Advice for pony eating straw bed

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Carrots&Mints

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I'm at the end of my tether with my mucky pony! I've tried him on every type of bedding and he's disgusting withe every type so I've put him back on straw, we have rubber matting down so he doesn't need a deep bed, I put about 2 or 3 slices down every night and literally take 90% out everŷ day. However, I have notice he has been eating allot, any recommendations on how to stop him from eating it? Cheers.
 
Tern said:
Bitter Apple Spray :) Or a disinfectant may be cheaper long-term. Have you tried wood pellets, newspaper, sand or cardboard?
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Wood pellets yes, just churns it up! He's just so wet! I can imagine newspaper being very messy as with cardboard, do to him being wet and no not tried sand, tell me more :)
 
Awh a very messy boy then! Sand is very good for horses with severe allergies and only soaks up what is needed, can in coat when lying down but we had one at the yard on it and he did fine, Also it doesn't rot of course so you'd need to get rid of it some other way and it's easy to remove what you need to remove - Banks are quite hard though.. Also if he tries to eat and succeeds (Can't be too tasty though) there is the possibility of sand colic. Though i would only use as a last resort as awful draining!
 
Forgot to add - I would mix with shavings to stop abrasions. Someone may be able to confirm if it is appropriate or not but some at yard has used with no problems of sand colic or horse eating it.
 
If it is barley or oat straw I would leave him to it. It will keep his gut ticking over if he's run out of hay/haylage. Providing he has plenty of water and it isn't wheat straw he will be fine. Disinfectant is not good for horses, and might not stop him, especially if he is finishing his net in a couple of hours.

Also, my boy is mucky and seems to be better on more straw. I am putting 1/2 bale in a night on top of whatever was left the night before and he is on EVA matting.
 
Hmm couldn't tell you what type of straw is but it's a quite bright yellowey colour?? I pack his nets tight to takes him longer to eat, could perhaps double net them?
 
Three slices of straw isn't much. I think he think he's hungry. Double net what ever hay you are giving him, give him two slices of straw underneath to pick over and make him a straw bed across the middle third of the stable to lie on, I would also put in a pellet base. What ever straw he doesn't eat is put into the bed and fresh put out the next day.
I had a Highland pony stabled at a friends on a racing yard where he was fed haylage ,he was very dirty despite having a huge stable bedded down on shavings. When I bought him home he had a normal amount of hay plus straw to pick over, rubber mats partly bedded down with pellets and straw and was actually a very clean pony.
 
My boy occasionally eats his straw bed when he decides he's a bit peckish - I've found that if I put new straw in at the bottom then put old bedding on top this can help as it's obviously not as palatable as the fresh straw!
 
Hello, I had this problem for months. Never did her any harm mind but annoyed me no end! I would try putting a whole bale of hay in with her and see how much your horse eats. Mine did about a half bale so have been giving her that much ever since in two haynets which are double netted.. seems to work ok. I also have tried mixing the straw with shredded paper (I shred LOADS at work) but be careful of staples etc.. I use the paper I have personally shredded so there are no nasty surprises! And I mix this in with the straw... It seems to work best, mucky straw round the banks was one tip i was told but im far too ocd and like it clean. I would stray away from any sprays or anything chemical/manmade because you never know whats in them and if the horse eats it.. it could be worse than the straw. Hope this helps!
 
If you mix fresh straw in with the dirty the truly determined pony will just turn over the bed picking out the clean making it more of a mess. At the moment I have five ponies in a barn they have a ration of hay and a bale of barley straw to pick over. If its cold and they can not be bothered to go outside they will eat the straw, if its nice they will eat their hay and then go outside and find some grass.
 
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