Horse eating ALL bedding! Help!!!

O

oldhat

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 July 2010
Messages
170
Location
rural windy aberdeenshire
Visit site
Hi there! I've had my pb welsh cob mare since she was 16 mnths old, she's now 16 years and she always nibbled her bedding whatever it is- but she is now taking it to another level! She has been on straw for the last 7 yrs since moving to scotland but this year she seems to have gone over the top eating it! I've tried shavings and flakes but she loves to chew wood so it must taste good to her therefore I don't think those pellets would work though it is tempting to try. I tried her on cardboard squares last year which our other horse is on but I caught her eating them -I thought she'd put weight on rather! Other boy doesn't touch them. Now at my wits end as this morning she had NO bedding left at all. She gets 16 lbs hay a night steamed and weighed and also her usual feed so she's not starving by any means tho she could be bored I guess. Is there ANYTHING out there I could try her on? HELP!!!!!!! Thanks!!!! Anything I could spray bedding with? Tried proprietary sprays as did work in tack shop ( :-) ) before I moved but nowt worked
 
Not tried any sprays on beds yet altho will be getting my lad some yukka bed as he is also a culprit of eating his bed!
How about getting her a ball and put some pony nuts or high fibre cubes in it and give it to her before u leave of a night, night keep her occupied for a bit if she's bored? Leo gets one and he loves it! :)
 
Get a mat. :) I would use pellets or other bedding tbh but I have laminitics so am paranoid about sugars in hay and straw.
 
Last edited:
Is she eating her hay and is it of good quality as the bedding may be more appertising to her. Maybe she is lacking in something, might be worth trying a supplement. Try her hay on the floor as she may not like eating out of a net. I have been through this too and the only thing that stopped my pony eating hers was jays fluid or zoflora diluted and sprayed on but i found it made the bedding wet (straw). I have also used the wood pellets and when adding water to them i added jays fluid then that helped to.
 
Tie her to her stable roof so she cant put her head down to eat bedding and then dangle her haynet at mouths reach and a hamster water bottle? That should di the trick ;)



On a serious note try spaying jays fluid? - have never tried it but seen it recommended before
 
I tried a ball when she was younger but she's such a messy horse that it either ended up across the yard or swimming around in a pool of wee but I could try again perhaps or maybe give her a neep to play with?! Is there any bedding with built in yuckiness? Also tried yuckabed to no avail!!!
 
Have to say I don't like the idea of spraying stuff like Jeyes fluid on the bedding. Would you like living with that stink? Also, breathing in the fumes can't be good surely?

Put some straw in a net...
 
In answer yes she has mats and yes she eats her SUPER quality hay from tub on floor and has proper aberdeenshire (where we live!) vitmins. The straw prob does taste good hence the question! Need to get something else today if poss, jeyes mixed into pellets could be the answer tho 'hamstering' her sounds hilarious and a new challenge ha ha!!
 
If she has mats I wouldn't worry. :D

ps. If she is putting on a lot of weight you need to change bedding imo. If she has eaten all her hay by morning then soak it (remove sugars) and give her more.
 
Last edited:
I'm having a similar problem with one - she leaves her good quality, sweet smelling haylage to eat bedding - we've tried spraying her bed - disinfectant hasn't worked, Yukka bed didn't work, McNasty spray didn't work (but choked me!), in fact the only thing that slightly deters her is vinegar so I've stocked up on Asda smart price vinegar at 20 something pence a bottle. If anyone has any other ideas I'd love to hear too :)
 
She's in there from about 5 pm to 8.30 am which is a long time but our fields are in a horrid state what with all the rain etc. her stable gets so wet it can't be good for her, she developed nasty cough last year so all her hay is steamed but I know that being on straw takes away most of the good that is done in dust free respect. I am not happy using jeyes as it is poisoness. Oh dear! Think a tack shop trip is in order!!!! What a shame!!
 
I think changing bedding is definitely a good idea in her case, especially if she is prone to coughs and it gets very wet. :)
 
Mine is exactly the same. To the point where he is now out because he coughs and being in, eating his bed, whatever it's made of, just makes that worse. I did spray jeyes fluid, heavily diluted on it, which did deter him though, its a complete faf though and it stinks, but if you have to keep her in then its probably the way to go, dettol is supposed to work as well though I didn't try it. Problem is I found if you spray it, they just rummage through the bed to find the bits you've missed!!!!
 
Our old boy eats his bedding if allowed. His hay goes in a double haylage net and he only gets a pee patch, which he uses so after that there is nothing left but his hay for him to eat. Works really well.
 
This may come across as being mean but if you already have rubber mats I would say don't put any other bedding in there. At a previous yard there was a horse that always ate its bedding, the owner, like you tried everything else but to no avail. The YO suggested just rubber mats and was almost shot down in flames about how cruel it would be by some of the other owners. She countered with the fact that when out during the day the horses will quite often lay down on really hard ground, harder than the mats. The owner tried it and the horse managed fine. At this time of year, if your horse is wearing a stable rug then bedding is probably not needed. The only problem is that the horse will probably end up with more stable stains than usual. In saying that our grey always uses a nice fresh pile of droppings as a pillow when its cold :( :( despite having a nice thick straw bed.
 
Clannad48 said:
This may come across as being mean but if you already have rubber mats I would say don't put any other bedding in there. At a previous yard there was a horse that always ate its bedding, the owner, like you tried everything else but to no avail. The YO suggested just rubber mats and was almost shot down in flames about how cruel it would be by some of the other owners. She countered with the fact that when out during the day the horses will quite often lay down on really hard ground, harder than the mats. The owner tried it and the horse managed fine. At this time of year, if your horse is wearing a stable rug then bedding is probably not needed. The only problem is that the horse will probably end up with more stable stains than usual. In saying that our grey always uses a nice fresh pile of droppings as a pillow when its cold :( :( despite having a nice thick straw bed.
Click to expand...

In extreme cases Like the one OP is talking of, I would suggest this too. You could always put a very light sprinkle of shavings down to soak up any puddles.

just another thought, have you tried mixing some wet / soiled bedding in to make it less tempting to eat?
 
Thanks for all the really helpful answers! I've just been over to tack shop and got a bag of megazorb to put down first covered by rapport flax stuff so we shall see what happens tonight! Keep everything crossed-preferably her legs!!!! Wanted to try bliss but she didn't have any! Yes I won't be putting a lot down as she does wear a stable rug and yes I did try putting minging wet weewee straw on top of clean which had also been sprayed with disinfectant but she still ate it!! Don't u just love 'em!!
 
oldhat said:
Thanks for all the really helpful answers! I've just been over to tack shop and got a bag of megazorb to put down first covered by rapport flax stuff so we shall see what happens tonight! Keep everything crossed-preferably her legs!!!! Wanted to try bliss but she didn't have any! Yes I won't be putting a lot down as she does wear a stable rug and yes I did try putting minging wet weewee straw on top of clean which had also been sprayed with disinfectant but she still ate it!! Don't u just love 'em!!
Click to expand...

You have to MIX the wee wee straw in, not just put it on top... but if she ate the wee wee straw too... she's a real minger!!

Re the Rapport, I love it! ...but you may find you have to spray it with Detol to deter munching... ;)
 
Disaster! Put megazorb down with rapport on top, she walked in blew the rapport off the top then munched on the ****** megazorb! Tried to remove what I'd put down and just leave rapport which smells v strongly of citronella so hopefully it'll still be there by morning!! Bloody horse! Love her!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top