Stall Mats with llama graphic (exclusive to Quality Llama)
Today it was finally warm enough for me to hose and scrub down my stall mats from the OK show. Yes, it’s been almost two weeks and they’ve been tucked away in a tightly folded trash bag. I’ve wandered by them daily on my way to clean the barn and crossed my fingers with a fervent hope that nothing was fermenting away between the mat layers.
But with temps breaking 50 degrees today, I just couldn’t put it off any longer and I rolled them out gingerly and started to hose them off, antibacterial detergent and scrub brush at hand.
The stall mats we put down at shows have always stymied me, from the first time I had to use them until today. They just never made sense to me. I had always assumed it was because they were made for some other industry and we just adapted them for our own use. But as I worked away on cleaning the blue, green, and black mat below me, the llama graphic clearly showed this was its intended use. I had picked up this mat from Quality Llamas at a Fall show because it was so pretty…if something can be poopy and pretty all at the same time.
Still…the mat below me was 9′x9′. My smaller mats are 6′x6′. As far as I know, there has never been a 9′x9′ or 6′x6′ stall at shows. There are 8′x8′ , 10′x10′, and even 10′x12′ stalls. So question one: why don’t the mat sizes line up with the most common stall show sizes?
Question two: why are there grommets on the edges of the stall mats? That implies we’re supposed to tie them down. I’ve never seen anyone do that at a show and show use is by far the most common application for these. Maybe some people use them outside and tie them to keep the edges from flapping up but do you know anyone who does that? Why not leave off the grommets and reduce the price?
Question three: why are these things woven? Why aren’t they just a textured perforated material? The weave hangs on tight to all those beans that get smooshed in by little prancing alpaca toes and take a concentrated burst from the hose to get out if the brush misses them. I understand the urine needs to pass through but tiny perforations would do that without the problems of the woven strands.
Question four: why aren’t these made to be disposable? C’mon – wouldn’t we all forego the joy of folding up, transporting, and cleaning a rather unwieldy mat if we could buy stall mat-lite for $10-$15? It just needs to hold up for the length of the show and then tossed into recycling or be biodegradeable. A show with 300 alpacas would mean at least 100 stall mats used that would need replacing – continuous volume sales for the vendor. But at $45-$50 each, currently sold stall mats are just too pricey to be tossed.
Question five: what is with these stall mat bags? As if having to handle and clean a poopy stall mat isn’t enough, now you can pay to have your poopy stall mats travel in style and when you get home, you have a poopy stall mat bag to clean out and disinfect as well. I’ve just never understood the practicality of a stall mat bag over an extra large trash bag, which at least can be reused without being cleaned. Mine go straight to lining the trash can for the barn, where anything that gets tossed in it is usually stinkier and nastier than what remained stuck to the sides from the mats.
So, if anyone with the right talent is out there is listening, please make my dream stall mat. I think others would like it too, not just me. Wealth awaits.
