Bedding

N

nickie_leigh

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21 December 2006
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I am wonderin gif there is anyone else out there that has a horse that continually wants to defy any bedding that you put down.
i have a 16hh thoroughbred mare and whateva bedding i have put her on so far she has either eaten the entire contents of or made it so wet in 1 day that it looks like deep litter!
I dont really want to put her on just rubber matting so if there is anyone with ne hints to other beddings that are cheap but good i would love to hear them.
 
My best advice to you is to put in twice the amount. In all the years I have looked after horses, mine and as a YM, I have found that the best way to keep a dirty horse in a decent bed is to be really generous with the bedding.

Sorry, not what you want to hear I suppose.
 
Archie is on rubber matting with a small shavings bed in the corner, hes perfectly happy on this and lies down at night aswell. He is a total mess, id never be able to have him on a large bed - he was when he first arrived at my yard but it took my over an hour to muck him out each evening, it was awful.
 
My horse was a total mess on shavings but i changed her to straw and she has been fine. I can also afford to give her a really big bed coz its so much cheaper and she seems to be a lot cleaner on it.

My friends horse is worse than mine though and she has tried every bedding possible coz she is so bad!! She has now settled for paper which she deep litters and it seems to be doing the job. She also tops it up occasionly with a few wedges of straw.
 
My mare is exactly the same. Takes me around an hour to muck her out every morning as the only way to make it manageable is having her on a really deep bed. She still manages to make it very skanky very quickly though!
 
I find that a thickish layer of sawdust topped with shavings is ideal as no matter what else I try my hunters would not stop eating straw.
The sawdust forms a warm base, changed every 2 weeks or so & the shavings are mucked out daily.
I've tried rubber matting underneath straw & shavings but sawdust is best.

Regards,

N.
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I find that a really, really really thick bed work wonders. It costs a lot to start with but it seems that they cant toss it up into one big mushy mess so easily when its thick. Its better on easibed too.
 
Def a thick deep bed .. I tuk the lazy option this year as got two horses and do both on deep litter - think bed is warmer and also firmer so less mess, just not looking forward to Spring and the mucking out smells! YUK.
 
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