Advice on bedding please

WelshMisfit

WelshMisfit

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Hi peeps :)

Any thoughts would be much appreciated. I've just moved to a new yard and my stables are wooden stables on an earth floor. My yard owner has laid rubber matting in one for me but he's waiting for more rubber matting for the second stable. The weather has been awful here this week with torrential rain so I've had to bring the horses in during the night, just to give them some respite from it. I've been removing the poo everyday but obviously the wee is just soaking into the floor and the floor is fast becoming soaked.
Am thinking of putting some kind of bed down temporarily until the rubber matting arrives but I'm not sure which would be best. :confused:
Has anyone had experience of putting bedding down on an earth floor and if so, how well did it work? Straw would have to be a last resort as my other horse doesn't tolerate dust very well and the stables only have a half height partition between them so the dust would probably affect him. :(
Any help would be great thanks. :)
 
bagged chopped straw is good for earth flooring..as is a product called Bliss.

i wouldn't put down shavings though, as they would draw moisture from the earth and become sodden quite quickly.
 
nativeponies said:
i wouldn't put down shavings though, as they would draw moisture from the earth and become sodden quite quickly.
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That's what I was thinking. Shavings is usually my first choice for bedding but had a feeling they wouldn't work very well in this case. I haven't heard of Bliss....what kind of bedding is that? I did wonder if Aubiose might be a good choice because that needs moisture to activate it and when I've used it in the past, it's become quite compacted at the bottom over time. It's a bit pricey though and you need quite a lot of bales to start the bed off, which might be a waste if I have to pull it all up when the matting arrives. :confused:
 
straw is by far and away the best for earth floors. They are mainly used for deep littering - the wet drains away through the straw and into the earth and the straw itself compacts at the bottom and acts as your 'floor'. Deep littering doesnt work properly without an earth floor. and also keeping a 'proper' bed doesnt work well with an earth floor! The ideal for you would probably be a semi deep litter with steamed straw if this is at all possible?!
 
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