Don’t get cork flooring. Coming from someone who has cork flooring. More on reddit.com

There's a lot to unpack here, but I'll try to be as concise as possible... I'm not taking a pro- or anti- cork stance; just trying to give you the information to choose for yourself. TL/DR: don't buy cork just based on the "hype". Know the reality of it before you purchase. Cork is a natural insulator both against sound and temperature. It also contains a naturally-occurring waxy substance that is antimicrobial and fire-retardant. Due to it's spongy nature, it feels somewhat soft underfoot (more so in solid/"natural" than in engineered, because of the thickness). The cork itself is pretty ecologically-friendly - it is actually the bark of the cork oak, which can be stripped off every 9-ish years without causing harm to the tree, and this can be repeated over the life of the tree which can live 200 years or more. Additionally, most cork flooring is made from the "waste" from other industries, mainly wine bottle corks. However, many of the benefits get offset by the drawbacks... From a day-to-day life standpoint: The softness underfoot also means that it will indent. Now so will hardwood and LVP/LVT and basically everything else (except ceramic or concrete) if you exert enough pressure on it. But the softness of cork means it is more succeptable to indenting. Again due to the thickness, natural cork will tend to do it more than engineered. Some dents may self-repair over time, some will not. And some people feel that this "patina" increases the beauty of the floor. And the pattern of cork tends to camoflage dents and damage well. Cork is very UV sensitive will change color over time from light exposure. Again, most other floors will also do this to some degree, but cork (and hardwood) are particularly succeptable. This happens gradually so it's usually not noticed by anyone until they move an area rug or big piece of furniture or something. Maintenance is very similar to hardwood, which means you have to be very careful in what you clean it with (whatever the maufacturer recommends) and never wet mop or especially never ever steam mop. And the finish will need to be renewed periodically - timeframe on this will vary widely depending on if it is prefinished vs site finished, quality of the finish, wear & tear, etc. From an installation standpoint: Natural cork is infamously difficult to install - the waxy substance that gives it the natural antimicrobial properties also makes it very difficult to bond to, so it requires a very aggressive adhesive to properly adhere it. The engineered products on a MDF/HDF/plywood core eliminate this issue. And cork is very sensitive to moisture and will absorb and hold water, so it must be sealed very very very well, and you have the same challenge getting the finish to stick as with the adhesive. A lot of cork is prefinished for this reason, and personally I wouldn't consider anything that wasn't prefinished. The flip side is that some prefinished corks have so much finish on them that they almost look "plastic" or fake. I find this a lot in products produced in SE Asia - their finishes tend to look cheaper than ones made to US or European standards. And while modern adhesives and finishes are far more green than in years past, they do still reduce the eco-friendliness of cork somewhat. From a sound reduction standpoint: In it's unfinished state, cork is a natural sound reducer - being spongy, irregular, and porous, it especially reduces high-frequency echos, and thicker ones also do well at reducing through-floor transmission of low-frequency sound. Some of the best sound-reducing underlayments used in multifamily construction are cork-based. But as a finished floor, those benefits are reduced somewhat since the finish fills many of the pores. This is reduced even more in an engineered cork since there is usually as much (or more) core as there is cork. More on reddit.com

You can get horse stall mats at tractor supply. They're 3/4" thick rubber usually 4'×6' and can be cut to size More on reddit.com