Mixed bedding what do you think??

Toffee44

Toffee44

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I havent had to worry about bedding for about 8 years however my mare is now on livery.

Currently she has a straw bed which I muck out every day, taking the wet out as well. Has 1-2 slices added or if im working I put in half a bale and shes only skipped out by OH and I sort out the next day.

Now shes a bit more settled shes actually rather clean in her stable (I am impressed my last mare was a skank). However she is very wet in one corner. I am thinking of putting down shavings or wood pellets in this corner and then straw on top as it gets smelling in just a couple of nights. Thoughts?? How often should I take the shavings/wood pellets out and replace etc???

Thanks
 
I hate straw anyway but yes you could put shavings or pellets down in that corner, why don't you use pellets or shavings as her bed anyway ?
 
NOISYGIRL said:
I hate straw anyway but yes you could put shavings or pellets down in that corner, why don't you use pellets or shavings as her bed anyway ?
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Just works out so expensive for shavings I find, I have had shavings before but it was costly. My guinea pigs are on wood pellets but I dont think that counts. But I like the way they soak up etc. We dont have the strorage for lots of bedding, and there is already straw on the yard so any extra has to be stored outside under tarpaulin etc.

I also prefer straw, I think its just that big fluffy bed syndrome.
 
It all depends on the quality of the straw, most stuff has to be shaken up to get it to lie nice, which can be dusty, I think you can try mixed bedding, make it in to a semi deep litter bed with solid walls made of old shavings, the wood pellets are best mixed with water in a wheelbarrow, then dumped in the area she will use, you can have it a bit drier than normal by adding a few extra.pellets at the last minute. It is all a bit of a faff, but should work if you do it properly every two days.
 
You could certainly use shavings/pellets in the way you suggested.
Urine would just run through the straw to be soaked up by the shavings/pellets, you may find your stable is a lot cleaner doing this as your straw will stay drier.
 
i use shavings to make a base then straw ontop
as straw on its own puddles and shavings are too pricy for a full bed
 
I used to put a bucketful of wood pellets under my mare's straw bed when she went on box rest and got thrush. I found it worked beautifully and I never bothered to add water to them, just spread them out in a thin layer where she pees (um, most of the bed :rolleyes: ) and put the normal amount of straw on top. I found that if I only took out the wettest (dark brown / pink) part of the pellets with a shovel and respread the rest of it, a bucketful would last 4 days. I did find it took longer to muck out though because you have to carefully fork the straw off the pellets so as not to mix them up - but then i am a bit anal about mucking out and you may not mind it getting mixed up :o

I did find it made the bed much drier and no smell at all but because of the extra faf I gave it up soon after the thrush cleared up. I did use a straight wood pellet bed on another horse in the yard after he had an op and couldn't have straw bedding. I have to say I was very impressed with how economical it was - not even in the same ballpark as shavings and much cheaper - we buy ours in bulk (as fuel for our boiler) and get them for £200 per ton so way cheaper than shavings too!
 
when ours were on livery we had one bag or two of water activated wood pellets for the week. really absorbent and an effecient bedding, economical too!
though we did have rubber mats for them to snooze on
 
Toffee44 said:
What about aquamax?? Might put some down as a base layer at the weekend??? I dont have the space to bulk buy on my yard.
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I was going to suggest exactly the same thing - if mine had to be in at all (and touch wood he doesn't) this is what I would do. Where I used to work they used it in all their stables, and it's fab, but then I'd also use straw on top to make it more warm and comfy.
 
Small update, I ended up using 6 bags of aquamax under the straw, did a proper muck out today. Took out a shovel load of wet/pink pellets and a bit of wet straw. Other than that just been taking out poops during the week :D Very happy. But I do think its because of where my stable drains. Doesnt look too messy, see the ponios bed thread in Picture gallery as that was taken last night and thismorning.
 
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