Stables 5x5m too big ? how to deal with dirty horse...

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niagaraduval

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Hi everyone,

We converted our old outbuilding into stables as there were 2 large rooms with stable like windows in so we bought stable doors and put them on the front.

They are 5x5m each, my horses need to be on shavings as they suffer from dust allergies, and although they do have mats it is so expensive as I need around 5 bales of shavings just to fill each stable (10 bags) and then I use a lot as one of mine is totally disgusting and literally needs a whole new bale every day to have a clean bed.

It is costing me a fortune, before I got really cheap straw from my farmer so I didn't see the cost, although it is obv. a huge amount of muck to get rid of and very time consuming as I take everything out and disinfect once a week. Now they have been on shavings for the past 3 years I spend twice what I spend on hay (and I give as much as they can eat) and what I spend on hard feed each month just for bedding. It also takes me about 2 hours to completely clear out one stable (muck heap is miles away) and I have no help.

My dirty boys stable is constantly filthy although I do put more bedding in his stable anyway. He is a poo machine.

Would I get away with making my stables smaller say 3x3 m ?
 
I have massive stables, but I don't use anymore bedding, however I have clean horses.

Your options would be to go proper deep litter, change to a more absorbent bedding like miscanthus and take the wet out once a week, make the stable smaller if you think that would help - is there no way you can go back to straw?
 
I think 3x3 is too small for horses but ok for under 13.2hh,I don't find smaller stables are cleaner though-how long are they in for each day?

My mare is so much cleaner when she is deep littered
 
I would have thought a larger stable would make them cleaner!

Personally I would deep litter, just skip out droppings each day and once a month lift the wet if you can't do a full deep litter bed. Works well :)
 
the bigger they are the cleaner they are usually. Can you turn the horses out more? Maybe you are being too fastidious in your muckings out. try removing the droppings daily and remove wet patches once , or at most twice, a week.
 
I can't really go back to straw as I feel it's too dusty and they both now have allergies my youngest has COPD and my oldie (27 this year) is starting to get stable cough now and again.

Deep litter could work for my oldie who is a lot cleaner, but I have tried my dirty boy and it is probably even worse then before as the whole bed is gross. Atleast when I take litter out and put clean in the really wet dirty stuff is gone.

They have stables attached to a paddock where they can come in and out in the day and I close their doors at night and keep them in.
 
I could deep litter for my oldie who is a lot cleaner and he is on mats so that could work.

But I am looking at saving money, would deep littering it really save money ? I'm scared it will stink of pee and smell really bad if it's not cleaned out and disinfected atleast once a week ?

I can't see it being a good fit for my dirty horse though.
 
How big is the paddock OP? Could they go out at night [rugged possibly] and come in during the day? Mine are on this regime and last night and the night before were their first nights in this winter and only because it was so wet. They are staying out again at night now as its to be clear and cold and dry where I am. The part bred is rugged, the big fat cob isnt and they get hay in the field.
Hope this helps.
 
Can't leave them out, the paddock is too small, it's just big enough for them to let of steam and have a little canter about in, they come in and out as they like during the day although do tend to spend the day outside, I just keep their stable doors open and in the evening when they come in at food time I shut their doors.

I have massive summer fields but I rent them from my farmer and he makes hay so I can't keep them out in the winter.
 
I'm not a fan of minimal beds but maybe that is the best way to go with your dirtier horse, just a small square of minimal bedding in one corner given that the rest of the stable is matted

Otherwise I would still say still only bed part of the stable
 
My mare was filthy and this year I have bedded right up to the door and am deep littering-the deep litter traps the urine smell op so as long as you do not turn the bed and you just remove droppings and keep bed big and deep by adding more then there is no smell, my mare used to turn over the front of the bed by moving about and she would churn it all up with a massive bed all the way to the door she is far far cleaner but it does take a while for the bed to establish and stop moving so much when it is first laid.
 
So, your boxes are 16 x 16ish?
I'd be doing a half bed of 10ft wide & 8ft at the back. Would also as per others, be deep littering it.
Start with approx 6 inches deep of bedding.
After a week or so it ought to start to pack down well & might need a top up of a bale or more, but in the mean time just remove droppings & level it over daily. I find that after 3 weeks or so its well packed down & I dont need to add much bedding, if at all :)

I would also have the water at the front - and also hay/haylage etc, thus leaving the deep bed for kipping & poo-ing on :)

Sorry about old measurements, but am old person :p
Hope you find a good way to go :)
 
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I really think making the stable smaller will make it worse not better... a friend who's horse is very wet uses an expensive but super absorbent bedding (sorry don't know which one) in the main places he wees, then shavings for the rest of it, maybe worth trying something similar? I also think skipping stables out as much as poss really helps keep them cleaner.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if your horses are coming in to pee in the stable rather than pee in the field, this what mine used to do if I put bedding in field shelter. In day can you bank it all up so no bed which may discourage them using it as a loo when they have the field!
 
Thanks for the advice, I've just gone and skipped out poo and put a whole bale of shavings on the top in my oldies stable, have done the same in the dirty horses stable, I know as soon as they come in though they will churn in the dirty with the new bale i've just put down.

I'm going to see how it goes, I think shavings look dirtier than straw and I have always used straw, I think that's partly why I feel their bed is always so dirty, it's even worse when they nice white shavings go down and you can see the difference in colour.

They are both outside at the moment I will skip out poos later before they go in tonight.

So, I have to level it all out ?

I have just raked a new bale of shavings over the top of their beds in both stables now, but there are parts where their beds are deeper.
 
I'd go with the smaller bedded area option - I have a fenced of area with shlter in as a stable, total area about 25ft x 16ft, (sorry I'm old too!;) ) actual shelter at rear of area is 10x16ft, with rubber matting in, bed is about 8ftx8ft at back of shelter. Deep litter shavings, horse tends only to actually lie on this bed, and wee at edge, only poos in open non bedded area. You'll probably find having only a small area to lie in will stop bedding being trampled everywhere.
 
I have an old cow shed that my 2 share, they aren't in very often but when they are it is 24/7 for 2-3 days. They are deep littered, literally only the poo comes out and they get a new bag of shavings every so often to freshen up the top. It is messy initially until you can build it up enough for the bottom to settle, but properly managed it stays dry, clean and is lovely surface for them to lie down on. They have a strip where the old stalls are that is just concrete and that is where their hay goes, but my bed doesn't smell, isn't wet, doesn't move even with 2 rolling around on it and doesn't cost much to maintain once it is built. It just takes a bit of a leap of faith to get started, can take a few weeks to really build up!
If straw worked before, what about looking at the dust extracted straw bedding, might be a good compromise between shavings and straw?
 
I would suggest that maybe you aren't using enough bedding to start with. I have always bedded down with shavings and rubber mats and my stables are smaller than yours and I have found that the more bedding i put down , the cleaner the stable but I would be putting 8-9 bales down in a 12x12 stable.
If the bed is deeper the wet sinks to the bottom and forms a base to the bed that doesn't get churned up. If the bed isn't deep enough the horses hooves churn the wet into the cleaner top layer, I have tried minimal bedding with a very messy gelding but the stable was so disgusting the whole lot had to be taken out everyday and the horse and his rugs stank. Another option would be to put un dampened wood pellets down as the base layer and allow them to soak the wet up.
Keeping the hay and water away from the bed is a good idea and make sure they have enough hay to last the night to stop them walking around excessively through the night
 
If the entire stable is matted I would definitely be only covering half the stable area with bedding putting the water, hay, feed etc at the front where there is no bedding. And I'd also be chucking the bed up during the day and just leaving the mats down, maybe leave them a patch big enough to wee on and then skip out and bring the bed down in the evening.

I also wouldn't be disinfecting it every week. Is there a reason for this? I mean, once a month we pick our rubber mats up and sweep out/hose underneath them but we only disinfect the stable if a new horse is going in there or at the end of the winter when the horses are back to living out 24/7 and they're in need of a spring clean. And mine are on straw and it smells no worse than the pony on shavings I'm sure. I feel you may be creating more work for yourself than necessary.
 
You have to work out why they are walking round and where they do the most mess. My largest stable is 4x6, with no high wall between the next stable so they can gossip. In the 4x6 stable there is one piece that is never used, so that's not bedded down, I do not have banks so I leave 12'' around the edge, 18'' along the talk strip. There hay nets are put so they can see each other nearest the door and the water buckets well out of the way so they are unlikely to knock them over. The actual bed is rape straw and wood pellets which is quite deep with a firm base, my youngster does like to sleep. I wouldn't say it was perfect but they do a lot of talking and moving around whilst the older ponies are far more interested in just eating. In a large stable you should be able to work out where they like to poo, perhaps leaving a poo pile to encourage a toilet area like they would have in the field, and avoid bedding that bit down if possible, and where they like to sleep and stale.
 
Make sure you aren't filling the whole space with bedding seems the obvious answer - only bed down an amount to allow to lie down and mess on - probably half the area you have.
 
milo'n'molly said:
I would suggest that maybe you aren't using enough bedding to start with. I have always bedded down with shavings and rubber mats and my stables are smaller than yours and I have found that the more bedding i put down , the cleaner the stable but I would be putting 8-9 bales down in a 12x12 stable.
If the bed is deeper the wet sinks to the bottom and forms a base to the bed that doesn't get churned up. If the bed isn't deep enough the horses hooves churn the wet into the cleaner top layer, I have tried minimal bedding with a very messy gelding but the stable was so disgusting the whole lot had to be taken out everyday and the horse and his rugs stank. Another option would be to put un dampened wood pellets down as the base layer and allow them to soak the wet up.
Keeping the hay and water away from the bed is a good idea and make sure they have enough hay to last the night to stop them walking around excessively through the night
Click to expand...

^^^^^^
good point
 
I can't bear part beds - how are the horses supposed to know where they are expected to do all the different things they need to do in there?

It sounds to me as if a) your stables don't drain very well, can you improve the drainage?
b) you are not using enough bedding to start with

Shavings will not stay cream, you shouldn't expect them to! You might prefer a different kind of absorbent bedding. I know that you are in France, so won't be able to get the same things as if you were over here in UK but I use Megazorb as a base for a shavings bed - can you find anything similar, it is basically wood pulp?
 
How about Aubiose - Isn't that French? its a very good bedding, really absorbent and stays looks clean for longer than shavings
 
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