Bedding for box rest….

sassandbells

sassandbells

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Please can you talk to me about bedding for box rest ☹️ my horses have lived out for the past 7 years, but one of mine is now needing surgery and is looking at a lengthy period of box rest and I’m feeling completely overwhelmed by it all.

In the few short stints of box rest we’ve done she’s not been particularly messy, we previously bedded on straw but yard rules no longer allow that.

Anyone have any recommendations for economical bedding? Or able to advise how much bedding they’ve used for periods of box rest? Once the weather changes we’ll no longer have vehicular access to our storage area so trying to plan it all in advance.

Thank you!
 
Something non edible. I use shavings as that is what I always use. Probably 3 bales a week if on box rest. I use a day and a night stable if the horse can be safely walked from one stable to another, and I fully muck out one stable while the horse is in the other so the horse is always on fresh bedding.

Good luck. How long is the box rest likely to last?
 
I’d probably go for wood or straw pellets. Very absorbent and economical. If you prefer a fluffier bed mine did very well and economically with pellets underneath and chopped rape straw on top. I would remove droppings everyday and wet every 3-7 days depending how wet they were. I would get through about one pellet and one rape straw a week during winter.
 
Tiddlypom said:
Something non edible. I use shavings as that is what I always use. Probably 3 bales a week if on box rest. I use a day and a night stable if the horse can be safely walked from one stable to another, and I fully muck out one stable while the horse is in the other so the horse is always on fresh bedding.

Good luck. How long is the box rest likely to last?
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Thank you! Hard to say at the moment, anything between 2 & 6 months has been quoted, with restricted turnout following that. Our fields get very wet though so will depend a lot on what kind of weather we have, how she copes with box rest and how the wound heals!
 
Sussexbythesea said:
I’d probably go for wood or straw pellets. Very absorbent and economical. If you prefer a fluffier bed mine did very well and economically with pellets underneath and chopped rape straw on top. I would remove droppings everyday and wet every 3-7 days depending how wet they were. I would get through about one pellet and one rape straw a week during winter.
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Thank you! Straw pellets are stocked near me so that could be a good shout.
 
I've used Aubiose (still do), skipping out multiple times daily, a good rummage for the wet once a week after carefully moving the top layer away.
The trick is to have a good deep bed, forget banks. Keep the bed level, brush or rake it twice a day till its settled.
For a 10 x 12 stable I use 4 bales to start with and usually add another 3 or 4 days in and thereafter 1 a week or longer.
A 12 x 12 would have 5 bales minimum to start.
Keep builder gloves and old bucket outside and pick up droppings every time you or anyone you can rope in when passing the stable, keeps the bed much more clean.

Hope the box rest goes well x
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
I've used Aubiose (still do), skipping out multiple times daily, a good rummage for the wet once a week after carefully moving the top layer away.
The trick is to have a good deep bed, forget banks. Keep the bed level, brush or rake it twice a day till its settled.
For a 10 x 12 stable I use 4 bales to start with and usually add another 3 or 4 days in and thereafter 1 a week or longer.
A 12 x 12 would have 5 bales minimum to start.
Keep builder gloves and old bucket outside and pick up droppings every time you or anyone you can rope in when passing the stable, keeps the bed much more clean.

Hope the box rest goes well x
Click to expand...

This is really helpful, thank you!🙏
 
sassandbells said:
Please can you talk to me about bedding for box rest ☹️ my horses have lived out for the past 7 years, but one of mine is now needing surgery and is looking at a lengthy period of box rest and I’m feeling completely overwhelmed by it all.

In the few short stints of box rest we’ve done she’s not been particularly messy, we previously bedded on straw but yard rules no longer allow that.

Anyone have any recommendations for economical bedding? Or able to advise how much bedding they’ve used for periods of box rest? Once the weather changes we’ll no longer have vehicular access to our storage area so trying to plan it all in advance.

Thank you!
Click to expand...
I currently have 2 on box rest and I use Aubiose, I find it the best.
 
I've got one on box rest too so I feel your pain. I'm putting unsoaked wood pellets under large flake shavings. The wood pellets are very absorbent but create a lot of dust when the weather's warm. The shavings help to keep the dust down and he seems to lie down more on them too. I take out the poo twice a day (a rubber gloves job) then pull the top layer to the edges, dig out the wet, put new pellets down and pull the shavings back over once a week (every Sunday!) They're very economical, I'm getting through a bag of pellets and 1/2 a bale of shavings a week.
 
Mine is currently on box rest - I’ve got her in a cattle byre with one end turned into a pen, so it’s much bigger than a regular stable.

I have her on deep litter straw. Once a day I remove visible poo and add more straw to the top - despite being deep litter it’s therefore clean enough that I can (and have a few times) lie down in it myself happily. She’s lying down a lot and stayed really clean - that’s her at six weeks box rest and I’ve used a large square bale and half a round bale of straw in that time.

Her issue is a hoof surgery and her hoof bandages have stayed lovely and clean, and it’s been fair easier on me than previous attempts at box rest on shavings/wood pellets with rubber matting (when I struggled to feel like he had a clean bed even with twice daily muck out and a lunchtime skip out).

We can remove it with the tractor though afterwards!
 
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