bedding in field shelters?

[gracenarchie]

Hi


just moved two of mine onto a field with just a 22x11 shelter (yes its an odd size ) which they do use occasionally, have rubber matting getting delivered for it on tuesday but in this cold snap just wondered if anyone puts bedding in their shelters?
would this encourage them to use it more - like a dry cosy stable? or would I just be wasting time and money? when there are more than enough jobs to do up there anyway at the mo with frozen water pipes.troughts etc etc in the morning before work! eek.

thanks v much

 

[NeverSayNever]

no, i dont , i just have rubber mats and skip out daily.

 

[Quantock-cob]

Unless you can put a gate on it to keep them in, I would think it will be a waste of time putting bedding down as they will drag it out into the field. And if the rains blows in the opening it will be ruined anyway.

 

[Gwena]

We have straw straight on to the ground, any wet seems to drain straight into the ground. Not had a problem with it yet. We Have deep littered it though (obviously pick out any poo daily). Haven't noticed any issues yet and its been like this since the beginning of December. We top up the straw regularly and quite often see flattened areas in the straw where they have been laying down. Its one of those 'poly tunnel' type shelters. Is fab

 

[056775]

If its your two and its assailable then putting the hey inside to encourage them in and chucking a few bales of straw down wouldnt hurt? That said if its a faff to get to or they have stables any way I would bother.

I use to have a shelter before and only one of mine would use it and only when it was boiling hot.. In the rain he would either wait at the gate or stand in the middle of the field

Stoopid creatures!

 

[HappyHooves]

Rubber matting in my field shelters, and feed hay inside. Its warm and windproof - no bedding. Where do the horses sleep? - flat out in the snow outside, even when I had chippings down. Bedding encourages them to wee in the field shelters I think. With the good rugs that are available these days, they are probably happier being 'horsey' and lying flat outside. They can stand in if its too windy or wet and nod off upright!

 

[CeeBee]

In this weather I put loads of straw in my field shelter. My boys love it - they eat it, wee in it and poo in it - then they sleep outside!
They couldn't care less, but it makes me feel better

 

[shellonabeach]

I have rubber mats and deep straw beds in my shelters. Last night I found my mare flat out asleep in hers and they are both slept in most nights (as made clear by the flat patches and straw in tails!) I like to have bedding in there to dry their legs off and give them somewhere nice to lie down if they want.

I don't bed right to the front to minimise bedding being dragged out, wet driving in and making the bed wet.

I also hang haynets in the shelters as I find its less wasteful than putting it in the field and gives them chance to get in out of the wind / wet and have a munch.

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

Im not absolutely sure other than the planning permission aspects why you would have horses out 24x7 with field shelters and then put bedding in them so you have to muck them out?

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

I put the remnants out from boxes into the shelters, at the end of the winter.
Use Eco Comfybed & all the clean goes out so boxes can be washed out.
This doesn't get lobbed/dragged/scuffed/blown out into fields & provides a good surface in each shelter for them to stand on (or in the case of TF in the summer - a damned good mattress to kip in on hot days ).

This winter I've had both shelters topped up with a couple of bales as they are out 24/7 due to my broken leg. I've still saved on stable bedding big time - and Lovely Livery reports she has only had to skip out the odd pile of droppings from each of mine, despite them having their night ration hay tied in there. There is no mats and each of those 2 shelters has a dirt floor.

Hers has his hay in the mobile shelter with no bedding - and apparently he's been dumping & pee-ing for england in there

Make of that what you will

 

[russianhorse]

My field shelter has a big bed of straw - would love rubber matting but tis a bit expensive

 

[Rose Folly]

We deep litter our barns, straight onto the ground. Poo pick daily and top with few handfuls Bedmax large flake. Cleared out completely once a year, in the spring. The horses love it, the 'bed' is deep and, of course warm!!, though moist. They tend to pee in the same parts so the rest is dry and they do lie down on occasions. Ours (3, sometimes 5) are all in there at the drop of a hat if the weather's iffy. They are fed on the concrete by the barns and their haynets are all hung up under shelter, some in the barns themselves, some under the overhangs, which does encourage them to use them.

We've done this for about 19 years, and it works a treat - for us.

 

[LD&S]

When I first got my boy I was a bit of a worry wart, I used to put a deep bed down and also banks (to keep the draught out) then I used to hide hay in the corners, I used to skip out through the week then at weekends I'd pull the middle out and replace the floor from the old banks and then renew the banks which were huge as he has always liked eating straw.

 

[Spring Feather]

My barns and field shelters have rubber matting in them and I put straw down once in a while. It gets all mooshed around and breaks up into dust eventually and makes a comfortable dry bed for them. It's really only the youngsters who go in the barns/field shelters though, the big horses are rarely seen in them unless it's very hot outside.

 

[Dubsie]

IME waste of time, we bought a field shelter for our two and they prefer NOT to use it other than in summer to get away from flies. They may shelter from the wind one side or the other of it, but that's about it even if raining or snow, and the only time I put a bale of hay in there (we were shuffling the barn contents after baling this summer) they both ate a load, peed a load on it,. pooed all over the rest and totally trashed it in there (normally never wee or poo in there) and frankly I wished I'd not bothered, so am sure the same would happen with straw.

 

[gracenarchie]

thank you , a real mix there then. was in two minds what to do but think its just me fussing over them thinking about putting a bed down, am sure they couldn;t give two hoots!! , in reality my two boys would make a real mess ( well one of them would and he knows who he is !) and they've both been snoozing happily in the snow and are rugged up so will just see how we all get along with just mats down for now - and to be fair am only putting the mats down as its all a new set up for us and initiallly the shelter will be the only place I have for farrier/dentist/vet etc to work.

 

[FairyLights]

I have a thick straw bed in mine. They do lie down on it but they didnt on just the grass/earth.

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

thank you , a real mix there then. was in two minds what to do but think its just me fussing over them thinking about putting a bed down, am sure they couldn;t give two hoots!! , in reality my two boys would make a real mess ( well one of them would and he knows who he is !) and they've both been snoozing happily in the snow and are rugged up so will just see how we all get along with just mats down for now - and to be fair am only putting the mats down as its all a new set up for us and initiallly the shelter will be the only place I have for farrier/dentist/vet etc to work.

With your last point I would leave the straw out - if the horses ever need sedating they have to have no access to anything edible during and for a couple of hours afterwards, and so it would be a real headache to try and remove it all in the middle of pouring rain in the dead of night if there was an emergency.

 

[blacksabbeth]

My field shelter is huge infact we have changed it into two stables.I only used to put enough down just to dry off there legs,and to be honest they would go in eat there hay and come back out again,a few occasions they were in in the morning.But I find it a lot easier now its stables and I think they do both have huge beds and a few times in the morning they have been crashed out asleep,i can hear my chunky snoring sometimes.Me personally would only put enough in to dry there legs and something to stand on.

 

[The Boy]

We're on clay soil and have just erected our shelter. The ground inside is already dry and I feed hay in there (off the floor in one corner), any hay that's been trodden on gets spread around inside and the top self-drys so I now have a fairly clean and dry surface for when he's inside. I skip out twice daily. Shelter is on a wooden skid which keeps the hay inside. I also scraped up the dry hay off the ground where I'd been feeding it in the paddock and used that to top up the layer inside (better than letting it rot on the ground)
This morning we have 6inches of snow and the old man has decided it is better to be in than out!