Best dust free and absorbent bedding

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Christmas Crumpet

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Am wondering whether to change from shavings to something else and just wondered whether anyone had any thoughts on what is best.

Fairly tidy mare in a 12 x 12 in at night all through the winter. Want something to use that isn't very dusty at all and is absorbent but don't want to use straw at all. Am going to be ordering a pallet of it so it needs to be right!!
 
I really rate Easibed - have yet to find a less dusty bedding (its the only one that doesn't set off my OH's asthma) and even better the Plus version, but I can't get it for a decent price here as can't pick up myself :(
 
I second Easibed - the least dusty bedding I've found. I do still wet it down - you probably don't need to but even this isn't completely dust free (I think that is actually impossible to achieve). It is also very absorbent.
 
I have literally only just changed on to it yesterday so can't say from experience yet, but Aubiose is supposed to be 4x more absorbent than shavings and 12x more absorbent than straw.

It's not dusty at all, normally i'm coughing and sneezing everywhere when i put a new bed down and I was absolutely fine- pricey but no more expensive than hunters shavings- in theory I should only have to put half a bale in a week as well.
 
I've head Flax-Bed (cant quite remember the name) is very similar to Aubiose but half the price- I might start mixing Aubiose with it to cut down on costs in future
 
Cardboard. Dust free, reasonably cheap and very absorbent. I would be wary of aubiose as my experience was horse eating it and ending up with colic.
 
I used Flaxcore which was a reasonable price but they went out of business (I was told). I then tried rape straw, not too bad, and then miscanthus, both are absorbent but a bit woody. Doesn't bother me because I use them as a deep litter base with straw on top. I resist shavings because they don't biodegrade as easily and when they do, they make the manure acid, and the last thing I want spreading on my land is more acid product. I do like the flax product but not the price :(
 
I have one of mine on cardboard as she eats Bliss like its going out of fashion, and the other on Bliss as she eats cardboard as if its going out of fashion.....both relatively dust free and very easy to maintain!
 
I use chopped rape straw, but it does not look like oat, wheat or barley straw, it could be mistaken for shavings on first glance, and it does not get eaten. Cheaper than shavings and seems absorbent. It is like hard chippings that are also long (!).
 
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First day using Aubiose and can already say I'll never use anything else!

Due to my stables poor drainage system I've ALWAYS had a big puddle of wee at the front of the stable that my poor horse has to stand in, even over winter when his straw bed was 2ft high! Today is the first time hes not stood in a puddle all day, aubiose must be massively absorbent as even on shavings he was a seriously messy ******- I know i'm weird but i'm seriously over excited about how clean my horse's bed is for once after a whole day in his stable, so easy to muck out
 
I used to use cardboard which I loved but they stopped selling it near me. I was also using a lot of cardboard for my very messy mare. I now use wood pellets which I really rate, very absorbent, dust free and cheap.
 
Anyone use wood pellets? I'm thinking of changing to them from shavings. Have a very wet horse.
Do they rot down well on muck heap?
 
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