Bedding Help!

[Tinsel Town]

So my new horse Leo is on a straw bed at the mo, he is messy, not really that dirty or wet, he just likes to think hes a washing machine so everything gets mixed up together!

I spend quite a while mucking out so that I dont waste loads of clean straw!

He also likes to eat his bed and has got a slight touch of thrush in his back feet (is currently being treated) and I muck him out properly (i.e not deep littered, all wet and poo out) every day.

He is currently over weight (is loosing it tho) so I dont really want him eating his bed, and I've heard that yukabed doesnt really work.

So I need help with my options and bedding suggestions, I am putting so much straw in at the moment nearly 6 bales in a week!! So I am costing shavings, but we use Hunter shavings at the yard and at £9.50 a bale its expensive!!

Any suggestions please? chocolate fingers for all whos got this far!

 

[somethingillremember]

I find a shavings,wood pellets or paper make a good base , sort of deep litter it , if its clean leave it so it packs down ,straw on the top so its nice and cosy .I spray mine with a diluted solution of Jeys and that stops them chomping their way thru it .

 

[Mongoose11]

Rubber matting and shavings all the way! I do a bed at the back which is about 3 foot wide and about 3 inches thick. The rest of the bale I leave as a large, compact bank along one side. Each day I muck out and then pull some of the bank down to make up the bed. Working it this way (which has taken me two years to figure out) makes a bale last about two weeks - less in Winter as she is in for a bit longer. The full bed I used to use saw me using a bale every 6 days!

 

[chestnutmarelover]

Wood pellets & sometimes wood pellet/elephant grass mix - this works well as the pellets absorb the wet & the elephant grass stays nice & clean & dry on top + non edible!

 

[Montyforever]

I use bed-down and rubber matting. I put in a bale every 2 weeks and the bales are only £8.20!

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Rubber mats & Comfybed works for me & my filthy bed mixer, who is a reformed character & has a lovely bed in the mornings (unless anyone has been creeping around in the middle of the night! )

 

[Queenbee]

Rubber matting and shavings all the way! I do a bed at the back which is about 3 foot wide and about 3 inches thick. The rest of the bale I leave as a large, compact bank along one side. Each day I muck out and then pull some of the bank down to make up the bed. Working it this way (which has taken me two years to figure out) makes a bale last about two weeks - less in Winter as she is in for a bit longer. The full bed I used to use saw me using a bale every 6 days!

this!

 

[Tinsel Town]

Rubber matting and shavings all the way! I do a bed at the back which is about 3 foot wide and about 3 inches thick. The rest of the bale I leave as a large, compact bank along one side. Each day I muck out and then pull some of the bank down to make up the bed. Working it this way (which has taken me two years to figure out) makes a bale last about two weeks - less in Winter as she is in for a bit longer. The full bed I used to use saw me using a bale every 6 days!

what shavings do you use? and cost per bale?

thanks everyone for their replies, his stable is rubber matted as well!