Straw bedding dilemma!

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f412u

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So Iv recently bought my first youngster, a 2 year old registered Arab called Ayla, the girl I bought her from had no clue about horses in general and so kept her in a stable for more than 20 hours of the day with no hay or water which meant that Ayla started eating all her bedding, so when i got her i put her on shavings but it's proving an absolute nightmare!

She kicks all her mess about and rolls in it and it's absolutely disgusting, I hate shavings and really what to go back to straw, is there anything I can put on it that isn't a chemical that will stop her eating it? I tried spraying vinegar (undiluted) and she just ate that too! Please help, really want to go back onto straw but can't have get getting colic :( xx
 
Thanks, just worried with things like washing up liquid where if she does actually eat loads of the stuff, will she get poorly?

Trying to figure out how to post a picture! Haha
 
I wouldn't worry about her picking at her bed too much. If she has sufficient good quality forage, fresh water and isn't bored by over stabling, she'll be fine.
 
^^^This
And deep litter - very few animals will eat soiled bedding so at least until she has broken the habit, deep litter and don't be too conscientious about removing any fouling of either kind.
 
I've tried deep littering on shavings but she ruins it every night and proved a nightmare, but also, I'm worried because she's a guzzler and eats everything she can and she eats it quick, so even though I fill up two hay nets of good quality haylage she eats theough that in no time plus she gets two feeds a day and then she starts on the bedding!
 
If she has been stabled for too long before without hay or water, she may have a "starvation" mentality . . . once she learns that forage is freely available, and has access to plenty of turnout, she will probably stop bolting whatever food she gets.

What else are you feeding her? How much haylage? How big are the nets/are you weighing them so you know exactly what she's getting so can look at intake proportionate to her size? Was she wormed recently/has she been wormed regularly? How much turnout does she get? How good is the grazing? Is she settled in the field/able to graze or is she restless?

I'm another who believes horses should never be left without some sort of forage to nibble on, so limiting her rations probably isn't a good idea . . . but your original question was what to bed her on . . . if she's that filthy on shavings, I'd persist with straw . . . as long as she's getting enough turnout time/isn't bored, is appropriately wormed, and has enough forage, she will probably stop bolting her hay/haylage and eating her bed.

Hope that helps.

P
 
If she has been stabled for too long before without hay or water, she may have a "starvation" mentality . . . once she learns that forage is freely available, and has access to plenty of turnout, she will probably stop bolting whatever food she gets.

What else are you feeding her? How much haylage? How big are the nets/are you weighing them so you know exactly what she's getting so can look at intake proportionate to her size? Was she wormed recently/has she been wormed regularly? How much turnout does she get? How good is the grazing? Is she settled in the field/able to graze or is she restless?

I'm another who believes horses should never be left without some sort of forage to nibble on, so limiting her rations probably isn't a good idea . . . but your original question was what to bed her on . . . if she's that filthy on shavings, I'd persist with straw . . . as long as she's getting enough turnout time/isn't bored, is appropriately wormed, and has enough forage, she will probably stop bolting her hay/haylage and eating her bed.

Hope that helps.

P
 
how much haylage in weight are you giving and how long is she in for?

can you give ad lib hay instead?

the messy stable might not be anything to do with the food available but more to do with not being settled in the stable, eating straw is not a problem if there is fresh water and hay available, my 15hh ,mare was happily eating 2/3rds a bale of hay and a bale of straw last winter and was out for 12hrs per day with company and good grazing
 
Hi guys thank you so much for all the help, as its winter turn out at the moment she's turned out every second day with haylage and hay put out in the field, she's 13.2hh at the moment and waiting on a weight tape to gauge that... She has been wormed, just before I brought her onto the new yard but I do feel like she may need worming again.... I give her two 40" small hole hay nets packed with haylage... So maybe going ad lib will be a better option, I just worry on a night if she gets through it all!

The field she gets turned out in is ok for grazing but like I said the farmer puts out bales of haylage and hay, but she still comes in and wolfs down her feed and then starts on the haylage again... I think I'll just bite the bullet and make sure she has plenty of haylage to munch on and hope she doesn't eat her straw.
 
f412u said:
Hi guys thank you so much for all the help, as its winter turn out at the moment she's turned out every second day with haylage and hay put out in the field, she's 13.2hh at the moment and waiting on a weight tape to gauge that... She has been wormed, just before I brought her onto the new yard but I do feel like she may need worming again.... I give her two 40" small hole hay nets packed with haylage... So maybe going ad lib will be a better option, I just worry on a night if she gets through it all!

The field she gets turned out in is ok for grazing but like I said the farmer puts out bales of haylage and hay, but she still comes in and wolfs down her feed and then starts on the haylage again... I think I'll just bite the bullet and make sure she has plenty of haylage to munch on and hope she doesn't eat her straw.
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feeding ad lib means making sure there is always forage on offer so you give more than they eat so she would not ever run out, small holed nets encourage yanking at the neck whilst eating in an un natural position so abnormal muscle development is likely especially in a youngster, feed hay ad lib from the floor-haylage can be richer than hay and can make some horses a bit fizzy so I would avoid it for youngsters-personally I want youngsters to live out in a herd it is better for brain and body development
 
I have a two year old here. The more turn out the better, imo, and yes to being out 24/7 in a herd if possible - I know some yards are tricky regarding this. At a pinch, make sure she has a well mannered companion to learn from whenever she is out. Definitely ad-lib hay, ideally feed from the floor. At her age, she's still growing which is as demanding as being in hard work. I think total amount of feed per day works out at around 2% of their weight. Generally they will ingest about half a kilogram of grass each hour whilst grazing, so determine how long she is in and offer at least half a kilogram for each hour. Increase as required, and aim for there to be a small amount left over from each haying.

If you can feed an entirely forage based diet even better. As a rough idea, mine is now 15.2hh and gets through 10kg of forage every day - roughly half of a small square bale in terms of hay. He is out 24/7 in a herd, so they share a large round bale between them all and currently we are using two of these each week, in addition to the grass that remains. YO tops up the round feeder as required, which is great :) Mine also gets a token feed of soaked beet with whole oats, linseed oil and apple cider vinegar. This is really just to keep him used to being caught in and handled; it's literally a handful in the bottom of a bucket!

Really wouldn't worry about the straw being eaten. As already said, if there is enough hay, she will lose interest in the straw eventually. From the sounds of it, she may find being stabled stressful, hence the mess she is making of her bed. Hopefully it will pass.

Good luck!
 
f412u said:
Hi guys thank you so much for all the help, as its winter turn out at the moment she's turned out every second day with haylage and hay put out in the field, she's 13.2hh at the moment and waiting on a weight tape to gauge that... She has been wormed, just before I brought her onto the new yard but I do feel like she may need worming again.... I give her two 40" small hole hay nets packed with haylage... So maybe going ad lib will be a better option, I just worry on a night if she gets through it all!

The field she gets turned out in is ok for grazing but like I said the farmer puts out bales of haylage and hay, but she still comes in and wolfs down her feed and then starts on the haylage again... I think I'll just bite the bullet and make sure she has plenty of haylage to munch on and hope she doesn't eat her straw.
Click to expand...

Of course she eats all before her if she has been kept short in the past, she will get over it if you give her what she thinks is enough. Can you not find somewhere for her to live with at least daily turnout? Youngsters need to be able to move to develop properly.
 
A friend at my yard came up with this idea of feeding hay, and I actually think it's brill-saves mess and waste, slows them down eating it, enables them to still eat from ground level, and you can fill it much more than a haynet so she shouldn't run out over night-
Get a clean wheelie bin, cut a 'window' out on the front side at the bottom making sure it's got bit sharp bits, place a slant of wood plank on an angle at the bottom on the bin to encourage hay to fall towards hole, use good tie straps attached to stable wall to hold it secure when in situ.

It actually works so well I am in the process of making one for mine. It won't necessarily stop her eating her bed,but will slow down eating of hay in the stable.
 
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