Another Bedding Question - Best for a Poo Masher

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Joyous70

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My girl is a poo masher, she does the stomp/riverdance in her stable every night, :rolleyes: consequently her bedding which is currently wood pellets gets very compacted and wet, and it is incredibly difficult mucking out every day, i find im throwing way a lot of bedding daily, and sifting all the poo is nigh on impossible.

I have looked at Safemix? bedding and didn't know if this was any good? straw is a waste of time as she will eat most of it and then the rest is just a horrible mushy mess.

Any ideas welcome :)
 
Have you looked at Megazorb? I quite liked it for my stinky chap but have moved onto the pellets as I can get them cheaper locally (now having your bed compaction issues!)
The Megazorb really did what it said though I only used small quantities of it so not sure what it will be like for a big bed.
 
I feel your pain!
My retired ex-competition TB gelding can be horrendous. He has bone spavin and so spends his nights pivoting around his back legs churning his bed like a cement mixer. He then box walks if he thinks others are getting attention in the morning = large mess!
I've tried loads of different methods but to be fair it's not the bedding it's him and they all end up in a similar state!
He now has matting (second hand), with wood pellets (which I get in bulk to make it as cheap as possible).
I have tried various configurations (haynet/water/bed) of his stable and now have it as good as it'll get.
But most importantly I try to get mine out first in the morning and in as late as possible (for mine that's key!)
So......
My key points! Cheap bedding, stable reorganisation, out as much as possible! :)
 
Are you on livery? If not, do a last late night skip out, also a very early morning one? What pellets are you on? Some are complete rubbish and non absorbent.
 
I gave up on my mucky monster so he now lives out.....! His stable resembled a manure heap every morning, and tried everything from deep litter to minimal bedding on rubber mats, straw/shavings/wood pellets etc etc.

His rugs stunk, I stunk and he was permanetly covered in stable stains, so out he went. Fortunately he has adapted well and happy out, so maybe he was just trying to tell me something!

Good luck and hope you find a solution.
 
Seems im not alone then.

My girl is on livery, but its DIY so if she isn't going out first thing i try and skip her out if possible before i go to work, however some mornings its a complete compacted mess and i just don't have the time, and have to deal with it when i get there in the evening before i bring her in.

Generally she goes out at around 6.30am and comes in around 4.30/5.00pm, sometimes later if nothing else is out, and someone else turns out for me at around 9am, unfortuantely living out 24/7 is not an option, as she doesn't always have company :(

I was using Verdo, which are ok but found some much cheaper wood pellets (Snowflake) theyre actually cat litter, but exaclty the same as the horse bedding so am using those at the moment, i do have some rubber matting but found that as they aren't sealed all the wet gets underneath and makes a horrible stinky mess :rolleyes: so i took those out, as moving those every day nearly gave me a hernia.
 
If you mix a bale of hemp bedding (aubiose or cheaper substitute) in with the wood pellets it won't compact so much.
 
If you want chopped short fibre one to consider would be eco comfy bed.
Mine has switched onto this and I'm very impressed - I much prefer it to shavings.
She is wet and poo's for england!
 
I know you said you tried mats, but would it be worth another go if you have decent drainage? I'm having great success with Easibed on rubber mats. I have banks but the middle part is only a light covering, and I take all the wet out every day. It takes about 10 minutes to scrape out wet, brush the dry back up the banks, wash down with bucket or hose, then re lay the middle. I only use about 1 bag a week. He's in almost full time at the moment, but he does have a yard as well as a stable, the poos are about half and half in and out, so same as being in at night I should think.
 
Another vote for Comfy Bed.
Have had 2 poo-mashers on it - 1 last winter & 1 the year before (a mare & a gelding).
Both did fine, after the 1st few days of trying to mash......
I skipped out & levelled over, only ever taking the wet out if it rose to the top for the gelding.
For the mare, during the week I'd skip out & at weekend rake back & lift the wet, leaving the bed up during the day.
A good squirt of diluted jeyes (in a plant de-mister from the £1 shop) over the matting before the bed went back down worked well.

I have thick rubber matting tho & make sure the comfy bed is deep to go down (min of 4 inches when levelled).
 
I have a poo masher, after mashing it she likes to put her face in it. Best way I've found is to have a very deep bed of straw, poo falls through and even with her walking around over it the poo stays contained in the deep straw. Pretty easy to much out too as the poo stays whole so just flick the top straw up until you find the poo and then scoop it out.
 
I'm with mycocorocks, YO has Sec D mare who parties every night in her poo! I've mucked her out a few times when YO was away and she has her on wood pellets - really tough to muck out. Found it really heavy and hard to get the compacted stuff up! She's now tried her on Miscanthus grass - Cavianthus I think it is and far better. She wee's alot too (mare not YO lol) and it soaks up more wet too. Think the do rape straw bedding too - nice stuff and a bit cheaper than most other bedding.
 
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