Those of you whose horses are in 20+ hours because of the snow...

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tasteofchristmaschaos

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How many bales of shavings are you getting through per week? I'm currently getting through about 3 a week, which is £24! £96 per month! Eep! And I have just lost my job so I really need the snow to melt so he can go out all day again. I hate snow
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Can you not bank the bed up during the day and just leave a small thin 'day bed' patch for him to wee on? That's what I do if mine has to be in during the day otherwise he'd be trashing his and costing me a fortune in shavings too. Fortunately I am turning out in the snow, but I feel your pain!
 
Do you have matting? As I would, as the above poster said bank up the bed in the day and leave enough so the pee is soaked up but that's all.

Also, why not just turn out anyway! Are you allowed to, as you can wack some hay out, they are only standing in their box, so might as well stand outside munching hay.x
 
He already banks it for me himself during the night! It's all his poo that is the problem, he thinks it is a fun game to poo, kick it into as small pieces as possible, mix it in with the shavings as much as possible and then bank it. Remind me why I love him...
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My horse had quite a lot of bed, which is now horrible and brown but there's still loads of it in there. I'm trying not to worry too much and once everything is back to normal I'm going to chuck the lot out and give him a new bed.
 
Could you not swap to straw for a few weeks? I know it's probably not ideal but it will save you a hell of a lot of money.
 
russoheidi - i could turn out, but the YM won't turn her lot out, and it is only the two of us there! Without anyone else out, he won't settle. Besides, Fella is a clumsy gitbag, and thinks when I turn him out to muck out it is a fun game to go to the top of his field, trot halfway down, and slide the rest. Repeatedly. I just couldn't leave him out, on his own all day, with nobody to check on him (both me and YM live miles away) in case he fell over and hurt himself on the ice.
millitiger - he has been on straw before, and a) he liked to eat it, which is not good with the risk of colic, and b) it gave him feather mites, which again I want to avoid like the plague!
 
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blimey, my girl has been in for weeks now and only out to ride and I am still using 1 bale a week, maybe 6 days. She has what I consider a decent bed, nice big banks. I take out 4 medium flexi trugs a day, I must be very lucky
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I am shocked when I see the price of bedding at the feedstore and think how much it must cost to bed a horse on it. So glad mine are out!
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I've been using the same as when Tia goes out for 6hrs. About one bale of flax a week.

I semi deep litter during the week so just pick out the poo. I dont go in the morning so my YO just gives her haynets instead of turnout and she is fine to wait till I finish work to be mucked out. She's on rubber matting too.
 
Another vote for deep littering - and a tub trug and a pair of rubber gloves!
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Our three are in full-time (no turn-out as just moved to this yard and they're in for two weeks quarantine).

The Dizzy one is a mucky mare, LC is reasonable, LL is disgusting. We're doing well, using half a big straw bale a week - £7.50
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. Yes they tend to eat a bit of it, but we haven't had a colic issue
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1 bale of Aubiose a week, he's been in day and night since Sunday night apart from getting out to walk about to stretch his legs. Like another poster said, during day I leave him just a few cms down and then put down deeper bed at night. I'm lucky in that he's very tidy in his stable and poos in the one place, usually just off the bed near the front of his stable - very helpful lad! Though then he likes to cover it up with bedding or hay! When he gets daily turnout a bale probably lasts me a week and a half. Weather is easing I hope now.
 
Ours have been in since wednesday but getting about 2 hours turnout when we are about - just been too thick and dodgy to turn out. I am getting through a bit more shavings than normal, but I have rubber matting and just put one "rubber tub trug's" worth down in the morning, then probably another half in the evening muck-out.
 
Swap onto Bed-Down Excel. It goes 1/3 further than shavings.

Darcy had been in for 20 hours since Wednesday and I've just taken out his wet today and where I'd usually put in 1/2 and his bed was really quite dire, it's all fluffed out and is a monster again with 1 bale.

It's about £6.80 but so so so good.
 
Two of mine are on Bedmax and they have got through 4 bales of it between them this week, thankfully the other 4 are on straw which is immensely cheap and fabulous quality so it definitely evens out the price for the other two. Would dread to think what the cost would be at the moment if they were all bedded on shavings as my two young mares can be a bit messy in the old bed department.
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Weve had a shortage of shavings as the delivery cant get to our yard as the lanes so bad so its been rations.
On a good week when turned out I was using 2, sometimes 3 as he is so wet but hes been in 23 hrs a day recently and I used none last week (as we had none) and its amazing how if you have to you can manage. His bed isnt much worse than usual either. I think we can sometimes be a bit fussy.
 
my boy too thinks it is fun to kick his poos all around the bed, have tried all types of bed, straw was the hardest work, the others similar, whatever your bed if he mixes his pooh all around it they all seem to last as well as each other.

The only trick I have found that slightly works is to give him as minimal size bed as possible ( still thick ), ie enough to lie on and leave the rest of the stable swept clear, then at least 50% poohs land on floor and only 50% are mixed in bed.

Tried deep littering but that did not work as all the pooh mixed in makes the top disguisting.
 
Mine sin on straw. Luckily the straw is included in the livery, but I am topping her bed up every other day with about 3 slices of HUGE bale straw slices.
 
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