Smelly stable

[Bluewaves]

My horse has moved to a yard with amazing rubber floored stables which are brilliant for his joints. However, he smells all the time because there is only a little bit of bedding scattered over it to mop up urine.

Could anyone recommend what they think is the best thing to put on a rubber bed and how much of it, so it's easy and quick for the yard staff to muck out but keeps the stable smelling ok? When he was on a shavings bed he was cleaner as he seemed to bury his poo so wasn't lying on it either. The shavings bed did smell of pee a bit, but not as bad as on this rubber flooring.

I am leaning to buying a bale or two of Bedmax and asking the yard if its ok for them to put in.

He can't have anything too dusty or prone to mould as he has a bit of equine asthma, which is worse in spring/summer.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[sportsmansB]

I think a reasonable shavings bed is still required on top of rubber to deal with pee in particular, but I know some just 'sprinkle'
Can you chat to the yard and explain your concerns? Are they against any bedding on top of the rubber?
I'd bank up at the sides and pull enough down overnight to cover the floor about 2 inches, and then just sweep that out in the morning from the wet bits and pull down more from the edges - shouldn't take much longer than lifting out what they are already doing. You might have to pay for an extra bale a week or something

 

[Bluewaves]

duplicate post

 

[Bluewaves]

Thank you - that sounds really workable.

 

[Pinkvboots]

I really dislike horses being kept like that I worked at a yard where all the horses just had a few shovel fulls of shavings at the back, they all stank I stank even the farrier said he hated shoeing them needless to say I didn't stay long.

I would ask if your horse can have a proper bed and just pay extra for the bedding.

 

[milliepops]

yeah what they said ^^

I put a full bed on my rubber mats because I want the pee to be absorbed rather than just sit there making the place pong

if they aren't happy with a full bed then what sportsmansB has suggested sounds like a good middle ground.

 

[Esmae]

You still need a proper bed imo. Otherwise you get the situation you are in.

 

[Annagain]

I think the benefit of rubber matting is that the horse isn't standing on concrete in the area where there's no bed rather than not needing a bed at all. I'd still opt for a full bed and I'd go for wood pellet. They're really absorbent and seem to deal with the smell better than shavings. You need it deep enough that the wee is drawn to the bottom, leaving the top clean for the horse to lie on. Done properly you can barely tell where the horse has weed. I semi deep litter on this so remove the poo daily and then remove the wee and top up the bed once a week or when the wee starts to show on the surface.

ETA - just seen the bit about dust. Wood pellets can be prone to dust in summer but if the horse is in every day this seems to mitigate it. The problem comes when it sits undisturbed for a while.

 

[NinjaPony]

I wouldn’t be happy with that, particularly for an asthma horse. Ammonia really irritates the lungs, ideally you need a full shavings bed eg Bedmax (have tried lots of brands and they are the least dusty IME), with the bed taken up and cleaned once he is out the stable, and set again with plenty of time to settle before he gets that in.
If you offer to pay for extra bedding I don’t see why they wouldn’t accommodate it.

 

[Red-1]

Years ago, I put one of mine on a training livery with a 'bed' like this. It was foul, even as a temporary measure. The stables were double size too, so I can't imagine what a standard stable would be like.

I have rubber, but a full bed on top. Poos come off several times a day, then it is dug up once a week. If it is deep enough, the wet never comes to the top. I use 3 bales a week, as a rule, less in summer when they are out longer.

Could you do the once a week big muck out, and pay for the extra bedding? That way, the yard will only be picking poos and squaring up, so no more than they are doing anyway.

 

[Carrottom]

I find wood pellets absorb the wet much better than shavings and are quicker to muck out as they don't need to be thick to be effective.

 

[dreamcometrue]

I can’t understand why some people do the thin layer of shavings thing. It must be rank for the horse to have no option but to lie in its own urine and faeces. I would put a normal bed down.

 

[Melandmary]

Even with a fully matted stable I still have a bed approx 6-8 inches deep that covers almost the whole stable. The less bedding the smellier the stable and it is often necessary to take the whole lot out everyday. I would want a proper bed and would have to pay that as an extra in your shoes. Also u less the mats are properly stuck in urine gets underneath them. I am sure that ammonia smell can't be a healthy environment to be stabled in

 

[splashgirl45]

i used to have a thick bed of shavings over 2/3rds of the floor leaving the front clear for hay and water bucket..that worked well

 

[Regandal]

I’m another wood pellet convert. Amazing stuff, mucking out is a breeze!
I’d be buying my own and putting more down I’m afraid.

 

[Surbie]

I don't understand the logic for minimal scatterings - it stinks, it all has to come out and the horse and mucker-out are also rank. I do what most of the other people who've commented do - I have a 6-10" bed of mixed shavings and woodpellets. I take out everything mucky each day and get through a bag of each per week. I appreciate if you have a box-walker it's much harder to manage, but I'm assuming yours doesn't?

I'd also be buying more and putting it in.

 

[Casey76]

I don’t know why (some) people consider rubber matting a replacement for bedding. To me it is just a more forgiving surface than dirt (do they still exist these days?) or concrete as a base for a bed.

I would still put a full bed down, even if I had rubber matting to the door.

Actually research has shown (though don’t ask me to go and locate it now lol) that horses are more likely to lie down and rest properly if there is an inviting bed rather than just a hard surface (and I would still consider rubber matting as a hard surface if there was not additional bedding).

Just to have enough shavings to stop the urine splashing is absolutely rank; the whole yard must stink, and the horses must be covered in faeces and urine stains.

 

[twiggy2]

I am another who does not see rubber matting as a replacement for a good deep soft bed, the amonia/smell/fumes must do untold damage to the horses lungs and irritate the whole of the airways in general.
I also don't think may horses lay down as much if not at all and if they do they just stink even more and get the most horrendous stable stains.

 

[Abby-Lou]

Try blue frog shaving soak up better than bedmax

 

[Bluewaves]

I will sort out a shavings bed for him. Thanks for all your thoughts and advice on best bed hygiene. He does lie down because he always has and he is used to it but neither of us like his smell, poor boy.

The horses keep rugs on in winter which i suppose keeps them cleaner then but right now I have to wash him before i ride him.

I'll look out for Blue Frog and/or Bedmax. I've been recommended both by other people as well.

 

[asmp]

I am another who does not see rubber matting as a replacement for a good deep soft bed, the amonia/smell/fumes must do untold damage to the horses lungs and irritate the whole of the airways in general.
I also don't think may horses lay down as much if not at all and if they do they just stink even more and get the most horrendous stable stains.

I’ve said this many times on this forum that I got rid of my rubber maps as the urine sitting underneath them made my horse cough, even with a deepish bed.

In this situation I’d use Laysoft, similar to Bedmax but cheaper when bought by the pallet load.

 

[Carrottom]

I am another who does not see rubber matting as a replacement for a good deep soft bed, the amonia/smell/fumes must do untold damage to the horses lungs and irritate the whole of the airways in general.
I also don't think may horses lay down as much if not at all and if they do they just stink even more and get the most horrendous stable stains.

I have fully matted stables and use wood pellets, but only about an inch thick. This is enough to soak up the urine, when I lift the mats there is condensation but not urine underneath. One stable is the size of a foaling box so only has half with bed on it, its occupant often lie down of the bedded part. All the horses roll and lie down in their stables.

 

[Tiddlypom]

I have 6' wide strips of rubber mats at the front of the stables, where the hay, feed and water go. The rest of the stable is put to shavings over concrete.

This works well, the horses don't pee on the rubber and also don't have to stand on bare concrete. It's easier and more hygienic to muck out than full rubber matting throughout.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I wouldn't use Bedmax for an asthmatic, it is treated with something that smells and made my sister wheeze when we used it as beddding for a ewe and her lambs, when sister sat on the floor with them

 

[Dave's Mam]

I wouldn't use Bedmax for an asthmatic, it is treated with something that smells and made my sister wheeze when we used it as beddding for a ewe and her lambs, when sister sat on the floor with them

It's also not absorbent at all.

 

[vannersrus]

I use wood pellets with an aubiose topper .
Absorbs everything, no smell and lift the wet patch daily for the copd horse . Leave it for larger dig out twice a week for pony with no issues
Life changing!

 

[rextherobber]

Oddly, Bedmax is the only thing I can use for my COPD horse, everything else gets a reaction!

 

[mariew]

A word of warning, it also depends on how OCD your yard staff is. I had my horse on full livery and rubber matting. I had a full (tonne) pallet of pellets delivered for her to keep costs down. However the ym loved a super clean white bed so went through the pellets in 3 months as they took anything remotely dirty out every day. This was with a rubbish little bed too. I let them do straw after that.

 

[splashgirl45]

I have 6' wide strips of rubber mats at the front of the stables, where the hay, feed and water go. The rest of the stable is put to shavings over concrete.

This works well, the horses don't pee on the rubber and also don't have to stand on bare concrete. It's easier and more hygienic to muck out than full rubber matting throughout.

View attachment 73757

this is ideally what i would have done but didnt have a choice. i just used to lift the mats regularly ,cleaned under them and sprinkled stable boy antiseptic powder on the concrete. it used to be called stable boy but cant remember what it changed to. that kept the stable smelling ok. i had mares and they used to pee on the sides so i had banks of shavings to soak up most of it so the floor didnt get too bad..

 

[ginatina]

If you can smell the pee, imagine what it's doing for his lungs, standing in it all night! Not pleasant for you and sooo unhealthy for the poor horse

I don't think theres any superior bed to a generous mattress of shavings. I have tried wood pellets and they are marvellous until the summer months when they get insanely dusty.

Abubiose/Hemp also great if you can afford it. But nothing beats a quality bale of dust-extracted shavings for value + cleanliness + comfort