Straw or shavings?

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GypsyGirl

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Sorry another question ..

Moving M to a stable in at night out in the day, whats better straw or shavings?
Weve been told at this new yard that shavings is £6.50 a bale and we can get the large bales of straw for £31 .. So seeing as I have no idea on estimate how much in going to go through im not sure what the "large" bales of straw looks like and how much we'd get through on estimate and im guessing that we'd go through a bag of shavings every 3days or so?

How much do you all go through? Maisies a 6year old tb mare if that means anything lol.
 
I think it depends on the horse!
We can't have our 14.2hh mare on shavings as we go through a new bag every day she is SO dirty and yet her daughter at 14.1hh is really very very good on shavings and not very dirty at all.
We just find straw cheaper for ours
K x
 
I would use straw if I could, most people seem to find it cheaper unless their horse is particularly 'special needs'. My pony is laminitic, eats straw, gets fat off straw, enjoys digging up straw to eat the seeds that fall to the bottom and when I had her on straw I used to go through seven small bales in a week because she ate so much of it. It's a shame because nice big straw beds with banks look lovely and I'm sure a big deep bed would be nice for her arthritis in winter as well.
Shavings are a pain especially as she box walks so everything gets mixed in. I use rubber mats and just have banks, nothing on the floor at all which I get away with because she's a mare if you see what I mean. Even then last winter when I didn't have any turnout she still kicked it around so much I used two bags a week. Hopefully I will have turnout this year, that's all I can say!
 
I do prefer shavings as I find them easier to muck out and more absorbent. But they are expensive! Straw is much cheaper on our yard so I have had to move mine to straw. Because straw isn't very absorbent I have used Megazorb with the straw. Bertie has a wee spot in his stable (most of the time) so I lay a thin layer of megazorb down on my matting in that area and then mix a bit in with straw and then put the rest of the straw bed down. This makes a nice absorbent patch for Bertie to wee in so its much better. The Megazorb costs £7 per bag but it lasts me a couple of months. I pay £5.50 for a bale of straw and use one a week.
 
Just to mix things up :p

What about wood pellets? Cheap (if you buy in bulk) quick to muck out and excellent for filthy/wet horses...
 
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