Bedding nightmare

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micra

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My mare used to scoff straw all night and nothing would stop her- then she got colic. We switched her to shavings and she destroys the whole bed each night, would need at least 2 bales a night which I can't afford... she then lived out for two years so that problem went, now due to circumstances the horses had to move yards and are in at night over the winter months.

The whole shavings trashing problem was back, I even tried haylage as bedding and that was the worst smell I've ever smelt in the morning 😂 I bought a load of wood pellets and used them, I thought the problems had gone away but she was starting to look bloated - saw her this evening scoffing the wood fibres off the floor! She has ad lib nice hay which she loves.

Greedy mare! I feel like just not putting bedding on her rubber matting as no matter what I do she refuses to lie down to there anyway . She also wees for ages and turns the bed into a soggy mess ☺️

Would anyone have any suggestions please?
Thank you 😊
 
With the wood pellets, did you soak them? If you soak them so they are no longer pellets, they will be very difficult to eat as essentially they will quite sandy in texture and no longer distinct pellets.
 
Yes they were soaked completely - no bits of pellets left as I knew she'd mistake them for treats coming out of the treat ball ha! She's just scooping up the wood fibre stuff that it turned to and eating that. She has all the food she wants, grass in the day, a good vitamin and mineral supplement in her two daily feeds, treats and licks and ad lib hay. But she lacks wood in her diet apparently!😂
 
Thank you I'll look the miscanthus up- have a feeling it's going to be as expensive as the chopped straw bedding is here though 😔 I tried disinfectant on straw when she had it and she ate it anyway - seems like she doesn't actually have a sense of taste😭!
 
If she is going to hoover up anything, I think I’d be inclined (if you really can’t have her out 24/7) to use what is going to be the least harmful when eaten, and for me that’s chopped straw.

As much as it would pain me (I like a reasonable bed), I’d just put a sprinkling down to mop up the wet and sweep out fully every day.
 
Given that she has already eaten herself into colic and you are not made of money, I would put her on good quality rubber with a small square of shavings to pee on.

stable rugs stink with rubber flooring, so I would use a thin stable rug next to her skin and cover it with a no fill mac that is deeper than the stable rug, perhaps having a couple of the mac's so you can scrub a stinky one and use the other.
 
She wears her turnout in the stable usually- think I'll have to go back to a minimal bed. Feel terrible when my pony next to her has a big bed 😢
Thank you!
 
I think Bliss bedding rape straw and another one spray theirs with lemon. Or what about soaking pellets with dilute Jeys fluid instead of plain water, it will stink. To be honest if she is not going to lie down anyway its just to soak up the wee, does she have a particular spot, just put it there
 
I was going to suggest cardboard too. Very absorbent, easy to muck out and dust free. Have used it for years and have no reason to change.
Don't buy a cheap one though, false economy.
 
Have you tried shredded paper? I have also seen people use chopped cardboard. I use shavings, but with the wood pellets underneath where my horse pees. This saves the bed getting soaked. I can't leave the pellets in view because he eats them. I have tried the shavings with chopped straw in as this smells nice, but again the horse eats the bits of straw.
 
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Britestar said:
Shredded cardboard. Soaks pee up well and very unlikely to eat it.
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I tried cardboard when a local supplier began stocking it. Nightmare for wet horses, got sodden and took a bale a day to replace the sodden stuff I had to remove. Might work on decent rubber matting but otherwise was hopeless here (and I assume paper would be at least as bad)
 
Just as an aside re: my experience of miscanthus ...

I usually use shavings but a friend had ordered some miscanthus and then decided to stick with shavings ... so having never used it before, I offered to buy the miscanthus from her.

Never again! My boy is not too mucky but is fairly wet, although it's not a problem with shavings - I use between 2 and 3 bales a week. With the miscanthus, I actually had a puddle of wee gather in the corner of his box.

Just to add, he's also on full rubber matting and is mucked out fully every day.

I would be inclined to try shredded paper or cardboard, micra.
 
JillA said:
I tried cardboard when a local supplier began stocking it. Nightmare for wet horses, got sodden and took a bale a day to replace the sodden stuff I had to remove. Might work on decent rubber matting but otherwise was hopeless here (and I assume paper would be at least as bad)
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There's a big difference between cut squares and shreds. Squares I agree are hopeless. Shreds are totally different to work with.
 
I use shredded cardboard on the lorry. No dust in an confined area with horses with their heads tied up. It is absorbent should one have a wee on the truck and non slip, plus it does not blow everywhere when the ramp is down.
 
I used standard office shredding (cross cut) on mats for years and it's really absorbent and rots down very quickly on the muck heap. My current yard won't let me use it so I use chopped straw and don't bring in very often.
 
I had a very wet mare once and the only thing that worked for us was rubber matting with a bale of shavings piled at the back of the box with a little covering thrown in front to pee on; I swept out the front bit each morning. She could use the pile to lay down on and it made me feel better that she wasn't just on matting. A bale lasted her nearly a week so it was also the cheapest way for her; all of my others were on wood pellets but they didn't suit her at all.
 
Thank you all! I ended up being mean and mixing the new wetted pellets in with the slightly wet bedding in there - she tried to nibble a stray pellet and looked horrified at it lol
Wouldn't mind a 'comfier' layer on the top to make myself feel better about it haha, will try the chopped bedding types
Thanks!
 
JillA said:
I tried cardboard when a local supplier began stocking it. Nightmare for wet horses, got sodden and took a bale a day to replace the sodden stuff I had to remove. Might work on decent rubber matting but otherwise was hopeless here (and I assume paper would be at least as bad)
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I wouldn’t choose cardboard either. It gets extremely heavy to muck out when soaked through, and isn’t cheap either. I used to work on a hospital yard which used it for certain boxes. It was backbreaking if the patient was on fluids and therefore very wet.

I’d probably choose the good quality rubber mats/small sprinkle of shavings option for the OP.
 
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