Straw is the best bedding

[DD]

Study done with thoroughbred horses ha shown that straw is the preferred bedding. the horses lie down for longer and exhibit more natural behaviour apparently. Sorry cant find the link now. Thought this interesting.

 

[HappyHollyDays]

I am seriously contemplating switching my two back to straw from shavings, it’s cheaper and if done properly there’s nothing like a really deep straw bed.

 

[ycbm]

Is that new research? if so it confirms research I read about twenty years ago.

My TB simply will not lie down in my barn overnight unless he has a hay bed to lie on. I use the stuff they pull out of the racks and stomp on.

I loathe the mats with sparse bedding with a vengeance, very, very few horses would choose that.

 

[Mule]

I think I read about that study or a similar one. Straw does look really comfortable. Once you don't have a horse with a dust allergy it sounds ideal.

 

[HBB]

I have recently moved back to straw as the price of shavings has rocketed. My lot definitely lie down for longer and the beds are much cleaner.

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

Mine didn't lie down as often on straw but now lies down every night on shavings. I wonder if it's just because it's a lighter colour so he can more easily see all of it. I prefer him on straw for warmth and comfort but I prefer mucking out shavings (although he kicks them everywhere so I always need a sweeping brush to hand)

ETA: he loves the smell of a fresh bale of shavings...is he odd or do other horses happily smell their fresh new shavings bank?

 

[ycbm]

This barn has an earth surface with a covering of old shavings on it. And one 3x4m pad of old haylage. The TB would not lie down until I added bedding. Now he has it, , neither horse will lie anywhere else.

 

[be positive]

I have always preferred straw unless one has an allergy, like ycbm I loathe the current trend of mats with a sprinkling of bedding, people coming to my yard often comment how nice it is to see a proper bed and my farrier thinks straw is better for their feet, I also think it helps prevent mud fever, mine have rubber underneath so it doesn't have to be as deep as it used to be but is still gives a good bed to lie on and having several to do I could not cope with too many on shavings as my income would be seriously reduced.

 

[Myloubylou]

My mare sleeps happily on Eva mats with chopped bedding. Also in field so never felt need to bed on straw. My neighbour used to be on straw and knocked me sideways with the stench

 

[GTRJazz]

Another vote for Straw

 

[dogatemysalad]

Many studies have come to the same conclusion over the years. I miss having straw beds.

 

[Esmae]

I always bed on straw. Properly done you can't beat it.

 

[ycbm]

My mare sleeps happily on Eva mats with chopped bedding. Also in field so never felt need to bed on straw. My neighbour used to be on straw and knocked me sideways with the stench

Have you tried giving her any option?

I thought the pale horse in my picture was happy to lie where he used to (anywhere) in that barn. But since I gave the other horse a pad of haylage, he never lies anywhere else.

 

[ihatework]

Nothing better than a decent straw bed IMO

 

[smiggy]

I swopped back to straw, from shavings and wood pellets last year. Was amazed in the first week in the difference in how much they all lay down. Ones I had never really seen laying down before were suddenly flat out !
My stables all have proper thick rubber mats as well and I always had a decent shavings bed, not a sprinkle .
Yes it smells and you have a big muck heap but they like it so ...

 

[Leo Walker]

I have straw pellets. Economical, incredibly easy to keep clean, no smell. I take less than half a wheelbarrow out a day, and they dont get dusty like wood pellets. My 2 seem to regularly lay down, Bobbie didnt seem to as much on straw, but I'm not completely sure. I do have the little ones whole stable bedded down and half of Bobbies, which is about 9foot by 10 foot of bedding. Either way, I wont be going back to straw anytime soon!

 

[Tihamandturkey]

When I had horses at home I bedded on straw - proper beds - you could literally sit on the banks ? I deep littered and religiously picked up all droppings - there was never a hint of a smell.

In livery atm on a very good shavings bed - no mats - bedding is generous & Madam definitely lies down but it just doesn't have the same warm cosy feel to it.

 

[doodle]

Robin is on straw and mats. straw is provided with livery with no discount for not using. i love a big thick straw bed. I muck out fully each day. robin lies down every night. he poos in 2 piles only thwn uses one pile as a pillow!

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

I’ve always preferred straw. It is smellier but much cheaper and I can make the bed bigger without the added cost. Everyone is always commenting how my young boy is always lying down. When I bring him in during the summer for a feed he will eat then lie down for a snooze if the bed is down. If it’s not then he will pull it down and happily go to sleep.

 

[Lois Lame]

My horse lives out but if I wanted bedding for whatever reason, I'd choose straw.

I'm surprised that shavings are more expensive.

 

[TPO]

I dont think anything beats a big straw bed. It looks so cosy when the straw is nice. However it is for drainage not absorption so it does stink mucking it out and that stink clings!

I've just swapped onto Nedz pro which is chopped, dust extracted and treated rape seed straw. I'm liking it so far and it is less dusty than bedmax which I was using because it is dust extracted.

I do think "back in the day" there were less gastric/ulcer issues because horses always had the option of grazing (hopefully good and clean) straw. Now you see so many on a, sometimes minuscule, shavings bed and not fed adlib forage...

 

[tallyho!]

I did go back to straw for a while years ago but discovered chopped rapeseed or bliss bedding. Unless that gets discontinued I don’t think I’ll go back to straw... I just couldn’t stand the smell. Mine don’t seem to have a problem sleeping (or snoring) on it.

 

[minesadouble]

Another straw fan here

 

[Griffin]

I prefer straw but my mare has a dust allergy. She has mats and a decent shavings bed, which judging by the shavings in her tail and poo over her rug she does lay down on. I wish someone would sell dust extracted straw bales locally that don't cost the earth!

 

[HappyHollyDays]

My horse lives out but if I wanted bedding for whatever reason, I'd choose straw.

I'm surprised that shavings are more expensive.

I like Thoroughbred shavings which are £9.50 a bale so two a week sometimes 3 if they are in a lot compared to £10 for a huge bale of straw which would last me at least 3 weeks is a big difference.

 

[rabatsa]

I have gone back to straw beds on top of shavings with good rubber mats in all the stables. As mine have free access to an outdoor mud loafing area, concrete floored barn and the stables they get to choose where to sleep.

Just rubber mats and lay down was on the mud or occasionally on the concrete. Megasorb in the stables, no change. Shavings in the stables and one would lay down for short periods in a stable the others still prefered outside or bare barn floor. Light straw bed and still only the one laying down inside. Chopped rape bed and still only the one using the stables for sleeping at times. A good shavings bed with a really good straw bed on top and all of them are sleeping in the stables, a lot!

I have cameras up in the barn and watch at all times of day and night so know who is doing what.

 

[scats]

I love a big straw bed, but I can’t stand the smell and the way it lingers on your clothes and in your hair. Shavings have always been much more expensive around here. I used to bed my ponies on straw as a kid as it allowed me to have lovely big deep beds and didn’t cost my parents too much in bedding money, but when I started paying for them myself at the age of 18, I switched to shavings.

We aren’t allowed to bed on straw at my yard and have to use probed (chopped rape), which I don’t really rate.

 

[MrsMozart]

I've put down a deep straw bed in the shelter and so far not one of the bobbers have slept on it, preferring instead to be outside and to lie down on the soil. Then again the weather has been comparatively good: They might change their minds when the rains return!

 

[Myloubylou]

Have you tried giving her any option?

I thought the pale horse in my picture was happy to lie where he used to (anywhere) in that barn. But since I gave the other horse a pad of haylage, he never lies anywhere else.

Not on straw but on shavings, miscanthus, flax. The picture is on day bed during summer, she’s on a deep bed 10x10 and lies down nightly. Am sure if you did full muck out daily it wouldn’t stink so bad but if smells so bad must have high level of ammonia

 

[Archangel]

I put a layer of shavings down then a huge straw bed on top and semi deep litter until spring. They love their deep straw beds, it is a struggle to get them up and out sometimes.