i am thinking of changing my mare from straw to shavings and just wondered how you all manage your shavings beds.
do you muck out fully eacg day or deep litter?
I use easibed and skip out each morning and then do full muck out at weekend to remove the 'wet spot', this works really well as only use 1 bale a week.
All shavings beds i've ever done have been full muck out every day - chuck all shavings up on to the sides so poos fall out and take out all the bits of wet every day
When all my horses are in, the 2 ponies get partial deep litter - wet taken out once in the week then fully bottomed at the weekend, the 2 horses full muck out every day as they are very wet.
at the moment she is stabled 24/7 however i am moving yards where she will be out alternate days. i am using straw at the moment as it is all that is availible. i currently use 2/3 bales of straw but my stable leaks through the roof so this could be why her bed is so wet. i think that shavings may be lighter and easier to muck out, smell less and the horses seem to stay cleaner (rugs etc) when on shavings. am i correct?
When i used shavings for a mare with dust allergies, i deep littered skipping out droppings everyday. The wet would only be removed every few months. On a big riding school/livery yard they only took thge wet out every 6 months.
I take the poo out once or twice a day and do a full muck out every two weeks. I only use 1/2 bale a week though. Mucking out my stable is more like mucking out a hamster cage!
My mare has been on virtual box rest since Novemeber and I have been deep littering on shavings since then. I poo pick twice daily and only take out wet patches when they reach the surface. I use around 2-3 bales a week and it is a really big stable, bedded to the door. Once I got used to it I now find shavings really easy and inspite of deep littering the bed doesn't smell.