Bedding ideas?

[Damnation]

Right. I am looking for your money saving tips and ideas as how to bed down this paticular horse.

She does have rubber mats, and I give her only a sprinking of bed because she is just so disgusting. In the evening when I go and muck out (she is out all day in the field) the stable is just black. I take the lot out, put another small bed down and its exactily the same the next day.

She is stressy in her stable sometimes and does a bit of boxwalking. (She has to come in overnight in the winter, yard rules) I need a cheap an economical bed to be able to put down for her this winter.

I would like to put her on a bigger bed but on shavings, it was just costing too much. How do you manage your absolutely flilthy horses?

 

[TwoStroke]

Deep litter on something like wood pellets? Otherwise straw's probably cheapest. My slob of a 4yo was bedded down on straw when he was stabled - it wasn't too bad.

 

[mole]

i had this problem with my mare - tried rubber mats and a sprinkling of bedding, tried normal shavings bed, tried straw and then tried deep litter on shavings. the best is the deep litter by a mile.

my pony has a big bed that nearly fills a big stable it was expensive at the start but now i have a really solid base it is the cheapest bed ive ever managed and use 3 ocassionally 4 small bales of shavings a month. my mare is messy and box walks but because she has such a solid big bed it doesnt matter so much.

she now has a fantastic bed which is warm and dry and i have low costs and quick mucking out - what could be better? ah yes a horse that doesnt mind being stabled and doesnt trash it but hey!

 

[Polotash]

Deep litter.

With a clean bed it's so dry they just kick it around the place and mush in the wet. You want a nice thick bed (9 odd inches), where the bottom is actually damp, this is what holds it all in place. The top section is dry so the horse is no where near the wet section. When a wet patch pokes up through the dry, scrape the dry back, dig out the wet, back fill, and top up with clean again.

I use Hemcore or Aubiose succesfully like this, but it is expensive if yu have a mucky one (very economical if you have clean ones, I used 30 bags for 3 horses last winter) .

A shavings base with straw on top would work well and be cheaper.

You may find your local saw mill sells cheap sawdust, my mum gets it from them for 50p a bag (take your own bags).