Dressage professional Amy Howard welcomes ComfortStall in her holistic horsekeeping approach.

Like a lot of barn owners, FEI dressage rider Amy Howard chose thick rubber stall mats for her private training barn, located in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. They seemed the best option until she installed ComfortStall Sealed Orthopedic Flooring. “There’s no comparison,” she says. “This feels like the flooring in a gym: it springs up to meet you. The rubber stall mats feel like you could be standing on concrete. They feel hard and dead.

“The ComfortStall is stable, but it absorbs your concussion,” she continues. “If you have ridden on the best kind of arena surface, where it absorbs the concussion then returns energy, that’s what it feels like.”

The first horse to try it, rising Third & Fourth Level dressage star, Floris, took to it quickly. “It was interesting to watch. Floris seems calmer in his stall on this surface. He seems to be thinking about where his feet are and balancing himself evenly on all fours.”

As an athlete herself, Amy understands the therapeutic benefits of constant, tiny muscle movements for joint and muscle recovery and maintenance. In physical therapy–for humans and horses– it’s called “proprioception” and is considered critical to the healing process, whether from the wear and tear of regular daily workouts or when rehabbing from an injury. Watching Floris on ComfortStall, the concept of proprioception and its benefits came to life for Amy. Her Equine Science degree and British Horse Society externship guide an emphasis on holistic horsekeeping in her Crosswinds Farm training program.