Straw allergies

Scoundrel

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 January 2010
Messages
244
Visit site
Hi,
Moved my boy onto straw about a month ago mainly due to shavings prices going through the roof and he's a filthy beast. (Its lovely straw by the way really dry and golden not dusty at all)
However the horse in the stable next to him came down with a bit of a cough going progresssively worse over the past week or so. They had the vet out to him today and vet says its a straw allergy and has put him on ventapulmin and bute for a week. So in a bit of a dilema really.
We have 6 stables in 2 blocks of 3, and only 4 horses on so have a 2 in one block and 2 in the other, so moving him isn't and option really(the other 2 are looked after by the same person so she won't want to split them up)
Do you think if I moved my boy over so there was an empty stable between them that would make any difference?
Should I just move back onto shavings, don't really want to at nearly £7 a bale and thats the cheap rubbish ones when I can get a huge square bale of straw which will last me nearly 2 months for £35.
What would you do ?
 
Are the sets of 3 stables fully walled, or is it just partitions? I.e. are they like three separate boxes, or one large one that's been sectioned off like a barn? If so, moving along so that you're at either ends might be enough.

We have this at the yard I ride at, and while the allergic horses are kept nearer to the liveries on shavings, there's still a few nearby on straw. The horses seem fine with straw in boxes a couple along from them, as long as the dump pile is nowhere near them i.e. the barrow is in the stable when mucking out occurs, and once full it's immediately taken to the muck heap which is at the other side of the yard.

A more selfish person would say it's that owner's problem, not yours, but with only 6 boxes it might make life difficult to rock the boat.
 
Top