First winter on pellets - advice needed please!!??

[BuzzyBea]

I've tried most bedding types over the years with various horses but this year my friend and I have decided to move from shavings onto wood pellets for the first time. Our boy is at their house with her 2 so only the 3 of them on a yard together.

Have decided on White Horse Energy Platinum Plus because:
- We are anal about their beds and love them to look as clean as poss!!
- One of her boys has asthma so we need a quality pellet to reduce dust.

Can any of you give me advice on how best to set up and maintain on the basis that we like a bed that is very comfy for them (we are on rubber matting) and looks great to us!!? Plus how do we ensure that we keep the dust down as much as poss? Went to my friends yard yesterday who has straw and micanthus pellets and was like a desert in her stables :O and very brown!!!

I've also heard that a corner bed might be a good idea for our boy as he walks all of his poos into his bed and is so so so wet

Help!!!!

 

[Sandstone1]

I used white horse platinum plus last year.
Started the bed with about 8 bags if I remember correctly.
Laid them out on top of the rubber matting, slit a cross in plastic bags and added half a bucket of warm water..
Left for half hour before tipping out and spreading over floor.
Add more water if needed.
I added about two bags a week to the bed. Remove poo daily and wet when necessary. Rake over daily. Add water with a watering can if Dusty.
I found them to be much better than shavings. I've a discount code for white horse if you want it. Pm me and I'll send it to you.

 

[Fruitcake]

I love pellets! When my horses were kept in, I would remove droppings and wet daily and top up as necessary. Giving a quick spritz with the sprinkler head on a hose works well to keep the dust down.

I tried the cutting a cross on each bag and adding water method but just ended up with a rock solid expanded bag that was really difficult to handle and empty so I found the easiest way, when initially setting up, was to just empty the bags onto the floor and pour measured water on top, giving it a bit of a mix with a fork. For top ups, I find using a couple of those huge tub trugs really useful. They're just the right size to hold a bag split between two and have ready for hen you need it.

I'd also really recommend investing in a fine tine fork. They're like a basket and really let you seive- much more efficient and quicker than using a standard shavings fork.

 

[XxCoriexX]

Hi I have been using pellets for years! First as a groom on a large yard and now with my own mare! the easiest way I have found is to lie the bags on the ground in the stable, cut a X on the bag (side facing the roof) and pour the water into the bag. then leave for about half an hour so that it expands nicely. then just pull the bags out and rake out the bedding into a nice thick bed. I am very OCD about my stable and pellets is great for that because you can easily sweep it all into a straight fronted bed and it keeps the smell down!
I remove the poo and wet every day....although my mare is very dry in her stable! due to her not wanting to wee in her stable I have to add water usually about once a week just to keep the dust down, I also get a wet hand towel and wipe down any surfaces i.e. rug racks, window to keep away the dust.
we have a horse with breathing issues and he has always been fine on this bed!
Good Luck

 

[bluebellfreddy]

I would always use a full bed, not a corner one. You need the bulk of bedding for it to be most effective, and save you having to take out a whole bed every time.

 

[FlyingCircus]

Just don't! Haha.

I used pellets through the majority of last winter, save a few weeks at the end. At first, I LOVED the stuff, it was so easy to muck out and took me barely any time....But then it started to drive me mad. It got EVERYWHERE, I seemed to be brushing it up constantly. It was either too wet or too dry, no in between! It was a faff to muck out fully daily as that disturbed the bed but deep littering for a few days/week at a time led to a really really hard to dig out bed.

I thought I was saving some money as a bag was around £2.50, but then after I had enough of it I changed to straw and my bed is now HUGE with just £2.50 added a week, instead of £5 for 2 bags of pellets.

The main thing I found was that my horse never really lay down on the pellets. Since it was the first winter I had him in, I assumed he just wasn't a horse that lay down much! But since changing to straw he is always lying down for a snooze! Now I feel bad for giving him an uninviting (pellet bed of 30 odd bags!!) bed to sleep on for so long

 

[eggs]

I've been using pellets on top of rubber mats for a number of years now and am currently using the White Horse Platinum Plus.

I start my beds off with about 10 - 12 bags per stable. Space the bags out on the floor and cut a large cross in the top side and pour water in. After about 20 mins empty out the bags and rake out across the floor, sprinkling more water from a watering can if needed. I find it easiest to have a good thick bed rather than just a thin layer.

Each day I skip out the droppings and any obvious wet that is at the surface. Damp bedding can be raked back in and then some dry bedding scrapped over the top. I find a future fork excellent for pellet beds. It works much better if you leave the wet in to form a good stable base. When you first put the bed down you might well find it moves about if you have a horse like one of mine who seems to enjoy dragging his feet through it.

In the winter I tend to add two bags per stable per week and in the summer when they are in less this drops to about a bag per week. If winter I tend to empty a bag of unsoaked pellets in the area where they pee and rake them into the bed and then I top up with a bag that I have soaked in a wheelbarrow.

 

[9tails]

I've used them for years, White Horse Platinum are the best so good choice. Do you have rubber mats? These help as you can set a half bed. Mine is thick, around 8 inches, and I leave the wet in for a month or so as it doesn't come through. I use more water than most, emptying a bag into a large trug and soaking overnight. My main tip is to take out all the hay from the bed as that seems to conduct the damp through the entire bed. Don't use another type of pellet, especially Verdo, as you'll ruin the bed. My mucking out tools are an Aquamax fork, metal garden rake and a bulldozer broom.

 

[debserofe]

I changed over to pellets years ago and never looked back - they save me so much time mucking out. I use Verdo pellets on top of rubber matting. For starting a new bed, I simply empty the bags onto the floor, spread out and water with a hose, leave for half an hour and then, if necessary water some more. I take out poo and wet daily and when I need to add more bedding, I add it where they pee the most and cover with existing bed, this means when they go to pee in their usual spots, it starts to break down the bedding so lasts a bit longer.

 

[BuzzyBea]

Thank you all so much for the advice - a great help!! I need to invest in a new fork as well by the sounds of it!!

 

[poiuytrewq]

I hate to say but I found a horse who walked it's poo round impossible to keep clean on pellets. They are so absorbent that the poo just crumbled and mixed in.
I am in fact a massive pellet fan and have ordered mine already but would never use with a really manky horse!
I also would say not to bother with a fynalite pellet fork!!