bedding pellets -views?

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Hovis_and_SidsMum

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Hi
I've been looking at diferent bedding and have seen several companies that supply the pellet bedding (which you then add water to).
Has anyone got any experience of it? I've looked at white horse bedding, aqua maz, thirsty bedding etc - they all seem much of a muchness but are they?
Any experiences - good and bad greatly appreciated as no one i know in RL uses the stuff.
I'll supply the wine as its a friday night!
Thanks!
 
You'll get loads of replies from people that love them but personally i dislike any bedding where you leave some of the wee in. Ammonia is very bad for the horses respiratory system and mixing wee back in to the bed is a breeding ground for bacteria.

I have used them several years ago but threw the bed out after a couple of weeks due to the above. You take most of the wet out but mix the rest in, the moisture then fluffs up the pellets.

They are cheap but imo false economy
 
I've been using http://www.plqpellets.co.uk/ all winter. seem pretty good, certainly pleased we swapped to them from shavings. my only comment is that a pellet bed never quite looks clean (but only in the way that a deep littered shavings bed doesn't either).

the beds are dry, an seem to be totally dust free. Even Stinky can't turn it into a bog - and trust me he's tried! dead easy to muck out, just skip out the lumps and leave the rest until it shows up as soggy. Use about 15kg bag once per week in each bed.

PLQ have been brilliant, I ordered one pallet, and they rang within minutes to say how soon they could deliver. We then had problems with the weather so I had to rearrange. When we could finally get them delivered the driver rang me to get instructions and to make sure someone would be there, and even helped to unload them. PLQ have since been in contact to see if I needed more as they had an offer on or something. worked out at the same price as the White Horse Bedding inc delivery.
 
i use liverpool wood pellets - cheapest I could find and they are very good for both my messy mare & my tidy one.
my tip is a thick bed, disturb the dry areas as little as poss as it packs down to provide a good firm base, and soak with boilign water makes for a better bed.
 
I've recently switched to white horse bedding. I haven't noticed any smell and it's great for soaking up wee. The horses are all happy to lie down and there's no dust so no coughing from me! It takes a bit of getting used to but so far I'm happy with it. I bought one pallet and will see how it works out cost wise once I've gone through it and seen how long it lasts. I have rubber mats too so don't know what it would be like straight on concrete floors.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Ammonia is very bad for the horses respiratory system and mixing wee back in to the bed is a breeding ground for bacteria.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree ammonia is bad for the respiratory system. BUT... Any bedding had ammonia in it once the horse has had a wee... unless you plan to clear and wash out your stable everyday it's inevitable. The problem arises with poor hygiene, poor management and particularly sensitive horses.

Wee is actually sterile so shouldn't give you any problems as long as your basic hygiene with their feet/coats is good. Ie you clean their feet and groom them regularly so that there's not bedding caked in/on them which can lead to thrush and sores etc, when this starts the bacteria feed on the combination of the nitrogen in the ammonia and can damage the body tissue and that's when you get infections like thrush.

but that goes for any bedding not just wood pellets.
 
i'm getting on well with the wood pellets, and i don't leave any wee in at all, i'm mega-fussy and my wood pellet beds are still pale beige, not dark and peaty as they go if lots of wee is left in.
my supplier (spalding gardener) has just introduced 8mm pellets instead of 6mm and they are lower dust and puff up just as well if not better, so i'm really pleased with them. am using 2-3 bags per stable per week, but my mares are all in 19-20 hrs per day at the moment so they'd use quite a lot of any bedding.
 
Somone I do stables for has just started using them (only this week) I was expecting them to fluff up to something like Megazorb, so I was rather surprised to find that they just look like sawdust!
 
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