bedding which do you prefer.

Who is your favourite?

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i like to use rubber matting and straw but if the horses eat it or are alergic to dust then i use aquimix(sp) as i can get it real cheep and not very dusty
 
Our straw is so lovely, very yellow and soft. The stables are well ventilated (some may call it draughty....
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) so now probs with dust although I would like to put rubber mats down. If I did put mats down though, I would still put the beds down as thick as they are now as they look so cosy!
 
im sorry if there is a mistake on the survey.
i do certainly apologise .
i did one early and deleted it and now tried to do another but obviously still having problems.
 
is there anyone on hho, that just uses rubber matting without any other type of bedding? I saw an advert the other week saying that when using rubber matting there is no need for any other bedding, but I would never ever do that? Thought it was a bit weird really? Where would all the wee go :s would like to know your opinions.
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Don't think I'd ever use just rubber matting personally - they don;t have anything to soak up their wee!
Shearer ( My Welsh D) is on straw because he like to mix his bed round, my old TB was on Shavings and it was disgusting, ( not to mention bl**dy expensive) becuase he was filthy. We have lovely home grown straw, so my ponio has a lovely deep straw bed with big banks that he uses as pillows!
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some of the bedding mentioned i have not heard of them. do you have a website so i could possibly look at them .?

i like mine on shavings as they seem to be clean on that and manage to do their poops in one corner.
 
I went for shavings as Ralph has copd and has to have it, but, if I had a choice, I'd much rather put him to bed in a HUGE straw bed that has just had a fresh bale added to it...........my idea of bliss
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Frankie has rubber matting but still a Pretty huge shavings bed with banks as big as I can get them. He's 17.2 (and a bit) and the stable isnt overly large so I try and make myself feel better by giving him a nice deap bed.
...I would never use mats without any bedding. He wont wee on hard ground. Im sure the swine holds it in all day, and waits until its bed time. The second hes in the stable, He wees everywhere =\
 
I've done it a couple of times for various reasons. Not for very long either time but aside from the shocked looks from other people (it does look very stark without any bedding), the horses themselves didn't seem to mind at all. They both laid on the mats just as much as they did with a full bed and banks. I consoled myself figuring that laying out in the paddocks in summer was probably no worse harness-wise. Some horses would invariably be put off urinating on bare mats; those which instinctively dislike splashing their legs. Luckily neither of mine were worried by this but it would be something I would be conscious of if I were to try it again with any new horse. It's definitely preferable to give them the choice to pee on a small area of absorbant bedding.

My mats were laid over a concrete floor which had a very slight slant towards the front, for drainage. Any urine would seep under the mats and run towards the front of the stable. I would scoop out the poohs and then rinse the stable out with 1/2 buckets of diluted Fieldguard Green Gloop, making sure I ran it along the gaps between the mats. It would seep through and neutralise the ammonia in the urine beneath the mats, before running out at the front of the stable. I would finish up by sweeping the whole stable clean and any excess water from the front of my boxes into the drainage channel at the front of my boxes. The horses were out during the day and the boxes were left open to dry before the horses came in at night. This system definitely would not have worked if my stables were set up in any other way. The Green Gloop too, was indispensible and I wouldn't be keen to try mats on their own without it. It's great stuff.

I now use an Italian bedding system which uses bio-enzymes - and only have to muck out fully every 18 months. My mats are now buried under a good 20 inches of bedding.
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I use mats, and only put a very thin layer of shavings over to soak up pee.
ATM I'm looking after a friends mare, who gets a foot deep bed of shavings with MASSIVE bankings all round and lives in, already I have texted to ask for permission to thin the bed right down as this little mare produces more poo than all the oher horses on the yard put together! It takes hours to muck out and must cost over £100 pounds per month, just on shavings!!


Rant over...
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My horse just has good rubber mats, nothing else. When he used to have a bed he would never lie in but he would lay on the bare mats. He prefers to wee in the field [with bed or no bed I have found] but he will wee on the mats. My stable is huge [he is a small horse] and has a concrete floor that slopes to a good drain so no ammonia etc lingers. I use a powdered disinfectant every few days.
 
I still love big straw beds as long as the horse doesn't eat it or have dust allergies. I dont think anything looks quite as good as big straw beds.
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having said that my girl's on cushion bed now as she eats straw like there's no tomorrow & i really really cant stand normal shavings
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Love cushion bed & wouldnt change it for anything now.
 
I think you should use some kind of bedding with rubber mats otherwise the horse will get splashed with wee every time.

My horse will not wee without bedding down anyway.

He has rubber mats and cardboard. Rubber mats as he has arthritis and its cushioning and cardboard because shavings and straw make him cough.
 
i love, love love a deep straw bed.... but for various reasons, mine dont have straw.

my boxes have the old fashioned cobbled floors, whichi personally really like. however, this makes it difficult to have a fully matted floor- so my boxes have rubber mats at the front, and then a deep bed of shavings for Red and Bedmax for Solo.
 
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