Horse allergic to shavings?

[tb gal]

My horse has pollen allergies. Autumn and winter are her best seasons. I have moved her of a straw bed as sweeping yard was driving me nuts. However she is now gone a bit breathy and hissing slightly, I’m pretty sure it’s the shavings which are dust extracted but still have a layer of dust if that makes sense!

 

[Red-1]

The very fine dust can play havoc with their lungs, and yours too. If they leave a layer of dust in surfaces then that is not dust extracted enough for a horse who already has a challenged respiratory system.

Different shavings firms have different levels of dust extraction IME. I would change supplier and I the mean time spray the stable down after laying the bed.

Aubiose has very low levels of dust, and it is also designed to be dampened before use, so very horse friendly. It is expensive to buy but if the bed is managed correctly it does not work out much more expensive as it is more absorbent than shavings so you do use less.

 

[tb gal]

Thank you Red-1. Shavings are bulk bought by yard. I am removing them this morning and putting straw down for now. I will research if I can buy Auboise locally. Yard think I am mad !

 

[criso]

Thank you Red-1. Shavings are bulk bought by yard. I am removing them this morning and putting straw down for now. I will research if I can buy Auboise locally. Yard think I am mad !

Mine is allergic to all wood based bedding, shavings wood pellets as well as megazorb which is paper. He comes out in lumps. Has to be bedded on straw.

 

[YorksG]

I found that one brand of shavings we used made me ill! We ended up with a pregnant ewe giving birth in one of our stables and put some fresh shavings down for her and her lamb, I then spent quite a bit of time down at floor level with them and ended up with poor breathing and a horribly swollen face! We didn't buy any more of those shavings, goodness only knows how the Old Appy, who had more than enough breathing problems, would have coped with the blooming things!

 

[SpringArising]

What about Flax? I used it years and years ago and it was virtually 100% dust free. If he's struggling on shavings I can't imagine straw will be much better.

 

[tb gal]

The straw at the moment is lovely, golden yellow and very clean. There are some dust particles but not as bad as shavings and don’t kick up all the time. I will let you all know how I get on. Thank you for helping.

 

[criso]

There's a difference between being susceptible to dust and an actual allergy to shavings. Mine was reacting to the wood so it was the same whether it was good or bad quality shavings, the yard used Hunters. Last time when he had a reaction he went up to horsepital for an op, they used to put him in the farm animal box which had straw but the block he had to go in post op was straw free so he spent a night on shavings. He came out in lumps having been lump free for 2 years.