shavings vs straw

I have just gone onto straw after 6 years on shavings!

I do really like shavings, love the smell of a fresh bag especially! But its getting very pricy for a decent bag of them and couldnt afford it! Went onto straw at the weekend and the next day went to take the wet out and found there was loads! I now put a thin scatter of shavings on the base now which works well.

When i was on shavings, i kept my horse on a semi deep litter base, it was a very clean bed but did have a solid base. However as he has a habit of pathering about the place, the straw moves to much and am now thinking of buying rubber mats! So its probably not going to work out much cheaper than shavings! Great!!!
 
We use straw as included in livery but do prefer it love seeing a nice bed of really nice straw!Daughter prefers shavings but her mare is a right dirty moo for it to be finacially viable.She doesn't eat her bed but other pony does a bit if has no hay left but have had no problems in 3 yrs.It is good quality straw farmer usually provides.
 
I've got one on each. One is on shavings because he ate so much of his straw bed he got grossly overweight last summer so I felt I had no choice. Other is on straw, but he doesn't seem to put on weight however much he eats. My Straw is so much cheaper (free) than the 2 bales of shavings I get through a week. I now use large flake shavings - Mendip or Bedmax which I find much easier to muck out than the little ones. I only take the wet out every other day, poo every day, but my shavings stay clean. How do others manage to make do on one bale shavings a week? Both my boys have fairly deep beds.

On balance, I think I prefer the straw. Can muck out that stable in next to no time, but the shavings bed seems to go on and on on the full muckout days...
 
Amber is filthy on both and boxwalks but have her on the bedmax type shavings as I'm hugely allergic to straw.

I find shavings easier to muck out and easier to find hidden poos in!
 
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