Finding the best bedding

[AnnaPK]

Im about to buy my first horse… i have come across allot of bedding so far since starting and im keen to see other peoples opinions.
what would people recommend?
here are my criteria

• Fluffy bed - I have come across wood pellets that puff up with water they just dont look comfy
• easy to muck out - i don’t want to be pulling my back out trying to lift it
• not too bulky - i like to aim to get 1 stable in 1 barrow
• nothing too expensive

any help would be appreciated thank you!

 

[poiuytrewq]

Just been looking at wrapped bedding now actually, it’s so so expensive! I was looking at shavings, not even a nice brand but that used to be the cheap option at £11.70 a bale!
I prefer shavings, I like bedmax but I use straw!

 

[eggs]

Im about to buy my first horse… i have come across allot of bedding so far since starting and im keen to see other peoples opinions.
what would people recommend?
here are my criteria

• Fluffy bed - I have come across wood pellets that puff up with water they just dont look comfy
• easy to muck out - i don’t want to be pulling my back out trying to lift it
• not too bulky - i like to aim to get 1 stable in 1 barrow
• nothing too expensive

any help would be appreciated thank you!

Firstly I would scrap your first criteria for a fluffy bed - horses happily sleep on rock hard ground out in the fields.

The cheapest option is straw but depending on how wet your horse is you might not be able to do a full muck out with one wheelbarrow.

You will have a better idea once you have got a horse - will it need dust free bedding?, how messy is it? etc.

I used wood pellets for years and the horses all happily lay down on it but now it has got pretty expensive so I am using chopped miscanthus.

Aubiose is great but is expensive to initially set up but then you should only need to use very little a week.

 

[Lacuna]

I used wood pellets which were great but the price has doubled in the spaceof a year.

I'm back to straw. Found a good local supplier, its worked out the cheapest and most compostable option I can find for stabling at home

 

[FitzyFitz]

I use straw pellets which (except when first set up when its a tad crunchy) are fluffy and comfy for the horse to lay down and super easy to muck out. I can get 2 stables in one barrow if i'm just skipping the poos, and 1 stable in a barrow if i'm taking the wet patches out (unless i've left it a week or they've had a hay party!)

A friend of mine uses chopped miscanthus which takes a lot to set up a bed but stays in banks much better. She skips out (half a barrow) during the week and then digs out all the wet on saturdays (at least 2 barrows) and she has pretty major health and joint issues so it's not too difficult to do except on saturdays.

Straw is cheap and fluffy but it fills up barrows and muck heaps like crazy!

 

[dottylottie]

shavings all the way for me - i pay £9 for a bale of champion chip, which is the fluffiest shaving available without paying £15 a bale. i’m quickly discovered lily is a messy mare though, so she may end up on straw but i hope not because i hate it

 

[TPO]

Straw is cheap and warm but depending on how clean your horse is it night be more than a barrow. Quality varies too. Straw is used when stables were designed with a slight slope and inbuilt drainage to let the urine run away. Straw isn't absorbant so without that set up pee just sits on the ground. It also stinks to muck out and thr smell clings to shows, clothing and hair.



I find wood pellets really dusty and I not a fan because of that.



I've used chopped Straw with good success. Very absorbant and low dust. I bought in bulk from Caviera bedding online.

I've recently swapped to Bedmax Little max as its th3 cheapest (£8.60 including delivery) low dust bedding I could find delivered. I'm lucky that I have storage space. Its easy to much out and to separate poo from bedding, quite a but easier than th4 chopped straw too.

 

[Hackback]

I like shavings too, but currently using a mixture of Wooburn shavings and megazorb because I find the megazorb just makes the bed a bit lighter. I take out droppings and wet daily (droppings morning and night) and put half a bale of shavings and a bag of megazorb in once a week most weeks and a full bale of shavings if I think the bed is getting a bit thin.

I love a clean straw bed but my priorities are speed, ease and not filling up my muck trailer too quickly. I've tried other shavings/chopped rape but I dont like big flakes and find with some it was a struggle to lift the bed as it was claggy and heavy (I chuck everything up against the wall when I muck out). Probably not a problem for a younger fitter person but I need an easier life now.

You will probably adapt what you use according to how clean/dirty your horse is. Mine are both poo buriers but have a dedicated wee patch which makes it easy to remove the wet and requires a complete sifting of the bed to get the poo, hence why straw wouldn't really work for me - I'd end up throwing out the entire bed every day.

 

[SussexbytheXmasTree]

Once you get into horse owning you’ll soon realise that you will want a bedding that’s economical and easy to muck out without too much wastage. Bedding can easily be more costly than forage Per months and only second to livery costs. I’ve used wood pellets for years and it’s perfectly possible to lay a nice thick bed but they are no longer economical. I’ve swapped to rape straw at£8.90 a large bag and still have some wood pellets left over from when they were on,y £3.50 a bag - now around the £10 mark but I would probably use 8-10 a month. I use probably 5 bags of rape straw a month.

 

[ecb89]

I would probably use shavings or straw until you are used to your new horse and what they are like in the stable.

 

[Bobthecob15]

Honestly straw is so much cheaper!! Unfortunately ours has recently decided to start eating his...New supplier it must taste good! So we've switched to shavings...its a pain! However he is much cleaner on shavings so swings and roundabouts.
Wait and see how messy your horse is, straw doesn't suit horses that pee a lot!

 

[little_critter]

We’ve recently started using chopped rape straw because shavings are getting expensive and tricky to source.
We are liking the rape straw, easy to muck out, nice beds and this source is cheaper than shavings.

 

[dottylottie]

just to add, when you view a horse make a mental note of what they’re currently on and ask why! that’s not to say you have to take the advice though - i was told lily is cleaner on straw than shavings, but i would rather muck out a dirty shavings bed than a clean straw bed. it gives you a start though!

 

[Boulty]

Best stuff I've found is hemp. I get mine from East Yorkshire Hemp & Ecoshiv / Harrison Spinks as I didn't want to pay Aubiose's prices! I used to semi deep litter in that I skipped out daily (maybe about half a barrow's worth) and then took about a barrow of wet out once a week. Usually used about a bale a week if in overnight or half a bale a week if in during day. Soft, comfy and low dust plus when it compacts down a bit it doesn't tend to shift about much unless they really dig at it.

 

[little_critter]

Also consider your storage options. Do you have somewhere you can store straw?
If not you’ll likely have to buy wrapped bedding like shavings / pellets / flax etc.

 

[Glitterandrainbows]

Best stuff I've found is hemp. I get mine from East Yorkshire Hemp & Ecoshiv / Harrison Spinks as I didn't want to pay Aubiose's prices! I used to semi deep litter in that I skipped out daily (maybe about half a barrow's worth) and then took about a barrow of wet out once a week. Usually used about a bale a week if in overnight or half a bale a week if in during day. Soft, comfy and low dust plus when it compacts down a bit it doesn't tend to shift about much unless they really dig at it.

I use this too really rate it

 

[Surbie]

See how much storage space you get on the yard you will keep your horse on, as well as what they are on when you buy them. For one yard I had only 1 pallet of storage for hay AND bedding. I have 2 pallets where I am now which is ample, but the best I have had is half a stable. You also might have to buy bedding & hay through the yard, which would also restrict your options.

I miss my shavings & pellet bed, but not how much that now costs! I use miscanthus and straw pellets for the wee patch. I use 2 bags of miscanthus and a bag of straw pellets every 10 days or so in winter when he's in more - it costs more than his hay.

You'll get to know how clean, or not, your horse is. Some are cleaner on different types of bedding. My horse is wet & heavy on his feet and churns the bed if it isn't a bit weighted, which is what I use the straw pellets for. He does (nearly) always pee in the same spot, but he does play 'hide the poo' with at least one pile each night.

 

[VRIN]

I have used wood pellets for years but the cost increase made them uneconomical. I have switched to Nedz bed which I must say I am very impressed with and think its actually much better than wood pellets.