Bedding suggestions please

R

rossie

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26 February 2006
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Hi
I have a pony who is the dirtiest animal ever in his stable. He's kept at livery and has to come in at night until the end of March. He appears to poo lots of small amounts and then tramples it in. We have rubber mats and I use shavings - the first night it was a whole bale in and all swept out the next day. I can't afford a bale of shavings a day, and they're hard to get hold of anyway. I'm thinking of using minimal shavings, but when I got him 6 weeks ago, he had thrush so don't want to exacerbate that. Any suggestions please?
confused.gif
 
If you've only had the horse 6 weeks, my bet is that he will get cleaner as he becomes more settled.

I have rubber matting with a half bed. The wet is taken out daily and I top up every two days with fresh shavings.

He's not the cleanest animal, but the system seems to work well for us.
 
Rossie, don't panic yet. When I got mine 3 months ago he was just the same for the first three weeks. He'd been chucked out with one other horse for 2 years and it was all very new. His bed was mixed up so thoroughly, I felt I'd do better with a sieve than a shavings fork.

Even now he can revert (he did today) if his routine is particular disrupted, a new horse comes onto the yard etc. If he's not turned out with the others in the morning for any reason then I know it will cost me in shavings. Most of the time though, he's as clean as any other horse now. I've gone from 4 bales of shavings a week to 1 or 2.

He used to barge out of his stable as well when I first got him, now I can stand in the doorway with him with the door wide open and he wont go anywhere, so it's definately all about changing their attitude to the stable. I've just bought a stable mirror to see if that will help settle him even more, haven't got it fixed up yet though so I can't let you know if it works.
 
I would use hemp bedding, I use Aubiose. Its six times more absorbant than shavings and isnt much more expensive. Its MUCH more stable, my 17hh hunter doesnt kick it around like he used to with shavings and straw, and unlike shavings in great lumps you just pour it out the bag and it doesnt stick to the rugs nearly as much and is much easier to brush off.

I use loads less than I did on shavings (about half) but even if i used the same amount it would be worth it.....cant recommend it highly enough!
 
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