Easily degradeable bedding?

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Sprig

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We are about to move house and will have the horses at home. 2 horses who will be out 24/7 in summer and in at night in winter. I am thinking about what to bed them on. We will have a large garden with plenty of flower beds and veg garden. I am thinking that it would be good to use a bedding that degrades quickly and have two muck heaps, putting last years on the garden. Does anyone else do this? I am thinking of Aubiose or somethign similar but have no experience of it. Both horses are nice and tidy in their stables. Beds will have rubber mats. Thanks
 
very simple, straw pellets! I've now been on them for over a year and lover them! Because they're pellets there's very little taken out (and I'm OCD about my bed and won't deep litter it like they say to and take all my wet out!) so the muck heap stays small and because it's straw rather than wood it degrades easily.
 
I have never heard of straw pellets. Where do you get them from and how much do you pay? I am put off cardboard as I think it might end up blowing around and I have heard it is hard to sweep up when wet - trying to keep everything tidy as they will be at the end of the garden. Pics of beds would be helpful as well.
 
piebaldsparkle said:
Aubiose or flax rots quickly and highly absorbent for minimal waste.
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This, and if you want to cut the cost, use Aubiose where they wee and wood pellets on the rest.

I never take out more than 1 wheelbarrow from a stable and its all poo and just the very weed bit - it used to be 3 or 4 with shavings or straw.

I save a lot of money too and its not stuck to rugs, manes, fleeces, me etc.

The horses much prefer it.

Aubiose (which I find more absorbant than the other hemp brands) and wood pellets both rot down incredibly quickly and well. Unlike great big shavings they dont deplete the soil of nitrogen in the early stages so much either. They create a lovely crumbly compost which my veggies grow brilliantly once well rotted (6 months on) even when grown in that alone which the books say not to.
 
Sprig said:
I have never heard of straw pellets. Where do you get them from and how much do you pay? I am put off cardboard as I think it might end up blowing around and I have heard it is hard to sweep up when wet - trying to keep everything tidy as they will be at the end of the garden. Pics of beds would be helpful as well.
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I've tried every type of bedding known to man - and have settled on straw pellets as economical, easy to use, and VERY good on the muck heap!

http://www.strawpelletsltd.co.uk/

They're saving me a forune over everything else I've tried, the muck heap is MUCH smaller and it breaks down very fast and spreads beautifully! (I have up to 27 horses stabled at any one time, so all these things matter a LOT to me.)
 
Sprig said:
How do you muck out your straw pellet beds then? Just take out poos and top bit of wet every day?
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Ours are almost all on rubber mats. We take out poo, a shovelful of VERY wet, and if more needed, add it around the outside. I have a young stallion who continually dug up his rubber mats, so I removed them, and he has a deeper bed of straw pellets. We hardly touch the base - just the odd forkful of very wet - add fresh and rake over the top. It doesn't smell, nor shift! And - unlike wood pellets - you don't have to wet the straw pellets. And if they eat some, it's NOT a problem.
 
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