Beds!

[kc921]

My boy is extremely messy in his stable, I've tried a big bed (shavings small flake) I've tried a smaller bed, I've tried straw and I've tried pellets under the beds
I am at a loss and losing my mind!
He drags his feet in the stable so turns up all the bed and mixes the poo and wee, I'm taking 3 to 4 wheelbarrows worth out everyday and having to put shavings in nearly every other day

He is much cleaner on shavings than straw, so I have moved him back onto shavings but it's getting very costly ?

What else can I try which will help me with costs and keep his bed cleaner for him?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Arzada]

Can you reduce the amount of time he spends in his stable?

 

[AmyMay]

Rubber matting and minimal bedding?

 

[kc921]

Can you reduce the amount of time he spends in his stable?

He doesn't spend too long in there as it is, he likes a good routine, so is in around 5/6pm and out before 9am in the morning (yard turns him out for me)
I can't leave him out any later as he loves coming in and will tear up the field ?

I have considered getting rubber matting then making a small bed... Might be something I need to look into again!

 

[pistolpete]

I’d say that was in quite a long time. I used to find with my messy one if he was turned out before 8am he was so much better. So maybe see if he can go out as soon as it’s light?

 

[PurBee]

Sounds like he’s moving around an awful lot to churn it all up, possibly suggesting he’s not just happy to stand and doze/eat/sleep.
Ive 2 sharing a deep bed, in an open barn and they really try to avoid stomping in their poops. Only rarely is it a nightmare of churning, normally associated with terrible weather and antsy moods!

Does your boy see other horses from his stable? Is he one to like company of other horses and being away from others causes distress? Is his bed always a mess or is it just the longer winter days?

 

[Puglover9521]

I have 2 ponies, ones the cleanest horse known to man who wees in one spot every day and then poops on top of the wet with no trampling, just a perfect pile, the rest of the bed is barely a shavings out of place from when it was levelled out the day before. The other, is a truly manky cow who I’ve wanted in the past to send to IKEA to be made into meatballs as she’s so filthy. She wees like she’s drank all the tea in China, digs, poos everywhere (including in her water feeder) smashed the poo everywhere and generally wants to make me cry sometimes. I tried every method - tiny bed on matting, deep bed, aubiose, you name it I tried it. The only thing I’ve found that has worked is snowflake wood pellets topped by easibed (as it’s free draining). I put down about 10 bags of snowflake pellets only (dampened with half a bucket of water for each bag) put my super clean pony in to start to deep litter it as when it’s been wet, it goes solid so can’t be dragged about (I probably wouldn’t of been able to do this if I’d tried to start the bed with the manky mare). After about ten days or so, the base was pretty much solid and not moving. Then added easibed on top and put the mucky mare in. Now as the bed doesn’t move, all I have to do is take the poo of the top which is really easy as it comes straight out from the easibed on top and all the wee drains through to the pellets at the bottom. Every so often I’ll take the really wet / hard patches out and add in another soaked bag of pellets to the hole I’ve dug out and it’s good to go again. I’ve gone from spending around £70 a week on bedding to about one bag of easibed a week and one bag of pellets a fortnight or so, and I don’t cry when I muck her out anymore!

 

[[153312]]

Hate to be 'that' person, but does he definitely have enough to eat/occupy him in the stable? Big double netted hay net, trug of oat straw/top chop zero etc, swede on a string, salt lick, just to distract him from stomping about? Can he see other horses?

 

[asmp]

Mine is a great one for kicking all his poo around. I keep him on Laysoft (think it’s similar to Easibed mentioned above) and as it’s dense bedding, the poo doesn’t get buried. It’s woodchip and I find it’s easier to muck out with gloves and a bucket, taking the wet out every few days. I use 1-2 bales a week. It’s reasonably priced too when you buy it by the pallet load.

 

[scats]

I feel your pain. I have a box walker and foot dragger who also just poos wherever she happens to be standing, even if it’s right at the door. She them steps back into it.
By morning, my stable is a brown mulch. There are no whole poos to find at all. I’m trialling a deep litter base for the very back and mats just at the front. I still have to ‘muck’ out the bed daily ( there is no chance of just removing poos) I just pretend the deep litter base is the floor and don’t disturb that bit as much as possible. I can get away with 2 bags a week of shavings doing that, and mucking out takes just 10-15 minutes.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

Just a thought, are they fed from around 7? Then wait to be turned out? Does he get additional hay whilst waiting? Is he watching others go 1st before its his turn?

Worth finding out as it might be him stirring it up getting antsy about being turned out and am sure you know that even 10 mins of anxiety can mush up a stable, even worse if it's 12 to 16 hours of what was a tidy box pre staff coming on the yard.

 

[Peglo]

I would say that was quite a while too. I leave mine out until 8 if I can. If the weathers bad they come in earlier. I turn them out at 6:30. If they were going out at 9 I would expect even the clean ones to have made a mess. I understand it’s more difficult when on livery though.
Does everyone get turned out at the same time? It’s not others being turned out early that could upset him and cause him to stomp?

 

[AFB]

Full wood pellet bed - it's much more stable that shavings and will stay in place rather than being dragged around.

Mine is generally good in his stable now he's older but still has the odd stressy night if somethings set him off - used to have shavings banked up to the door after a bad one but barely any movement from wood pellets.

 

[Annagain]

Archie has always been so clean - he doesn't poo in his bed and only wees in one spot - that I've been thoroughly spoilt. When Charlie arrived it took a bit of getting used to. A really deep (10 bags soaked with 1/2 bucket of water per bag to get you started for a 12x12 stable) wood pellet bed is the way to go. The first couple of nights might be messy but stick it out with not removing the wet, just sweep it back into place and cover it over. The wet will soak to the bottom and form a base so it will improve once it's reached that point.

Then just take the poo out (rubber gloves and a skip are best if it's churned up) every day and only dig the wet out when it starts to show through (it takes about 10 days with Charlie). It will leave a hole in the bed which you then fill with unsoaked pellets and pull a bit of soaked bedding over the top to hide them. I only use one bag of pellets every 10 days and his bed still looks really clean once I've skipped out the poo.

 

[asmp]

Further to my post above about Laysoft - this was my bed this morning

 

[SussexbytheXmasTree]

My old boy is like this. Full pellet bed and only remove wet patch never dig through bed everyday. The more you can leave it the firmer the base becomes and moves less. Sift through loose bed on top, throw up wall to allow poo bits to fall down to base then take out and don’t be too fussy it’ll be the same the next day. Make sure it’s thick enough for a solid base to form. At least if you chuck a lot of bedding away pellets especially if bought by the pallet are a hell of a lot cheaper than shavings.

The alternative is rubber matting and minimal pellets. I used to keep a previous horse like this but the rugs and horse got quite stinky from lying in wee.

IME you need to go for a thick bed or virtually no bed. The middling kind of bed seems to result in a lot more bedding thrown away.

 

[Tarragon]

Another one who recommends a wood pellet bed. Just start off with a very generous base. Expensive initially, but soon gain the benefit of easier mucking out and a small muck heap.

 

[Tarragon]

I spent six months working in racing stables in Western Australia back in the 1980's, and there the stables were straight on to the sandy ground! So, free draining and no bedding at all. All we had to do was poo pick and rake it neatly. I wonder if they still do that

 

[Surbie]

Can you put up a camera in his box to see if he box walks throughout or if there are trigger points for him? Like when everything is being fed or turned out? Or when he runs out of forage?

Just out of interest, for those of you with foot draggers who also deep litter, would you take the bed to the door?

 

[PurBee]

Can you put up a camera in his box to see if he box walks throughout or if there are trigger points for him? Like when everything is being fed or turned out? Or when he runs out of forage?

Just out of interest, for those of you with foot draggers who also deep litter, would you take the bed to the door?

mine have an open barn but they mainly move around at the front when shelting from awful weather as they still like to look out - so i have 1m thick rubber mats at the front and their bed starts 1m back from the mats.
In their mind they then treat the bed as a bed, and the mats as the place to stand.

Having 2 in there they drag through the top layer mostly….i deep bed, so when i notice the bed getting very thick and orange towards the top, ill have 8 inches of compact pellets soaked and skip out at that point, start again.

 

[SussexbytheXmasTree]

Can you put up a camera in his box to see if he box walks throughout or if there are trigger points for him? Like when everything is being fed or turned out? Or when he runs out of forage?

Just out of interest, for those of you with foot draggers who also deep litter, would you take the bed to the door?

I don’t take my bed to the door but after dragging it around it often falls out as I open the door …

Seriously though mine is on fitted rubber matting anyway so I don’t fill the whole stable. Where he stands at the door and where his feed and hay replacer are is just matting. I try and keep out 24/7 as much of the year as possible and when in try to get him fed and out of stable ASAP. I’m on DIY and we feed our own horses and there are a couple of really early birds so I don’t really have a chance to get to him before he might be disturbed.

 

[tatty_v]

I was told my new boy was a box walker. He’s on pellets underneath with shavings on top. The key, however, has been having him in a big stable with his Shetland friend in a mini stable within it. Now he has company (and a big net of straw to pick at during the night) he’s mostly very chilled. I also have the boys at home so I skip out and hay at 10pm, which reduces the mess (appreciate that’s not possible if they’re not on your doorstep though).

 

[katastrophykat]

I’ve just swapped from sawdust/small shavings to Laysoft, £6/bag by the pallet load of 35 I think ?
Either way, I dig out the pee spot once a week and put half a bag of small shavings into the pee space, put the clean over and a bag of Laysoft over the top. I have one clean and one very dirty gelding, both wet, and I love the Laysoft- it’s been down a few weeks and the cough that I didn’t think was bedding related in the clean one has gone, I hadn’t realised how dusty the boxes were, and although it takes a little longer to muck out, it’s fantastic.
There are two or three liveries now swapping to it having seen mine, including a big messy box walker, and it’s working for us all just now.
Good luck!