Straw or shavings?

Between OH and I, we have had allsorts of bedding combinations for our horses.

My tidy mare is on a fluffy shavings bed, on mats. My messy one isn't too wet, so she is on a thin shavings bed on mats. Both take around 5-10mins to muck out.

OH's really wet horse is on straw on mats and takes about the same length of time. His horse doesn't lay down unless the bed is thick and fluffy. It would be too expensive on shavings.
 
Straw doesnt tend to soak up wet so you need a good depth over the floor for them to stay off the very wet stuff otherwise they mix it all up. Have you thought of aubiose? its very absorbent and you could use straw for banks.
 
My horse is very wet. I use straw but i put megazorb underneath. I also have matts. I love straw and i dont care if it takes me longer to muck out than a thin layer of shavings (he burys his poo in think straw bed) it looks so comfey and soft and warm, would never use shavings unless i had a very good reason like a horse with a dust allergy.
 
hi well my horse was on shavings on rubber matting and i found it great but then as there is a shaving shortage we had to move on to straw not only is it more expensive but he is far messier so when i get a chance i am going to move back to shavings. whats weird is when i was in ireland i always wanted a straw bed now i can not wait to go back to shavings lol!!
 
Lets first remember that horses don't care if the bed looks pretty. Which is best depends on whether you want to save time or money and/or if you want a bed that looks attractive to human eyes. Nothing looks nicer than a really deep fluffy bed with no smell and no dirty bits showing through, with immaculate banks. (The sort you could curl up and sleep in yourself.) But they take time and more bales. Aubiose works really well as semi or complete deep litter, its quick to muck out but never looks neat. Deep shavings beds take ages to muck out so that they look really clean, but if you are less fussy can be done fairly quickly. Thin layer of shavings over mats is REALLY quick, but only looks really nice when you've just put shavings down.
I use mats with thin layer of shavings normally. But for foaling I use deep fluffy straw bed which is ultra clean - takes ages to muck out to this standard.
 
i use straw as it looks cleaner for longer and i dont have to pay for it as it is included in my livery, ive been at a yard that included shavings in livery but you only got 6 a month and while i have a messy horse they just arent worth the time to be honest
 
thanks guys - i'v been trying to do banks of shavings and a thin layer on the floor then take that out daily but it seems to make me take out more than when i have a normal thick bed! he also likes a proper bed i think because if i dont put one down he drags hay across the stable lol.
i'm going to give straw and maybe aubios/megazorb a go, thanks again
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QR- i've always found that having a really deep straw bed is much easier to muck out than a thinner bed as it doesn't all get trampled in?
 
Just changed my minger from shavings then tried nedz bedz. Ok till the wet came to the top even if i put loads in, then was minging. Shavings - minging every day. Gone back to straw - and hey presto a clean horse!!!!!
 
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