Horse eating straw

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harleyandcopper

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I'm thinking about using straw bedding but worrying about horse eating it. Does anyone have any tips to prevent this?
Thanks
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Unless he's going to eat the whole bed I wouldn't worry too much - some straw is better than hay!! Also, depending on the way it's been cut / baled it can often have dried grass through it which is v. tasty. If you're really worried you can use treated straw but thats an expensive way to do it!
 
I absolutely allow my horses to eat their straw and never had a problem, we have great straw tho!

When adding new straw you can ensure you mix it with the older straw, this puts them off a bit, otherwise some people swear by squirting Jeyes or diluted Cibbox on - but I wouldn't personally ever do this!
 
HI,

my horses all have straw, as you cant feed the alfalfa here on its own, as its too rich, I would worry if they ate to much though, as my mare got colic here (Spain) by being feed a lot of straw (on a livery yard)
 
um...my mare got colic from eating straw and was permanently damaged, so i personally am never taking my chances with it again. I certainly would not leave them to eat it freely.
I think you can spray it with something to deter them but the chances are they'd just mess it up and eat the clean bits underneath.
I think very yummy hay would certainly draw their attention from the hay!
 
Thanks for the replies.
The horse is on shavings and rubber mats at the mo'.
I just wondered if I could make savings by changing to straw, as the price of shavings round here has shot up in price recently.
She is a lami (before she came to us), so that's why I'm taking all precautions first before going over to straw. I'm trying to keep weight off her.
Weezy, I had thought of maybe spraying with diluted Dettol or maybe your suggestion of Jeyes, but I don't want to poison her!
She's getting on a bit so I like to give her a comfortable bed.
My friend suggested we just have the rubber mats for the summer months.
What do you think?
 
My girl has a liking for straw too, even though she's getting fed good quality haylage. Have tried spraying it with disinfectant but she either digs up the bits underneath where i haven't reached or eats it anyway.
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I've known a couple that have had colic from eating too much of their straw so i'm definitley going on to shavings. Thankfully she's out most of the time in summer.

NanaHarley- Have you looked at using Cushion Bed? Shavings are quite expensive by me now too so i'm using this. It's only about £3.50 per big bale & we use less of it than normal shavings. I love the stuff.
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We get it from one of the manufacturing site's near Birmingham but i bet you could get it elsewhere too?
 
Blaise - that's great info -thanks.
My OH is going to Birmingham next week so will pick up a few bales for me. The prices are much more reasonable than shavings.
I knew if I posted a question on here I would get some helpful replies from all you knowledgeable peeps!
Thanks again
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Have pm'd you with the website link as the place is a bit of a pain in the bum to find. There's a map on there somwhere.
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Ours eat bits of their straw but have hay to eat when stabled. Watch what type of straw you have though - think we had some oat straw last winter and my sister's horse loved it and it sent him a bit doolally! hehe
 
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