How do you bed your 'messy' horse?

CassTheCob

CassTheCob

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Hello everyone! My horse lives out most of the time but is in when the weather is very bad (We're right on the west Irish coast so it gets pretty bad!). I've not had to have him in much this year, only a few times during the day, but last week he had a bit of a 'funny tummy' and I was advised by the vet to keep him in. So off I went and fixed up his stable for him to stay in overnight. I covered about 1/2-2/3 of his stable wish wood shavings and left the rest bare for his hat and water. I tend to go by the general rule of if it hurts to dro to your knees, it'll hurt if your horse tries to lay down. I was rather impressed with the bed if created for him and was certain it would suffice. I was wrong. When I arrived the next morning the lovely neat bed I'd spent ages creating was unrecognisable and resembled and sloppy porridge more than it did a horses stable, with the banks all over the place and an awful concrete patch in the middle. My horse? He was fine, he couldn't care less that he'd fubar'd his clean fluffy stable. So, how do you all bed your messy horses!? I want to get this sorted before winter 😂😁
(Sorry for the long post! Thank you if you've read this far 😂)
 
Rather going through this currently as mine is in with a flare (Uvetis). I have kept the bed back as 24 hours in is resulting in an absolute mountain of poo and I am now taking the entire floor out every day. I was better off during the winter when I had a proper full bed down which resulted in less mess. However, I am on a mission to get the stable emptied so I can wash my mats and repaint...as soon as my horse can go back out again so he is on a half bed for now. Downside is less bedding seems to actually mean more mucking out!
 
I have my two on straw. They both love renovating their quarters, and it's like an archaeological exploration trying to muck out (have to go layer by layer to find the hidden poo).

Having said that, I can still muck them out fairly quickly, though I always end up taking out more straw than I would like.

I keep them both on fairly short beds, as the more bedding there is, the worse the mess. I've also given up with banks, as they dig them up and rearrange the straw (into mountainous piles) as they please anyway.
 
If they are extremely messy and wet, wood pellets under straw.
I always thought that a mix of pellets and shavings would work for any horse until my friends mare. She is SO bad. Trashes bed every day but too wet for just straw
 
A big bed (no rubber mats and I can't afford any for some time) and then I cry on a nightly basis :D

I am going to try a deep litter on Wood Pellets this winter and see how that goes.
 
My old mare was a box walker and every morning, there would be one or two poos that I could see, but everything would be trampled into and mixed through her bed.

Best I found with her was to keep a good wood pellet bed at 5-6 inches thick, taking out the wee once every week to 10 days (as it came to the surface) which, even with that days poo, only just filling a wheelbarrow. It has to be a thick bed and it has to be a good brand. Currently, I will only use the White Horse Energy Platinum Plus. If I had a messier horse than fly was, I would make the bed even thicker.

I did a post a few years ago

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?592118-Show-us-your-pellet-beds
 
This thread has just reminded me of how demoralisingly (new word for the day) messy my horse is.

After he spends a few weeks completely trashing the bed and rearranging the banks in a new stable it works best if he has quite a decent bed of straw. I've never tried him on anything else as straw has always been including in livery price. Too little straw and you have to take practically the lot out everyday day.

Not sure what bedding he'll be on this winter in Ireland, if I remember they always used shavings at that place. I may foresee a deep litter bed in his near future!
 
CassTheCob said:
... for his hat and water. )
Click to expand...

Firstly, I love the idea that he has to accommodate a massive hat in his stable! Hehe. ;)

I also have a really wet, messy horse (I think the excessive wet is due to his Cushings) - I layer straw on top of shavings. Although straw can get a bit smelly, when I had him on just shavings I was getting through 5-6 bags a week which is just not economical! Same with wood pellets - would never use them again after my bed turned into, basically, sand! With straw, at least I can build a big thick bed :) Although he does like eating it, so tend to spritz with vinegar which probably doesn't do much to enhance the odour!
 
I have one of mine on aubiose. I don't like to use straw for him as he eats so much of it. Although aubiose is more expensive per bale than shavings it takes him longer to trash it completely so it works out pretty much the same price overall.
 
I prefer deep litter with shavings. Even though my horse is relatively clean I do prefer it to fully mucking out every day. I lift the poo and flatten and tidy the bed daily then skim it monthly adding a bale when I need to.
 
I'm deep littering - it stays stable, so at least she can't dig down to concrete which she does on full muck out or semi deep litter. Gets pretty disgusting, but never as bad as it would trying to clean it all out every day - short of a new bale a day which I cannot afford.
 
Mine will dig it all out, is fairly wet and hides/tramples poo everywhere. I am lucky in that my box is about 17ft x 13 ft so I have a huge straw bed to cover half (no banks as there is no point with him) and then leave the other half concrete and have his water and my filing cabinet storage on this bit. He poos on the concrete, wees on the straw which I take out once a week and it works.

He is only in for about 4-5 hours at the moment though and during the winter I did deep litter it all the way up to the door. I will consider doing this again, but I would rather not after 22 wheelbarrows and 3 hours digging it all out a few weeks back!
 
Really messy horse. Straw. Hate the stuff., but cheap warm and does the job. Just look at it, that any saved bedding is a bonus. Muck out and top up daily.
 
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