best bedding for wet coblet

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merlins-mum

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What would you all recommend as being the best bedding for a VERY wet and dirty coblet (full feathered)

We've tried rubber matting with a but of woodchip - which is easy to clean, but leaves him absolutely filthy, as he lies in it and you can't keep washing him in this weather.

We've tried full deep litter (woodchip) which he pees copiously in and then spreads around the place, leaving the whole bed soaking and needing to be cleared out - works out very expensive, and he's not a lot cleaner either.

We just want something that won't cost the earth if we have to give him a totally new bed every day, and which soaks up the wet so he's not totally minging!

What about wood pellets? are they any good?
 
What about good old fashioned straw? We use quite a deep bed, and if its minging - which it often is we take a lot out! It is quite absorbent - and he has a few stains on him but wouldnt call him filthy!!
 
I second straw,A stallion at the yard I used to work at was a total minger and we spent a fortune trying all the latest beddings and found we were best of sticking to an old fashioned deep straw bed.
 
Theres something new at our feed barn made out of recycled egg boxes. They reckon you can take out the wet, leave it to one side and it'll dry - so you put it straight back in!
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Will find out more about it and let you know
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My coblet is exactly the same and he's on rubber matting and a small amount of straw...but yes he still gets filthy. My advice would be straw and a very good waterproof rug
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gotta love the buggers.
 
im just trialling wood pellets for my extremely wet in foal mare and so far so good! te bed isnt moving at all, and the wet is being contained.

i would NOT recommend straw on rubber matting - i just took my pony off straw yesterday and the straw just didnt absorb the wet and went under the mats and when i lifted the mats is was *disgusting*. it took me hours to clean out too.
 
I've got rubber mats, but I bed over them as if I didn't. I should add that I sealed my mats with silicon gel so the wee doesn't run underneath. If you haven't done this with yours, I'd recommend it. I'm no expert and just used stuff from the DIY store but it's SO much better than laying the mats and leaving the gaps inbetween. I did mine last summer when the horses were out and the stable could be left to dry for a few days without being used.

First I lay a bale of ordinary horse wood-shavings in the area where the horse pees most often (if a gelding, probably the middle of the stable) and then lay a thick straw bed over that. I muck out the top straw bed like normal during the week - removing the poos and the wet straw, topping up if necessary - but leave the underneath shavings undisturbed. Once a week I muck out the straw bed like usual and fork it back, then remove all of the soggy shavings. It's only one bale's worth of shavings so doesn't take long. I sweep the floor of the box clean, then re-lay clean shavings and replace the straw bed over the top. It's worked a treat for me. And I've tried just about everything...
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Like other people have said, straw with a huge deep bed. We've found that if you skimp on the straw it's a false economy, fully muck out each day too. The cob I ride can be very wet, he's on a huge straw bed and I take out maybe 1/2 barrow a day. The deep bed stops him trashing it and mixing all the wet and dry.
 
Tom is excellent at turning a spotless brand new bed into a swamp in only a few hours. Partly because he is so wet, and partly because he likes to dig holes, and walk round his box (it's not box walking, he's just nosey but his hay rack is at the back of the stable")
We tried straw but the wee just runs out of his stable. Used about 4 bales a week in his stable
We tried deep littered straw but he was worse.
We tried 3 types of shavings but it just smelt so bad and the wee still ran out of the stable. Ended up using nearly 2 bales of shavings a week!
This year we've been using wood pellets, and I have to say that whilst they aren't the prettiest bed, or the fluffiest, it is DRY!!! it's so easy to muck out too. we just poo pick and then take out any soggy bits of bed. Have been adding only 1 15kg bag of pellets (I add them dry) to the bed a week and job's a good 'un.

Can't recommend them highly enough. They've saved us a fortune in bedding! We ordered a pallet from PLQ, but i've heard good things about white horse bedding and the price is about the same for a full pallet.
 
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