Germs and pathogens that the horses’ hooves come into contact with, can cause infections.

The aggressiveness of these substances often results in fungal infections around the hooves which in turn frequently can lead to hoof disease (e.g. malanders). The riding arena mat is designed in such a way that liquids, primarily rain, can drain away through the built-in openings and the tread layer does not become muddy in the first place. The firm substrate ensures that horse droppings and clumps formed by urine in the tread layer can be removed without any difficulty because the mat prevents the tread layer from being “worked” into the substrate. And because the substrate always remains the same, the surface can easily and quickly be restored to an excellent condition. There is hardly any debris left in the arena. The result is a constantly clean riding surface – just as if it were brand-new every day.

This type of flooring is a decisive reason why European show jumpers are, on average, more successful with their horses than riders from other countries despite the fact that rider and horse are also excellently trained and conditioned. Horses that train on firm ground jump with far less fear because both take-off and touch-down after the jump are more pleasant for the horse and injuries are more rare.

The horse has more courage during training sessions and tournaments and, therefore, is faster and performs better. But why is that so?

Well, imagine you live in a region with very hard ground and uneven terrain. You train hard every day for an upcoming marathon and have become very good over time. Now, you arrive at the competition and find a constantly even track that dampens each and every stride – no holes, no bumpiness – a feeling, as if you were walking on clouds.

Believe us, you too would take some time to become accustomed to these optimum conditions. Only, you don’t have that time in this competition. The same is true for your horse! By the time it has become used to the arena, the competition will be over and all those that always work in constant arena conditions have an advantage. It is not without reason that a large proportion of the most successful riders of our time have arenas and paddocks with plastic equestrian matting! This type of mat flooring is suited both for outdoor areas and indoor floors.

The riding arena mats produced by us have been and are being used around the globe at renowned riding establishments as well as international show jumping and dressage tournaments. Here are some examples:

- Club Campo de Madrid
- Malaysia, the USA, in Dubai and Qatar
- Olympic Games 2008 in Hong Kong
- Riding arenas in Spain, Sweden and Norway as well as Russia and the Ukraine
- Arenas in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, etc.
- many large tournaments in Germany as for example, Leipzig, Dresden, Halle, Braunschweig, Verden, etc.
- many renowned European world champions train and ride on this flooring
- etc.

How such an installation is done is explained below:

The system:

The ground needs to be prepared before laying the mats. This can vary depending on the type and characteristics of the ground.
The topsoil layer is always removed and a slope of app. 0,5% needs to levelled off (creating a plane).

We install a protective fleece to prevent fine particles in the ground being mixed into the tread layer. The mat is placed on top and, finally, the tread layer, matched to your riding style, is applied.

If required, a border can be mounted on top of the mat so that the tread layer stays in place on the riding surface and will not be flushed away or displaced by hoof impacts or levelling with the harrow.

The properties and the depth of the tread layer depend on the type of equestrian sport to be performed in the arena. There are various options for achieving these different floor types, including mixing in of additives such as fleeces or fibres.
(see also: Riding arena construction)

As you can see, the principle is very simple. On concrete, asphalt or existing arenas, the mats can be laid down directly. The system can also be used for laying down floors in tradeshow and sports halls, etc. for an individual event and removing the floor again once the event is over. The mats are easy to clean with water and can be stacked for storage until the next use. This makes it possible to use halls with different substrates for tournaments. A good team converts a tradeshow hall into a tournament arena in 10-12 hours.

Box mat:

The surface is closed and lightly structured. The interlocking installation results in a completely closed surface so that the bedding or the applied tread layers can be easily swept clean.

The advantage: The horse stands on a safe and warm surface. When walking or nervously stamping, the risk of injury is much lower than on concrete. Impacts are highly dampened. At the same time and in contrast to rubber mats, the mat prevents the deceleration of movements, i.e., the floor mat is gentler on the lower joints because it allows all rotary movements of the animals.

Installation:
Our instructions make it possible for you to build a riding arena or stable floor by yourself. If you prefer, we are happy to provide installation support or even carry out the entire installation.

You can find more products from our portfolio in the Products section

As you can see, there are many good reasons for choosing this type of flooring:

Health and safety of horse and rider
Comfortable riding for horse and rider
Less personnel required for maintaining arenas and boxes
Money savings because the arena does not need be continually renewed

The environmental aspect is also of interest:
The raw material used for manufacturing the mats is subject to ongoing tests. In addition, our materials and end products undergo annual inspections by an independent laboratory and we would be happy to provide you with the relevant certificates.
You can install our products anywhere because the mats are PCB-free and the raw materials did not have any contact with organic materials.

In closing, we would like to address one more aspect regarding stability:
Even the heat during the summer of 2003 did not affect our mats. While other arenas resembled a moonscape because the installed grids or similar were extremely deformed, our mats held their shape. The choice of material eliminates a deformation of our mats.

Finally, some additional information:
Our mats are 100% reusable and, if required, returnable. However, this has never been necessary until now because the mats are easy to sell on even in a used condition.