Eating straw bed, what can I use to put horse off?

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milz88

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My Irish sport horse is a real pain with straw, he is on bedmax at the moment but I want to try to swap him to a deep straw bed as I think it will be better for his joints when lying down etc ( he has recently had treatment for bilateral bone spavins), also it would work out alot cheaper than bedmax, only problem is, he will eat it by the gobful, is there anything I can use to make it taste horrible and put him off, I have tried disinfectant in the past but it didn't make much difference.

What about some chilli poweder mixed into water solution and sprayed over his bed? or will this make him cough and sneeze too much, I really need some ideas!
 
I have used diluted Jeyes Fluid before, I found that if you dampen the straw using a watering can with a sprinkler attachment it covers evenly.
Good luck:)
 
or jeyes fluid u tired putting them on cussion bed or easy bed doe he have to go on straw??? my mare got compacted colic on straw

some straws they dont eat as much which is wheat straw i used bedmax i found it a pain to muckout u can u bedsoft i also have rubber mats help the floor cussion. colic is bad i lost one to colic
 
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Thanks for the replies, i think i will keep an eye on him on it for a few days and try the jeyes fluid/watering can option, he does get turned out quite a bit in the day, he just seems to want to munch on it the whole time :( he doesn't HAVE to go on straw, he has rubber matting down, i'm just thinking of his joints and I wanted to do a deeper bed, as I can get a good price for straw and bedmax is expensive.
 
My old retired cob does exactly the same and used to have to be in quite a lot because of laminitis the best thing we found was to dilute vinegar with water and put it in a NEW garden weed sprayer from B&Q. Cheap, effective and no risk of poisoning. You can buy specific products to dilute to prevent bed eating but they are far more expensive than good old vinegar! :)
 
Thanks very much for the ideas, I have ordered some yukka bed, so really hope it works as I really want to keep him on straw but if he eats it all the time, it will have to be back to shavings! I may also try the vinegar if the yukka bed isn't successful!
 
milz88 said:
Thanks very much for the ideas, I have ordered some yukka bed, so really hope it works as I really want to keep him on straw but if he eats it all the time, it will have to be back to shavings! I may also try the vinegar if the yukka bed isn't successful!
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I use the Yukka Bed and find it works well for about 16 hours after application, so works well when applied to fresh straw being added to the established bed to stop the new stuff being eaten. Once the 'new' stuff has been down over night I found mine wasn't all that keen to eat it anyway, so it worked okay. I just used it whenever I added fresh straw. I bottle has lasted me 2 winters so far.... and is still going. I should add that I use a layer of straw over shavings on top of rubber mats, so don't go through too much straw.
 
Jameson said:
I have used diluted Jeyes Fluid before, I found that if you dampen the straw using a watering can with a sprinkler attachment it covers evenly.
Good luck:)
Click to expand...

I've used Jeyes - seems to work for most. I found I could get better coverage using one of those weed spray bottles, the sort that you pump up and down. The spray is finer but tends to get more of the bedding.

The best bed for your boy would be a deep litter shavings bed, about 12" thick. Only remove the droppings - totally leave the rest of the bed alone. Packs to be really soft and springy, very comfortable.
 
He's not short of fibre or hungry, he just likes to eat, he gets pretty much ad lib hay and turnout, plus his normal feed, in fact he is on a little diet as i'm just bringing him back into work and he had a little too much spring grass! But I think the vinegar trick has worked! thanks everyone, yukka bed is on order too!
 
Why do you need to stop him eating it? Straw is low calorie and high fibre, and browsing through it prevents boredom.
 
My boy is stabled on good quality straw, he is also a very good doer so his hay has to be rationed and given at intervals when he is in at night to make it last. It does of course run out in the early hours, so by making sure he has good quality straw I'm happy for him to eat it for a bit of extra fibre and to keep his gut active and him entertained. I also sometimes mix up some straw with his hay so he has more to eat without piling on the calories / pounds.

I don't see the problem so long as the horse can chew it properly and it is good clean non-dusty straw.
 
Thanks for all the replies, some interesting thoughts! But ideally, no, I don't want him to eat it in large quantities! I don't really want a bloated or colicing horse! As far as I can see he only nibbles a little bit and I have him on a straw/shavings mix which is working quite well, the rest of the time he's out, working or in with hay!

Waiting for the yukka bed to arrive!
 
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