Another post re bedding - wood pellets vs others for messy horse

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Blythwind

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Hi,

I have used wood pellets for the last few years (Aquamax, LWP and Five Star). I find them good and easy to muck out for my relatively clean mare. However, my gelding is incredibly mucky - poos everywhere, and marches it round into a nice mushy mess. I have tried having it relatively thin and also very thick - on top of rubber matting. Thick works best, but even so I am still finding that I am using an awful lot of bags per week (between 4 and 5) on him alone. So its not that economical.

I've been thinking of trying aubiose, straw pellets, miscanthus, and Pellet Beds suggest they are the most absorbent etc. Can anyone advise which of these are likely to be most absorbent/suitable for a bed trasher? Or recommend any other ideas that would be suitable?

Leaving him out is not an option at our yard and they have to come in at night in winter!
x
 
I had a similar problem when I tried wood pellets - and I was so relieved when I had finished up the last bag and could change! I was putting 4-5 bags a week in, and not enjoying mucking it out, so it was neither economical nor easy for me. My gelding is wet and poos a lot.

I now use ComfyBed, and deep litter it all winter. I absolutely love it; and in the depths of winter when they're in a lot more, the most I put in is 3 bags a week, it's usually 1-2. I find it's better on concrete rather than on the rubber matting (it moves around more on the mats). Someone else at my yard tried it, but they dug the wet out once or twice a week, which completely negated using it. I always said I'd never deep-litter, but this bedding is made for it - there's no smell until you really dig the wet out, and it hardly moves around.
 
Dressage yard I used to work at used wood pellets for a while, good idea in theory but the beds never look nice and tidy no matter what you do, and messy horses just do not work with pellets!

They switched to Bliss bedding after that (on top of rubber mats) and that was really good actually - easy to muck out, absorbent and even with the youngsters trashing their beds they still didnt look too bad. Still prefer a good shavings or straw bed for messy horses though, by far the easiest way to keep their beds looking relatively clean - good shavings can be just as easy to muck out as pellets etc.
 
Thanks KC. Kj I've used cardboard in the past and it was a nightmare. I found it very hard and heavy to muck out and was glad when I'd finished my last lot. But as I said, my horse is horrendous so I'm sure you will have better luck! X
 
IME the pellets are best for the very wet horses as they soak it up better than anything else I've tried but the poos do break up easily on it and so probably not the best for a horse that marches about.

What might work though is a base of pellets to catch the wee with straw or shavings on top - muck out the the top layer daily (by hand in marigolds if necessary!) and just dig out the wet weekly. The pellets do help keep the smells down.
 
I use straw. My two are messy, walk in their poo, lay in it, kick it about etc. Even with them doing that I only take out one barrow between them a day.
 
Thanks for the advice. I really can't get on with a normal straw bed but may try the pellets underneath tactic. Are you referring to wood or straw pellets?
 
I have 6 horses of varying degrees of messiness. :D
I used to use Comfybed, tried normal muck out, semi deep litter, deep litter and variations of all of that! But I wasn't getting the bed or economy I needed.

Last winter I tried straw and wood pellets with a variety of results. Towards the end of the winter I ended up mixing with wood chip (comfy bed, etc) to try to lighten the beds....

Sooooo in an attempt to preserve my back, bank balance and my sanity... I am trialling hemp bedding. I have been mucking out once a week, but skipping out the rest of the time. So far so good. I have been putting 1 bale in per week - even in my baroque friesians bed. :D :D The beds are not up at full size yet as they are still living out at night, but they are in for a good portion of the day - the equal time that they would be in if they were in at night.

The bedding also seems to be surviving my "active" youngster. I wouldn't call it box walking as such, but he is messier and more active than the others - and my "headache" bed in the winter. :D

I have rubber mat down, if it makes any difference. :)
 
Ive tried every bedding on the market with my messy box walker and went back to LWP's on rubber matting in the end, it's the only thing I can use that means the bed isn't completely trashed as it's easy to sift through with the right fork.
 
Thanks everyone - I'm glad to know Im not the only one with a bed trasher (and sore back and empty bank balance!). I am determined to try something new even if i end up going back to LWP or equivalent in the end!
 
OP - I only needed 6 for my 12x12 stable and found another livery wanting them so we got 12 together which they offered a discount on thankfully. It was a lot to pay out but I'm so glad I did now as my boy was injured trying to jump out of his field a week later and is now on box rest to they are a god send!
 
cbmcts said:
IME the pellets are best for the very wet horses as they soak it up better than anything else I've tried but the poos do break up easily on it and so probably not the best for a horse that marches about.

What might work though is a base of pellets to catch the wee with straw or shavings on top - muck out the the top layer daily (by hand in marigolds if necessary!) and just dig out the wet weekly. The pellets do help keep the smells down.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I do. Works really well
 
Hi, I have 3 boys - 1 is so neat and tidy and always poo's and pee's in same spot and sleeps the other side :-)
The other 2 are just gross!! I have them on megazorb (whole bag in) with bedmax on top - with rubber mats in stable. This is great. The wee is absorbed into a tiny area underneath then the bedmax moves around with poo rather than getting mashed in. Some days i find it easier to just pick poo out (by hand) or just shake through fork and then get little wet area out. It great. I just top bedmax up and megazorb up when needed. Last year the megazorb lasted few weeks and then bale of bedmax a week (max). x
 
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