Rubber mat and shavings peeps... how do you bed down?

[Gingernags]

Asti is fully matted out but I still give her a good bed with banks and skip out muck daily and wet weekly from the middle but banks stay solid. I use 1 bale of shavings per week this way, that go in when the wet comes out.

However, am not bothering with big solid banks this year as I've been told they are a waste of time unless they are huge...

Do many people just have a really thin layer to soak up pee and just put fresh in each day - do you find you use more / less shavings and do your rugs get loads muckier?

My mats stay really dry and mothing gets through and under but if you use less I'd guess that might change...?

Am thinking of changing tactics this year...

 

[AmyMay]

The horses on rubber matting on my yard have 1 bale of shavings put down a week (or thereabouts). All wet is taken out daily. No banks.

The big gelding has been taught to week in a bucket - which really helps with his bed.

 

[Tempi]

Bloss has those mega think equi mats - there is a gap at the back of her stable where i put shavings (just a small layer with tiny banks that i bring down over the week). i take everything out everyday (as shes mega smelly and dirty) and i use half a bale of shavings a week!! dont ask me how! but we get the mega tightly packed dust free shavings so they have a massive volume once you fluff them up!

 

[eventingdiva]

Mine are on matting but have big beds and big banks as well! I muck them out properly every day, and use about 2 bales of shavings each every week x

 

[samp]

Mine has mats in the middle and banks at the edges. I find the wet drains to the back (under bank) I then remove this weekly and put bale of shavings in. It is easy to muck out though the rugs do tend to get filthy without any bedding

 

[ExRacers]

I have mats on front third of both stables and shavings on the rest. No banks - seen far too many horses cast against them to be of any use! I fully muck out both stables & leave beds up to air & it takes me 30-40 mins in total. This way they only need 1 new bag of shavings each per week.

 

[Hornby]

I use one bale of shavings a week (good quality, tightly packed) and I have no mats, and do a full muck out & sweep floor each day. And yes, she has a decent bed (as she is grey and a show horse and I hate the thought of capped hocks). Horses are out all day but yours are too, aren't they, Coopertop??? My point is, it must be possible to use less shavings with mats (unless your bales are actually quite light..they do seem to vary...)

 

[spaniel]

Old chap has mats and a semi deep litter which has the wet taken out once a week. I use one bale every 6 days with him.

Youngster is a filthy pig who trashes his bed every night, also shavings on mats, it looks like a muck heap by the morning so has just about everything bar the banks scraped out every day. He gets through two bales a week. Im still experimenting with his bed!

 

[Fiona]

Have 3 on mats/shavings combo - 1 clean mare, one mare who stomps about a bit and one v dirty wet gelding.

ALl three have full banks, and about 1-2" shavings in the middle. This is enough to mop up most of the wet (although wear rambos at night so don't have to worry about smelly stable rugs), and I use about 2 bales per week for the three of them. Beds are all a nice light colour and have an extra sift thru at the w/e to get any small bits of pooh that have hidden from me during the week.

Main advantage of mats plus small bed is time to muck out, but I like full banks, think it makes stables seem cosier.

Fiona

 

[10past6]

My stable is fully matted and is 13 x 13ft (funny size), I give him a bed of 6 x 6ft with big banks as he uses them as pillows lol. I semi deep litter taking the poo out every day and the top layer of the wee out evey week or when needed, so it keeps a firm base. Normally i use only one bale a week, but if i take loads of wee out then sometimes two bales.

 

[Gingernags]

Nice gee gee there in your avatar - looks like mine!!! Northeners with ginger horses with white blazes are just sooooooo superior!!!!

 

[piebaldsparkle]

My mare has rubber mats with a full shavings bed and banks. Did try skinny bed, but used more shavings, so went back to semi deep litter (SHE IS A DIRTY TROLL). Still need rubber matting as even with the bed being about 6" deep she still goes down to the mats in places over night (God knows what she gets up too).

 

[10past6]

[ QUOTE ]
Nice gee gee there in your avatar - looks like mine!!! Northeners with ginger horses with white blazes are just sooooooo superior!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

lol. Thank you, caught him when he thought i wasn't looking. Love the tongue sticking out there, bet you get some lovely sloppy kisses with that lol.

 

[showjump2003]

I have two horses on rubber mats and shavings. One horse refuses to wee in the stable over night so I rarerly have to remove shavings. She has about 4 - 5 inches of shavings and is fine as the mats are quite soft. My other horse is a little muckier. She has about 3 - 4 inches of shavings. I full muck out daily and tend to use about half a bale a week on her bed. The more shavings I give her, the muckier she is! They are rugged at night and the rugs are always clean so neither of them get mucky. I just give enough shavings to soak up the pee.

 

[Sooty]

Spans have you tried Megazorb? Toffee is a clean girl, she poos and wees in one spot and keep the bed fairly neat. Beano is on a mission to turn his stable into a representation of a London street pre internal plumbing! We were using several bales of shavings (he has a large stable) and switched to Megazorb. We use the same amount in terms of bags per week, but it absorbs four times as much and doesn't smell at all! Weird stuff but we like it...

 

[Sal_E]

Full mats. 1 bale of shavings one week, 2 the next generally, averages at about 5 or 6 a month. Mucked out properly every day including turning banks. Has small banks (pretty pointless actually!) & a small-to-average sized bed.