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Bedding
Mar 17, 2014 11:33:45 GMT 1
Post by gillybou on Mar 17, 2014 11:33:45 GMT 1
Good morning. Wonder if anyone can give me some advice on bedding please as I don't much experience on this subject. Coco and I have recently moved yards on part livery. She's quite a heavy horse and I'm not sure how much difference this makes. Until late last year she most lived out 24/7 and, if she was in, had a not particularly deep shavings bed on concrete, which was what the yard provided. The big advantage was that it was very clean and never smelly. Now she's in at night for winter and she's on some rubber matting which is old and not a great fit but I was lucky enough to be given it. On top she has a thick straw bed which looks lovely but it does get horribly wet under the mats and possibly a little smelly. The damp cannot run out of the stable so there are some liquid absorbing pellets in the corner where the liquid runs to and obviously wet straw is removed but I don't think the pellets are changed that regularly. Coco seems ok and must be comfy as the straw stays dry on top but I'm just not sure of the hygiene issue and how important this is form a horse's point of view. I do like the idea of a some better quality and lighter mats (so that I can lift them!) and maybe shavings instead of straw to help absorb the liquid but not sure if thick straw is more comfortable than shavings. In Summer she will be back out 24/7 and she is not showing any signs of having any problems with dust. She is on hay , fed from a haybar as she can't tolerate the haylage. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks
Gilly
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Bedding
Mar 17, 2014 20:24:40 GMT 1
Post by Dawn Perkins on Mar 17, 2014 20:24:40 GMT 1
Hi Gillybou,
I don't have a horse but did (briefly!) have two goats in our stable. I bought a couple of bales of Flaxcore and I was really pleased with it. It smells of citronella and, although you need quite a few bales for a horse's stable, it doesn't seem to move around and the wet patches stay underneath the surface. I wasn't even aware that there were any wet patches until I looked for them. You just take the small wet areas out occasionally without having to pull back the whole bed. There is so little waste that you don't get a big manure heap, either. However, I have just noticed that the producers went into administration last October, unfortunately, but there are others, although I don't know anything about them or how they compare on price or quality.
If I had my own horse, I would definitely try to get hold of flax core bedding again.
Dawn Perkins
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Bedding
Mar 20, 2014 21:39:02 GMT 1
Post by Erika & George on Mar 20, 2014 21:39:02 GMT 1
I don't like straw for bedding, it isn't very absorbant, it gets smelly quickly and it is very difficult to muck out. You end up emptying half of the stable at a time & end up with an enormous muck heap. I used chopped chicken straw for a while which was much better, but unfortunately some horses see it as fodder and gobble up the whole bedding. I have tried shavings and course shavings (Bedmax) which were OK, but if you have a horse that tramples about a bit it can be challenging to muck out in the morning. I have recently discovered fine wood-chip, Comfy-bed, is the one I use. It is surprisingly durable and absorbant and the horses like it just as much as shavings. It is easier to muck out, I don't seem to use so much of it and it comes with a nice pine smell. Re, the rubber mats, I can only sympathise as I have the same problem. They are a great idea but a devil to shift if they are the heavy ones. They do protect the horse more and in theory reduce your bedding costs. However, if you keep a deeper bed then there will be less urine running under the mats making them smelly. We had a horse on 3 weeks box rest during the heat of last summer and by using a decent level of shavings and mucking out several times a day we had minimal smell problems. Good luck, Erika & George
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Bedding
Mar 22, 2014 19:46:25 GMT 1
Post by liz on Mar 22, 2014 19:46:25 GMT 1
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Bedding
Mar 24, 2014 15:00:22 GMT 1
Post by gillybou on Mar 24, 2014 15:00:22 GMT 1
Thanks everyone for the help and suggestions. I'm sure I spend far too much time agonising over these things. Bed wasn't smelly this weekend so maybe I am getting over concerned by the straw. Got to decide whether or not to opt for the mats as I can't keep the heavy ones - in fact not sure how I'll even get them out!! The good news is that Coco will be living out shortly so the problem will be less of a problem until the winter, by which time I might just have made my mind up! The miscanthus bedding sounds really good Liz and I'll be thinking about that too - I love the idea of using something a bit alternative like that and eco friendly as well.
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Bedding
Mar 29, 2014 23:44:04 GMT 1
Post by Erika & George on Mar 29, 2014 23:44:04 GMT 1
Looks very similar to the Comfy-bed I used, though the raw material is different. It looks very durable.
Erika & George
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Bedding
Apr 16, 2014 13:16:31 GMT 1
Post by Briony & Anakin on Apr 16, 2014 13:16:31 GMT 1
Hiya Gillybou - Anakin comes in overnight all year round and always has done. I love my rubber matting, it is quite heavy duty stuff but I bought it two years ago and it is almost brand new looking (and that says a lot as Anakin is the destroyer of all things expensive). It cost about £250.00 to do the stable out but it is great. I bed him down on Plosplan shavings, one bale a week and it isn't too expensive. He is pretty wet and I find it works better if you add in half a bale a couple of times a week e.g half on wednesday and half on saturday/sunday, rather than a whole bale every sunday. I am not sure why but it seems to stay cleaner! Anyway he is a wee-monster but of all the bedding solutions I have tried in my 5 years of owning him, that seems to be the best. He was on straw for a while but I found that it didn't absorb much, and he also took to eating his banks!
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Bedding
Apr 22, 2014 20:18:17 GMT 1
via mobile
Post by gillybou on Apr 22, 2014 20:18:17 GMT 1
Hi Briony. Thanks for this advice. This is definitely the way I'm leaning but it's nice to have it confirmed. Coco is out now and loving it. If she wants breakfast in the morning, she stands by the gate. If not, she's far away on the other side of her field and we let her be - lucky girl!
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