Advice needed please on mucking out and bedding

P

Popos

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 January 2014
Messages
141
Visit site
I currently have rubber mats down and a light bed of shavings covering approx a quarter of a 16'x12' stable.

Horse is 17hh and I think extremely messy. The whole lot is all over the place by the morning and all mess is thoroughly mixed in!

I'd be grateful for any tips on mucking out, the most efficient way of doing it and if I should be doing anything differently. I feel like I'm replacing near enough all the shavings every day :/
 
I use megazorb for its super absorbency as my gelding is very wet. I found my shavings were soaking and same as you taking out much more daily than I could afford to replace, megasorb doesn't look as inviting as a big shavings bed but it really is absorbent. It looks a like cat litter.
http://geegeeandme.blogspot.co.uk/
 
My friends section D is like this, he's disgusting. He is on rubber matting with a square area of straw which is all removed daily. By far the easiest and cheapest way xx
 
Thank you for the tips.

He doesn't appear to ever lay down in his bed. I'm assuming he just walks about in it all night? Have put boredom breakers etc in but to no avail.

Am I right to be just bedding a quarter? I've tried to put this in the place he seemed to mess the least in the hope he may lay here and stay still!

Is straw easier?

Very appreciative of the help, thank you!
 
If he box walks don't use straw! My boy does and it just becomes one solid mass of poo and wee :/
I am still looking for the perfect solution. I now deep litter as could not afford a bale of sawdust a day, but it looks disgusting and he treks his muck in and brings up the wet layer. Blumming horse
 
I've found that with my messy gelding, a layer of wood pellets (or megazorb - whichever's easiest for you to get) under a deep straw bed is the easiest to manage. I pick out the poos by (gloved) hand and surface wet and relay the bed each day, only taking out the deeper wet once a week (and usually sweeping out and replacing the wood pellets at the same time). The deeper the bed, the less he tracks the poos about and the tidier the bed stays. Doing this, I only add in 1-2 large flaps of straw and about a quarter of a bag of wood pellets each week.
 
Mine have rubber mats and full shavings beds which work the best I have found. My boy and one of my ponies are disgusting, tried megazorb, bed max, thin bed, thick bed max bed but the best is just normal shavings which I can get for 6.95. It's very deep but I just skip out each day, have to do a bit of sifting as he walks through it but its so much cleaner (I had to chuck it up everyday before) now just dig out wet at weekend or if I see a patch.
 
One of mine likes to grind her poo into the bed and lay in it. I find really really deep and loose straw works best as the poo falls through and then when she walks about it is 'contained' in the piles beneath her feet. You have to dig about to find it in the morning but they are usually still whole poos and she is much cleaner with less on her body, face and legs. If the straw gets thinner or compacted she is back to stamping in it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top