Mixing wood pellets and shavings?

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Teddybully

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I have just started using wood pellets instead of straw for my 16.3 VERY wet and mucky gelding and while the smell is a lot better ie, no smell, it's all now very damp. I put 6 bags down last Thursday (still has straw bankings in) and feel like it's just all wet and will have to put another bag down today. He is only out in the morning so understand he might need 2 bags a week.

My question is does anyone mix shavings with the pellets?

We get one bag of shavings per week included in livery so I'm thinking I should make use of that or will it just make things worse?

Any help appreciated!
 
I would put down another 4 bags at least as he's a wet and big horse to give you a better base then I would put your shavings on top either in one go or a daily sprinkle which will make the bed look a bit brighter too!
Pellets are no good as a thin permanent bed, they need to be deep enough especially for a big horse. Also, now you have your main base down, when you put new pellets on top, don't dampen them, they will mix in better and be more absorbent which is the main aim of a pellet bed. Don't disturb the bottom any more than you have to, perhaps scrape off the dry and take out the soggy patches once a fortnight, just taking out droppings daily; the bed will settle better and you'll get no ammonia smell that way either. Also make sure you rake out any hay or straw that gets mixed in as that tends to make it heavy too. That's how I would manage it, I'm sure you'll get lots of ideas from here too.
 
I have a messy mare that is wet too, she is tidy with the poos but seems to manage to mix the wet in as she wees anywhere not in one place.
I have a decent bed of soaked pellets and I put shavings on the top to lighten it up. I also put the odd bag of dry pellets in and that also helps.
It is a much nicer, drier, less smelly bed now.
I have 2 others on pellets that work well, it is just this one that always seems wet!
smile.gif
 
Thank you for the replies - seems shavings mix is worth a try. My horse sounds just like yours Mrs W!

Will put another pellets down today and shavings on top and see how he goes...
 
Take out the wet patches when you see them, with a shovel.Then spread the edges out exposed to dry, while horse is out in mornings. Have you got rubber flooring? Mixing shavings will make it hard to filter out, with the rake all the ickle bits of poo. Did you make it too wet to start with? Also, only cover half the stable, that way they can move away from the toileted bits and lie on the dry bits.
 
Love wood pellets , it is the first time my horse has had a dry bed and rug . I do take out the wet everyday and use a bag every other day and he is only in at night . I think two bags a week is a bit hopeful. I would say if in most of the time a bag a day would keep it very sweet and still much cheaper than shavings. Well I am only paying £2.34 a bag as I live near Corley so can pick them up easily.
 
I love pellets too, my mare is so much easier and cleaner to do on them. She's on rubber matting in a larger than normal stable, I put 8 x 15kg bags in to start (5 Star Bedding), then topped up with 2 bags a week for the first 2 weeks and now she just has 1/2 a bag on a Wednesday and Saturday and the bed is great.

I do take out any major wet spots pretty much every day though, but leave the rest of the bed alone.

Planning on switching to Corley though next delivery, as much cheaper and I did a bit of an experiment/test on various brands and Corley came out most absorbant and just as white/dust free as more expensive horse brands.
 
I've been on pellets for a while - they shouldnt be damp if you manage it right (by right, i mean right for your horse, i have to muck my 2 out differently as ones wet ones not)

Thick bed. take out v wet patcehs daily, dont disturb rest as it will pack down, rake bed over - i keep the fresh banked up at the side to rake over everyday. after a few hours any damp bits dry out.
when you soak the bags use boiling water and leave some pellets semi soaked. I use approx 8-15 pints of boiling water for 30kgs pellets. leave them for an hour and they fluff up but say 10% left unexpanded and another 10% only half expanded.

my wet/messy mare gets atleast 2 x 15kg bags a week. her bed never less than 6 inches deep otherwise it becomes a nightmare, the thicker the better i have found.

I wouldnt mix with shavings, cant imagine it would be very easy to muck out once all mixed around.
 
i use a mix of three bags of pelletts to one bag of very small shaving the smaller the shaving the better nothing like bedmax there just to big and it works a treat for our really wet eventer..its been a game to get it right for him but pellets on there own just didnt work and i only put bedding in every 10 days so works well for us
 
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