Best bedding for wet horse?

[starry94]

Since my horse has come in during the night he's been making his stable quite messy & really wet. At the moment he's on shavings (Elite Dream brand) that cover the back half of his stable but i'm having to take lots of bedding out each day so am on the look out for a new bedding.
Don't want to use straw and am thinking of mixing in flax/ hemcore into the shavings to make it more absorbant but am open to any other suggestions!

Oh, and i don't have rubber mats and can't really afford to get any at the moment.
Thanks

 

[MillionDollar]

Put straw pellets under the shavings, makes the most amazing bed! I have 5 Part liveries, plus mine on this, 3 of which are VERY wet and disgusting, and I use half a bag of shavings, half a bag of pellets per week per horse. It is the easiest bed to muck out as well

Flax is also very good, I used it for 4 years, but unfortunately the price rocketed this year Such a shame as I really did like flax.

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

Go for hemp - expensive per bag but goes a loooonng way and incredibly absorbent. But I would recommend Aubiose over Hemcore, as Aubiose is a lot cleaner looking (easier to see wet and small bits of poo) and more absorbent IMO.
Def give it a try, it is amazing and poo and wee stay where they are done.
You def will NOT go back to shavings! And it doesnt stick to everything either...

If it is too pricey it mixes well with wood pellets.

 

[Milkmaid]

Wood pellets sound like they may be the answer. They don`t shift around nearly as much as shavings on concrete.

One of mine is vile and very wet. I use a premium pellet bed for him and only get through 2-3 bags a month with taking the wet out weekly, amazing.

Or as someone else has suggested wood pellets under/mixed with another bedding to give extra absorbancy.

 

[putasocinit]

Your bed is too clean. New bedding does not absorb as well as older bedding, try it throw some water on top of new shavings and watch the water run underneath saturating the whole floor then throw some water on already wet shavings and watch the water stay in the wet shavings, so when's mucking out only take out some of the wet and put new On top if you keep doing this over 4 weeks your bed will be deeper, drier, cleaner and the bottom might be a bit wet/dirty but it is not touching the horse and it is only your horses mess, also better for foot control when rolling and works out cheaper as taking less out. This applies to all types of bedding, straw, shavings, hemp and wood pellets.

 

[putasocinit]

Milkmaid your way is kinda what I am talking about because you leave it in all week and it has got wetter so more absorbent,

 

[mycocorocks]

Agree with Million Dollar. Straw pellets are definitely the most absorbent bedding on the market....we have tried them all. They also rot down very quickly after use - we use it in the garden!

 

[faith123]

I am using Aubiose and I love it!

I have a wet smelly mare and have been using aubiose for 2 and a half weeks and have only had to put another bale in. I have a fully rubber matted stable and have about a 3rd of this bedded down.

Super easy to muck out (I use rubber gloves and poo pick) - I get a skip bucket out a day - then a big muck out at the weekend to take out the wet which is a big wheelbarrow full

Expensive but worth it - a couple of people use it on my yard so we got a pallet delivered and saved over £2 a bale!

 

[Skipadeedooda]

Hi,

I don't have rubber mats and use a semi-deep litter bed with shredded cardboard (little squares). It doesn't work well on a rubber matting if you are keeping bed minimal but semi-deep is excellent. It is approx £4 per bales and I'm sure you would get it from a local council recycling centre (it's not treated).

I use 8 bales initially for a 12x12 stable and I remove dropping everyday using marigold gloves (shaving forks take out too much of the bedding as squares are quite big to fall through) then every 3rd day I remove the wet. The cardboard draws the wet down and holds it in place so when you come to taking the wet out you just scrape the dry off the top and you'll have one or 2 wet patches to remove. It's also excellent for horses with dust allergies, that's how I first started using it, now all my horses are bedded on it. I put in 1/2 a bale to 1 bale a week to freshen up. If you have banks round your bed, when you take out wet just pull down banks to freshen up bed, straighten up and re-bank.

Hope this helps

 

[Mizzbecx]

I love the Rapport bedding, I think it's hemp bedding but don't quote me. Soaks up the wet much better than the shavings I've used before and smells nice too

 

[dollymix]

I am a new convert to straw pellet bedding- love it!!! Trialled it with my welshie who is quite tidy but in a small stable and it is ace! Looks lovely, smells nice, soft underfoot and super easy to muck out! I am hoping to put my disgusting ID on it too

Only problem, it is initially expensive to lay. I bought more than the recommended amount for my stable and I would say that the recommended number of bags would have made a very small bed. I hate to think how much it will cost me to lay a bed for the ID who is in a stable twice the size of the welshie!!!

 

[dollymix]

Oh another thing.... Don't be out off when you first lay it. They look like crumbling pony nuts but you DON'T wet it like with wood pellets. The bed looks tiny at this point but by day two, most of the pellets have broken down to make a really lovely soft bed!

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

I love the Rapport bedding, I think it's hemp bedding but don't quote me. Soaks up the wet much better than the shavings I've used before and smells nice too

Rapport is not hemp tho it is sold by the Hemcore people. Clue is in the name - it is chopped rape straw bedding.

I wont quote you, promise :-DD