestion. We use clamps like this at work. There is not enough weight in the horse mats to get something like this to grip properly. The plastic clamps are hardy enough and don't break. It's that they have serrated plastic gripping teeth and after a few uses the serrated plastic teeth on these plastic wear smooth.

 

[bcp]

These are usually coated with wet horse feces...

Rubber horse mats?

I didn't know rubber horses did that.

Bruce

 

[Coyote machine]

What comes to mind is something like tree tongs but with flat ends that can go under one side and push on the other when you lift up. Have you seen what is used to lift slabs of stone(granite,etc.) in the stone yards? You could actually use a couple of the brush-grubbers, now that I think about it. The smaller ones would allow you to set them and use their teeth, which are in each 'pad' to grip the mat and lift it, and place it close to where you want it. You could use a pressure washer to clean them off before setting them back in place.
Brush-grubbers are in tree work catalogs, and Dr. Mower/Country Home Products catalogs.
This way you could use a FEL or pallet forks to lift them without cutting holes and I doubt they would let go once grabbed.
Here's a new hand held one which might be useful to your purposes.
BrushGrubber | Handy Grubber

 

[whistlepig]

Hope that helped a bit! We move them around all the time, and I fought with them for years before using the carry all. They are not very expensive to buy one, just about $125ish. This is mine with the pallet attached. I just lower it and slide the on. The pallet only sits about 4 in high.



View attachment 327371



View attachment 327372

Mitch,
Thanks. Sounds like you have handled a mat or two yourself. I do like your set up.

 

[Xfaxman]

I use this for the mats in the horse trailer. They are Vice Grip sheet metal pliers.

Pictures from Google Image Search.

 

[Midniteoyl]

Ya.. vice grips seem the way to go

 

[QRTRHRS]

She won't let me cut them or drill a hole in them. These are usually coated with wet horse feces and on top of everything else they are slick as snot. I'm getting older now and the rubber horse mats are faring much better than me these days. When I move these mats she wants them laid like floor tile with no gaps in them. I can, have, and still do lay horse mats like this. It does make a remarkable long lasting floor if done properly. I just am just looking for an easier way.

I too used to lay them tight then a Mennonite barn builder said to lay them with about a 1/4 inch gap to allow for expansion. I followed his advice and overall, they do stay flatter. The occasional "stall walker" will still move them but they are easier to level back out.

 

[Creamer]

I use this View attachment 327467 for the mats in the horse trailer. They are Vice Grip sheet metal pliers.

Pictures from Google Image Search.

I cut small grooves in my sheet metal grips with a cutoff tool to grip wet mats. We used them in the shop and once in a while they would get oil or antifreeze on them and get really slick so some cross grooves provided a little more locking power.

 

[whistlepig]

We have them fitted to a large outdoor three sided run in shed. The floor of the shed was filled with "crush and run" or "chips and dust" gravel. In Kentucky it's called "crush and run" gravel. In Ohio it's called "chips and dust" gravel. Same thing. This gravel was then packed tight with a rented compactor. The mats, as you are suggesting, were laid with a 1/4" gap between. This was done 4 years ago. It does make for a very durable and easy to clean floor. I have had no issues with it since the installation 4 years ago. No walkers.

 

[KYErik]

For moving them over 8 feet, I use extra large regular vice grips and a 10 foot length of light duty chain (like a dog tie out chain or porch swing chain) and drag them one at a time with my atv.

Just pull up one short edge, throw 1 foot of chain under the mat and clamp the vice grips to the chain and the middle of the edge of the mat. You have to move them one at a time this way, but they slide/drag easily across the ground.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Could you use something like an extended hand truck to slide under them an lift up? Maybe extend the bottom out more.

 

[aczlan]

We fold them in half (on the 6' axis) and grab them from the middle. Works fairly well but they are a pain no matter what you do.

Aaron Z

 

[PhysAssist]

Ya.. vice grips seem the way to go

There is a new kind of visegrip for use with nuts and bolts, that may be helpful with the chain on method.

It has a cutout in the lower jaw (to fit around the hexes), that would act as a space for the chain to fit into, making the rest of the jaw more able to clamp onto the mat.

It also works great for odd sizes of nuts and bolts.

I'll see if I can find the link where I bought it on sale, if anyone is interested.

Thomas