Bedding in Trailer?

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debbien

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I have good rubber matting in my trailer, and have always travelled my horse with no shavings etc. I am now travelling further afield and wonder if I should put shavings down. I had a nosey at a recent competition and it was about 50/50 . What are the positives/negatives (I worry they might be slippy) Any thoughts appreciated
 
Hi,

For short trips / days I just have the rubber. For long trips / days I have bedding too so if my horse needs a pee he can feel comfortable to do so, and also if he poos a lot it does not become all squelchy and horrid. I muck out when we arrive and before we leave on a long event day too.

For a baby horse I also use bedding so the floor is quieter.
 
Yes please do as I've seen two horses slip and fall under partions due to pee on rubber matting travelling

Just not worth the risk, put shavings down. it takes two seconds to clean out at the end of a trip.
 
For all trips I have a thin layer of nedz bed down at the back half of my trailer floor as my boy will always have a poo and sometimes a pee when out and about in the trailer.

It's easy enough to clear at the end of the trip and I'd rather there was something down to catch the excess fluid than not!
 
Every journey I ensure there is bedding down, usually a bag of wood pellets soaked overnight. Added benefit of drying the trailer right out for the next trip.
 
I don't use the much - just enough to go under back legs and to my mares tweets. I hate scraping poo out the matting ridges so shavings always.
 
i always have a good thick layer of shavings down to encourage them to pee.

also keeps it freshers smelling, which in turn stops flies being attracted too.

think its a bit grim to leave them with nothing.
 
We got our box serviced before and the trailer guy advised using straw instead of shavings. He said shaving get worked under the surfaces and can do damage
 
For long journeys always shavings-4-6 bucketfuls which weight wise is around 3kgs as a rule.

Horses can pee in comfort especially geldings who do not like spray.

Obviously if travelling mares all the bedding at the back and geldings cover nearly the whole front section

You do need to be diligent and take it out, sometimes once you have got to the show have a tidy up using a plastic chaff bag 'poo bag'

At the end of the journey you do need to take it all out as of course it will be damp and this will over time do more damage to wooden floors.

IF going on the ferrys and off to the continent you can only USE shavings, straw is not allowed
 
I've always travelled with nothing, up to journeys of about 3 hours, but a friend took us up the round (comparitively) and the horses pretty much had a full on shavings bed. Nugz travelled the best he ever has, and the lorry didn't smell like a slurry lagoon when we opened the ramp so I am now a convert :D
 
I always put a layer of shavings or straw in as I find rubber mats to be lethally slippy when they pee or poo on them (having nearly gone a*** over t*t myself) and this helps my horse balance. Keeps smells to a minimum as well.
 
When we had our rice trailer with a wooden floor we always used a layer of straw. In my current trailer I don't put anything unless we are going on a 4 hour plus journey in which case I would pop a bit of straw at the back so they can wee. Current trailer has that rough paint on rubber flooring it isn't slippery at all even when wet it is just neither of mine will wee unless there is straw there.
 
PolarSkye said:
Are we the only ones who don't use anything?

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Click to expand...

Nope, you're not alone :)

I've never had a horse (or travelled one) that pees in the box though - if mine did it, I think I'd use something, but I've never felt the need. I tried it once with my old boy hoping he would pee as he wouldn't when we were at a comp, but it made no difference.
 
I used not to put any bedding down on my Ifor's rubber mats.

It was reading various threads on here that made me change my mind, when it was pointed out how slippery the mats get when wet. I now use a decent scattering of shavings, and the footing stays secure even when wee'd and pooed on.

Bit messy, though, but hey ho.
 
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