Delights of straw

coffeeandabagel

coffeeandabagel

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After using wood pellets for the spring and summer I changed the bed for straw yesterday. The hoss loves it! He has been eating it, throwing it around, making nose nests and generally exploring it! Bless. And I love it being all clean and bright and fresh. I know after a few days I will bored with the mucking out but for now it's lovely to be using it again.
 
I went back to straw a couple of years ago. Me and the horses and the garden loves it. A handful of straw is brilliant at removing mud easily and quickly too.
 
Good quality straw is by far the best bedding for horses in my opinion. Also by far the cheapest!

I can buy a massive hesston bale for my 2, it lasts a whole month and only costs £25. With shavings I would be spending £60+ a month to get the same quality of bed.

I have no idea why anyone would want to keep their horse on a wood pellet bed, as straw is so much warmer and horses seem to prefer it to lie down on. I also find that the straw I am getting is actually less dusty than the supposedly dust extracted shavings that we have at work.
 
Ponies at work are kept on rubber mat and pellets. I love them as they are so easy to muck out, and there's hardly any waste. However.... Winter is here, with wet muddy legs etc, and ponies are now on straw. Love a straw bed! Cosy, easy to muck out and ponies all have a lie down overnight.
 
I've never had a horse with mud fever on straw. Never wash the legs. A good, deep straw bed & they are bone dry & usually clean by morning.
I acquired a wood pellet & rubber matting bed with a horse last winter. Easy to muck out but horse never really laid down & keeping his legs without mud fever was a constant battle.
All on straw this year (well when I finally bring them in :) )
 
I love making my horses bed all comfy and fluffy with straw, and I know she likes it too! Only problem is for some reason the straw on our livery yard has been absolutely c**p these last few weeks, really fine and dusty! No amount of shaking around (poofing) helps either. Grrrrrr
 
I have been putting a small amount of megazorb underneath my boys half straw bed on his rubber matting. Best of both worlds, gets rid of smell, and thanks to half bed, quick to clean out - horse is pretty messy and a full bed takes ages :)
 
The ponies I look after all have straw bedding and as they live out during the day they often get very muddy, especially in Winter! Luckily, they are Shetlands so there isn't quite as much muck, but the sheer volume of the stuff is a problem as there is a bit of a hike to the muck heap! Overall, though, straw is great because it is cheap and you get a lot of bedding for a very low price.
 
Horse had his worst ever mudfever on straw. He's now on pellets with full mats. It's the driest he's ever been and the least stinky. He's also not covered in stains in the morning!
 
Toffee44 said:
I have just changed wood pellets from straw am missing the big banks, and fluffiness of it. But not missing the smell, the overfilled wheel barrows and pee draining down the front of the stable lol.
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I missed banks too- Depends on your horse but mine leaves his alone so ive done big shavings banks. I never really need to touch or replace them and its worked very well (til my stable flooded!)

I too love the look of straw but I use it for my other horse and the smell is just gross- I swear it clings to me all day!? also by morning he's eaten much of it
 
Only straw beds seem to have that smell of urine that permeates your clothes and hair! I like how it looks but find muck heaps too big and the smell too much! I am a shavings girl!
 
Echo shadowboy - straw looks lovely but the smell and the amount you put on the muck heap - kills my back to muck it out too. I'm a shavings girl too!
 
we use straw pellets and also put some loose straw on top - get the benefits of both. Bed stays firm plus get all the absorbency of the pellets with the fluffy straw appearence
 
Love straw. Mine all came in tonight soaking wet and legs and bellies plastered in mud. In the morning they will be completely mud free. No washing, no chemicals, no scrubbing wet fragile skin, no mud fever.
I have really deep beds as the one problem with straw is that it doesn't work very well with rubber matting. The urine runs under mats before its absorbed unlike with shavings and pellets. That's why it seeps out of the stables.
 
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