A dirty dirty young man

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Ok, my 17 month old gelding is FILTHY.. and i mean unbeliavable, there is no bedding that could soak up that babys wee! I have deep littered semi deep littered, tried minimal bedding on mats.. you name it.
A friend of mine suggested i change him onto Hay and try chopped straw. So i did, this made a fractional difference, but im still using 2/3 bales a week and he just trashes it and kicks al the wee around which mixes with the dry and just ruins it all.
Ive considered trying wood pellets, but he lies down a lot, and surely this cant be very comfortable?
Also recently on the hay hes developed a runny bum and has dropped weight so im thinking of going back on haylage.. But im a bit daunted at the prospect of taking ALL his bed out every day! Nor can i afford a bale a day to replace whats taken out.

Any suggestions?
x
 
If he really is urinating excessively and losing weight he may have a kidney problem. I assume he is up to date on a good worming rota as young horses can be affected by heavy redworm burdens.
if he were mine, I would look into both those things and if he was clear health/wormwise I would deep litter with straw removing only droppings daily and topping up with new straw each day.That way most of the urine will drain through to the lower layers of the bed.
Do also bear in mind that changing of his diet from haylage to hay will not give the bacteria in his hindgut much stability so I would suggest you try one of the many supplements on the market to help maintain that balance.
Good luck!
 
i would think thats fairly standard for a stabled youngster! my older horses easily go thro 3/4 bales a week straw, one has 4 x bales a week shavings, she is MINGING!
can you arrange more turnout? or if you are worried, i may blood test via vets. but i would just wait and see TBH. come spring, with extra turnout, you may find a huge difference!
 
[ QUOTE ]
If he really is urinating excessively and losing weight he may have a kidney problem. I assume he is up to date on a good worming rota as young horses can be affected by heavy redworm burdens.
if he were mine, I would look into both those things and if he was clear health/wormwise I would deep litter with straw removing only droppings daily and topping up with new straw each day.That way most of the urine will drain through to the lower layers of the bed.
Do also bear in mind that changing of his diet from haylage to hay will not give the bacteria in his hindgut much stability so I would suggest you try one of the many supplements on the market to help maintain that balance.
Good luck!

[/ QUOTE ]

I think his weight loss is more to do with the change from haylage to hay. Its happened before. Ive just started him on NAF Haylage balancer to see if this makes a difference!
He is wormed regularly and on the last count was clear.
Though i may want to look into just checking with a vet re the kidneys.
Thankyou!
x
 
The youngsters are always a lot more messy than the older horses but fortunately most improve as they grow up.

As horses are more than happy to lie down on rock hard ground out in the field I wouldn't worry about him being uncomfortable on wood pellets (which break down when you water then anyway).

As some-one has already said though, if he is weeing excessively I would get the vet to have a check.
 
I used to work with a very large, very wet and very messy mare. The best way we found of managing her bed was to have a decent 6ins of shavings, and then a layer of straw over the top. The straw stopped her messing up the shavings, and when mucking out, the wet straw & droppings come out, scrape the rest off the top and take out the wettest shavings, and then recover with straw. She had probably a flake, maybe 2, a day of straw to top up, and a bale of shavings a week. It only worked with a large bed that covered most of her stable though, otherwise she'd drag all the straw to the front and just mix it with the shavings.
I'd also put him on something like pink powder for his gut, what are you feeding atm?
 
[ QUOTE ]
I used to work with a very large, very wet and very messy mare. The best way we found of managing her bed was to have a decent 6ins of shavings, and then a layer of straw over the top. The straw stopped her messing up the shavings, and when mucking out, the wet straw & droppings come out, scrape the rest off the top and take out the wettest shavings, and then recover with straw. She had probably a flake, maybe 2, a day of straw to top up, and a bale of shavings a week. It only worked with a large bed that covered most of her stable though, otherwise she'd drag all the straw to the front and just mix it with the shavings.
I'd also put him on something like pink powder for his gut, what are you feeding atm?

[/ QUOTE ]

At the moment hes on D&H Suregrow, with Alfa a and sugar beet. He also gets hay, however ive just put him back on haylage as ive run out of hay and he always does better on it.
x
 
I have a 20 month Shagya colt who trashes his box every night - but he is improving - as per previous posts it may be his age.

We bed on straw as I have 11 and shavings far too expensive.
 
I find chopped straw works out expensive - more so than 'long' straw. I've gone through 5 bales in a week as opposed to 2-3 bales of 'long straw'. The bed is dirtier than with long straw and takes more time to muck out. I think chopped straw moves more easily than long straw. Strange but true.

I find that haylage affects Star's digestion, so I assume that the reverse is true of hay. Try giving a probiotic, or Pink Powder. Fab Stuff.
 
Hi, I too have a filthy boy and it's a nightmare and I dread looking in the stable each day. I tried Nedz bed which was the best by far - on a rubber bed but quite deep (this bit makes the difference or you end up with a stinking stable and horse and/or rugs). It was also a doddle to muck out and had no urine smell at all. However, I found this so expensive.

Then Amy Stovold recommended Five Star bedding - Not only was this a gorgeous bed which is sooo sturdy (think a really deep sandy beach), mucks out like nedz and soaks up liquid like you wouldn't believe it was £2 a bale cheaper! I put a full review with pictures on my site - honestly I highly recommend this as my boy is filth ... Now it hasn't stopped him being filthy BUT it's made my life much easier, I can't tell you what a difference this stuff makes to muck out alone. Hope this might help! Five star bedding and pics Cate
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Do try wood pellets, they don't go in as pellets as you break them down with water first and they form a nice soft bed. I've tried virtually every type of bedding on my wet mare and found that wood pellets are the most absorbent and easiest to muck out. BUT BEWARE OF WOOD PELLETS MADE FOR BIO FUEL rather than specific for horses. These can have a lot of recycled wood in, including pallets (and any chemicals that have spilled on the pallets) and hardwoods which can damage a horses respiratory tract. A lot of pellets take a long time to absorb the water you have to add to make them break down, so setting up and topping up the bed can be a nightmare and take ages. A lot of pellet bedding is a dirty brown colour too. However, Ecomax Horse Bedding, only takes a minute or two to absorb water and break down, makes a nice yellow bed and is very absorbent. I only need a bag a week for my mare and previously was using a bale of shavings every other day and on Liverpool Wood Pellets (Bio fuel - beware!) was using 4 bags a week. I know I'm going on about it, but I like it so much I've just become a stockist so I have a vested interest now!!!! Any questions please ask
 
My gelding was filthy in the stable at the livery yard
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but now he is at my Parents farm he is much better
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There are 3 possible reasons:
1. The box is bigger, so he has more room to define his toilet area and his lying down area (which he never did before)
2. He now has good visibility of his yardmates, whilst his view was very restricted at the livery yard
3. At the farm both horses are turned out at the same time, whilst the livery yard had horses on all sorts of different routines, so perhaps he struggled to settle?

I realise these may not be practical changes you can make, but hopefully my experience might help
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