By Kim F Miller
Tammi Jordan developed her horsemanship foundation in her native South Africa, where most horses spent their days moving freely in outdoor paddocks. It’s been a “huge adjustment” accepting horsekeeping realities in the United States, where most horses spend much of their days confined to stalls.
Tammi now lives in Southwest Ranches, Florida, about an hour from Wellington. She boarded her horses elsewhere for many years, all the while thinking how she’d do things when she could fulfill her lifelong dream of having them at home.
That dream came true earlier this year with the construction of Unicorn Lane, a five-stall stable at Tammi and her husband’s home property. “I’m a control freak, so even though there are a lot of great boarding facilities in this area, being able to manage everything as I see fit is ideal.”
Flooring First
She prioritized flooring throughout the barn design and building process. Seeing how her horses responded to cushioned flooring at a Florida show facility put Tammi on the path to finding the perfect option for her horses.
“I noticed that my horses were relaxing a lot more, especially for being in a show environment,” Tammi explains. “It’s not that they are nervous horses, but they’d always tended to lie down and sleep more at home. It was eye opening for me to see them do that at a show.”
On return from the competition, she began researching stable flooring. “I’ve had a Haygain Hay Steamer for two years and have been really impressed by Haygain’s products.” That put Haygain’s ComfortStall on her list, along with other options.
Although other brands were “slightly less expensive,” Tammi went with ComfortStall based on quality of the materials and product reviews. “I read how ComfortStall’s dense foam didn’t shift or compress under horses’ weight or over time. For various reasons, ComfortStall just made sense to me.”
A Stickler For Clean
Keeping things clean is part of Tammi’s control freak nature. “I just love how sterile and clean you can get this flooring. It’s really amazing to get in there and scrub it down. The maintenance aspect and savings on bedding were not deciding factors for me, but ComfortStall has made cleaning the stalls a lot easier.”
The smell of ammonia in other stabling situations always nagged at Tammi’s mind. “I know how bad that is for horses’ hooves and their general well-being. With ComfortStall, we just don’t get that smell.”
That’s because the durable rubber TopCover atop the medical grade orthopedic foam is a single piece sealed to the stall wall. Urine cannot seep through to the subfloor. The familiar smell of ammonia in many stables is the result of urine accumulating at the subfloor. These ammonia-smelling urea off-gases are irritants to horse and human respiratory systems. ComfortStall’s sealed surface prevents this seepage. Instead, urine is absorbed in small amounts of bedding, then easily removed.
Although ComfortStall’s dense foam means that bedding is not needed for cushion, Tammi still likes to provide a deep layer of shavings for her horses. After experimenting with different bedding materials, she found that pelleted products are ideal for absorbing urine and are easy to remove from ComfortStall’s smooth surface.
Taking A Load Off
Along with easing the process of keeping the stalls super clean, Tammi is thrilled to observe her own horses and those she boards lying down and sleeping more. She’s also noticed less swelling of the legs in horses who used to need standing wraps to prevent puffy tendons.
“We don’t have a lot of turn-out, so having the extra cushion of this flooring is great. Watching the horses in their stalls, I can see that they are slightly shifting their weight back and forth. We have used a program in which horses stand on therapeutic pads to prompt small muscle movements, and I wondered if the same effect is happening with ComfortStall.”
Tammi and her KWPN mare, Sonett, are an accomplished dressage pair prepping for the Prix St. Georges level next year. Grand Prix is their eventual destination. Given Tammi’s level of determination, they seem bound to make it.
Tammi is a former event rider who had a rotational fall 10 years ago. “I ended up literally destroying my pelvis and hip,” she shares. “I was told I would never walk or ride again.” Having overcome those obstacles, finding the best flooring for her stable was a breeze.
Even the install of ComfortStall in five 12’ x 16’ stalls was relatively easy, she reports. With help from her husband and another friend, Tammi’s team spent 8-9 hours putting in the first stall, then about 4-5 hours for each subsequent stall. The weight and size of the TopCover was daunting, she acknowledges, but with muscle and a basic home-project handiness, her crew got the job done on their own.
A benefit of having horses at home is easy visits throughout the workday or evening. At Unicorn Lane, Tammi can pop in any time and find her horses resting comfortably and breathing easy in a clean, ammonia-free environment. For a horse owner who loves to be in control of every detail of their horses’ health and habitat, those are ideal indicators that all is well.
Publishing, posting and sharing is encouraged and appreciated and photos are available by request to Kim@haygain.com.
About Haygain
Haygain is a science-backed horse health company that manufactures Hay Steamers, the Forager Slow Feeder and ComfortStall Sealed Orthopedic Flooring. For more information on Haygain, visit www.haygain.us.
Haygain News
PR: Kim F Miller
Kim@Haygain.com
Photos available on request