Bedding woes...

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spotty_pony

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What does everyone else keep their very messy horses on that doesn't cost them an arm and a leg?!

I am currently paying £30 per week just for bedding for my very messy and wet Appy. I've tried everything - straw is cheapest option but he makes so much mess I still use a lot of it and it takes ages to muck out. Megazorb on it's own deep littered to give it a 'base' was still not absorbent enough so I've mixed it with shavings which is better but he is still having either 2-3 bags of Megazorb per week and 1-2 bales of Shavings! He does have rubber matting but I still like him to have a decent bed as he likes to lie down.

What does everyone else do?
 
My cleaner horses are on wood pellets. My very wet horse is on straw with straw pellets underneath in his pee patch. I tend to dig this out once or twice a week. My mare who likes to drag her feet through her bed is on deep littered miscanthus. It has now formed a solid base which she doesn't disturb much but I did have to grit my teeth in the early days to stop myself digging the wet out.
 
I’ve now got mine on Laysoft which is like easibed and I’ve got hippo tiles underneath which allow the urine to drain through.

Having had a disgusting horse my recommendation would be a bigger stable - mine is now in a 16x12 - as that really helps. Bedding seems to be secondary and I don’t think you can win long term, it’s always going to cost a fortune! One friend has used miscanthus with success but there’s a shortage of that right now so she’s on wood chip like me now. She was using a bales of shavings a day, then moved to wood pellets and was using a bag a day and then the miscanthus which went to 3/4 bales a week.
 
I have to agree with leg_end, you will never completely win - a dirty horse is a dirty horse, and the size of the stable makes a huge difference. The place I'm in now has a much smaller stable for my filthy slob - and I've noticed (in a very bad and expensive way!). Much as I like miscanthus, it just isn't absorbent enough - deep littering is not an option - so I just have to fork out for expensive shavings, it's the only stuff that will soak up the wee (and it needs to be deep).
 
Agree with those who have said a dirty horse is dirty! Mine went from shavings to straw to save money as she's not the cleanest.
I have reduced her bed recently as I'm making an effort to muck out before work and my huge bed was taking too long. I have noticed she's marginally cleaner, takes me 5mins as opposed to 10-15mins previously.
I think just try different ways of bedding down the same bedding. I've been adamant for years that bigger beds = cleaner horse, and insistent my horses need deep beds with huge banks, but actually where she buries everything, tis much easier now she doesn't have enough bed to do it!
 
Both of mine a pretty grim.

The draft is on easibed, which I really like for him. I get through 2 x bags a week and tend to build up quite a firm base and then muck out the top layer. Once a week I dig out the worst sections of the bottom layer, move stuff from the top to the bottom and then tip in 2 new bags. It did a great job over winter of drying out muddy feathers and he didn't get thrush like he normally does either. Just under £8 a bag near me.

I did try both on wood pellets and found them a bit dusty for the Appy (she has eye problems) and the draft wasn't lying down at night. He seems fine on easibed though.

I've had the Appy on straw, but will put her on easibed next winter to see if it helps her feet. She's on rubber matting and I prefer her with a smaller straw bed as she soaks her banks with wee and buries her poo. With a small bed I can scoop the middle all out into a barrow without digging around too much. Now the weather is warming up I need to plan to lift the mats and give them a wash - not looking forward to that, but it is getting a bit whiffy in there.
 
I use wood pellets. I take out all of the poo and wet daily, then mix it all up to make it soft and fluffy again.

I probably use around 10 bags a month.
 
Leg_end said:
I’ve now got mine on Laysoft which is like easibed and I’ve got hippo tiles underneath which allow the urine to drain through.

Having had a disgusting horse my recommendation would be a bigger stable - mine is now in a 16x12 - as that really helps. Bedding seems to be secondary and I don’t think you can win long term, it’s always going to cost a fortune! One friend has used miscanthus with success but there’s a shortage of that right now so she’s on wood chip like me now. She was using a bales of shavings a day, then moved to wood pellets and was using a bag a day and then the miscanthus which went to 3/4 bales a week.
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We use Laysoft too, which is good until the Appy gets in a strop about something and digs a huge hole in the middle and churns everything up!
 
I pay £7.40 for a 22kg shavings bale, its brilliant stuff, I use one in the week during the summer and probably 2 every ten days in the winter. I never lay the new shavings on top as they don't last five minutes so I tend to mix all the dry shavings in with the new shavings and bank them up putting the dirtier (but still dry bed) on the floor.

Then I 'shave' some off the banks to lay on top of the bed. I also never use a shavings fork as I find its too light for my bed (which is about six inches deep) but I use a snow shovel and have mastered the trick of bouncing the poos up and down on the shovel so all the clean shavings fall away each side and I'm just left with poo on the shovel. I guess it takes me 30-40 mins to muck out in the winter but only 10 in the summer when the horse is out at night. It's worth the extra time it takes as its quite cost effective.
 
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