Non dusty bedding

biggingerpony

biggingerpony

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My mare is currently living out 24/7 however we are soon moving yards and she will probably have to be bought in over night occasionally.

She used to be bedded on straw she would eat it, got that under control but then she developed a cough. Spoke to vet he said it was almost certainly a dust problem and the straw will probably not be helping. So queue me soaking her hay and having shavings instead.
I'm not 100% happy with shavings as I feel that the quality differs hugely, some of the bales are actually really dusty.

I would be really interested to hear some opinions about hemp based bedding, wood pellets or paper/cardboard?

I absolutely hate rubber matting have seen too many injuries on it and think it is really unhygienic, so that is not an option!

I am a student so cost would play quite a big factor in my decision :)
 
white horse pellets are fab and no more expensive - they are very absorbant too. Only problem we had with one very greedy horse was that she thought they were pony nuts! we couldn't risk them swelling in her tummy so too her straight off them!! Also, I have started using horsehage or silvermoor instead of soaked hay. Mare's cough could be chronic at times but now totally clear. (If you did want to stick with shavings have you tried Bedmax? - they are not as absorbant but they are thick shavings with absolutely no dust. Cost about the same as normal bag of shavings)
 
Ecobed, every time! It's cardboard boxes cut into approximately 1 inch squares. It's light, banks beautifully, easy to compost, absorbent, and, best of all, dust free.
 
I use safemix (I pay £5.15 per bale collected) for my COPD mare, it is wood chips and I find it absolutly excellent. I did try other wood chip beddings, like easi bed, but it was bloomin awful!! I semi deep litter with the safemix, poo out everyday and wet out once a week, then stick 2 bales in. She is v wet and box walks, but her bed stays still, is comfy and clean to lie on and non eddible! Big thumbs up from me!
 
Try wood pellets mixed with Aubiose (hemp). Fantastic no dust fluffy bed when used together. Increase the amount of Aubiose to pellets if you are still getting any dust (dont forget to spray the pellets when initially putting in, before adding Aubiose.
 
We've had really bad luck with wood pellets, found it way too dusty - tried several brands, followed instructions perfectly, kept the bed deep, watered lightly when extremely dusty - not sure where we're going wrong but its so bad that we're swapping to something else once this pallet is used up, unfortunately. Very cost effective & easy to muck out though. If you do go down the wood pellet route, I found five star bedding to be of a much better quality than lwp.

Would highly recommend cardboard bedding, completely dust-free, so comfy & very absorbent. We used green mile bedding which was fab, but have heard good things about ecobed too.
 
Thank you so much for all the replies :) I'm interested in cardboard based bedding I think. Can you use it without rubber matting?
How many bales would it take to produce a decent bed in a normal sized stable? and how often to you top up or is it as and when?
Do you have to buy it direct from the manufacturer? I've looked on Ecobed and says they only sell in pallet loads, not really practical as I'm moving to a yard with limited storage space and I'm hoping she won't be in that often so will not need to use much!

Thanks again for the replies, cheese on toast for you all :D
 
I tried woodpellets. They were the dustiest bedding Ive ever used. I tried cardboard and that seemed to be the best dustfree bedding. I used greenmile cardboard bedding.
 
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