Using soil/Dirt as a stable bedding

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The wife

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My husband and I were just batting around a few ideas about stable bedding... We currently have all of our horses on a concrete base with a thick straw bed. They are stabled from November to March/April with turnout from 8am-5pm daily regardless of the weather unless the snow is bad.

My question to you is have any of you used soil/sand as a bedding alternative to the 'norm' on top of a concrete base... I appreciate the risk of sand colic is high, ammonia smells/odours can be a problem as can keeping wounds clean and dirt free and it can be dusty and a nightmare if wet for white bits (thankfully we do not have any greys yet!).

Any comments/advise would be appreciated from those that have experienced using it.
 
I had a pony that had laminitis on box rest as a child and that stable was bedded with sand (it was the very dry kiln dried stuff I think) the local farmer recommended it

It worked very well but back then there werent many alternatives to shavings and straw (he ate both)

I dont think I would be in a hurry to try it again though as I would be worried about colic and there are so many beddings on the market now to choose from
 
I know you wanted to hear from those who have experience of using soil as stable bedding - I have none but I do have some questions that might be relevant as you work through the possibility...

How would you stop it becoming a mud bath as it becomes wetter and wetter through the horse weeing on it? I presume you wouldn't be digging (no pun intended) the bed out everyday?

Why would you want to use soil? I would imagine it would be more expensive and create more problems than straw.

The soil might freeze in the winter being compacted down by the horse onto the concrete base, this would be very cold for those who like to lay down.

I can't actually see any benefits at all :(

I would go with rubber matting and a couple of shovels worth of shavings if you are trying to save money?
 
I am old enough to have looked after horses bedded on peat and yes we did dig out the wet daily it was hard work to look after and that before you got to cleaning the horse one was a grey and it was a complete nightmare.
It did however make very sought after compost .
 
I've heard of people using peat moss as bedding - esp in Ireland where it is plentiful. I'm not sure how ethical using any form of peat is though tbh. I know I avoid using peat based composts in the garden. :)
 
We have earth floors, so no concrete, and use a minimum of straw bedding on it. We find that it works very well, but I don't think I would want to use it on a concrete base. Earth floors drain well, if correctly placed, but I can't see that they would on concrete.
 
Thank you for comments so far!

Billie1007, we aren't actually intending (certainly in the near future) of using it as a bedding, it was just an idea of why would people use/not use it as it is in theory something that is plentiful and again in thoery, easy to dispose of-just put it back into the ground. Cost isn't something that comes into this query as such, as we aren't looking to save a huge amount of money.

We knew drainage would have to be exceptionally good to prevent it becoming said mud bath, although ours are dug out daily, so hypothetically, so would a soil bed.

Didn't think about it freezing if I'm honest, a very good point though, especially with our terrible winters! I know they use it a lot abroad in America and Australia.

I've never used peat before guys, always been shavings, paper or straw for us and any yard I've worked on. I like the straw a lot and it suits our needs, other than the labour, i wouldnt change it but we live on a big farm so always have straw to hand and it's super cheap here :)
 
works quite well if you deep litter it properly I think but very heavy to muck out! :( kept my horse on it for years in the olden days.
 
Peat tends to be quite damp. I tried using it for gerbil bedding once - had the advice to dry it out in the microwave. Left one lot in too long and it caught fire. That microwave still smelt of peat fires years later.

This has been and almost, but not entirely, off topic post. :o

Paula
 
When I worked in Dubai all the horses were bedded on sand, in practically the hole of dubai as well. We rarely had cases of colic and the horses seemed fine. Although ours were sand 100ft down so any urine/water just drained away :p
 
I remember peat bedding. Would be very expensive now and not exactly environmentally friendly :)

I quite like a dirt floor stable though.

as for freezing, last winter we had wood pellet bedding freeze, over rubber matting on a dirt floor. Was dead easy to muck out the frozen poo though, but keeping the water bucket from freezing solid was a nightmare :)
 
Goldenstar said:
I am old enough to have looked after horses bedded on peat and yes we did dig out the wet daily it was hard work to look after and that before you got to cleaning the horse one was a grey and it was a complete nightmare.
It did however make very sought after compost .
Click to expand...


Me too Goldenstar. I developed muscles upon muscles and a bad back!!! Would never go back to it.
 
Peat is not sustainable. Put (unsustainable but lasts a helluva long time) rubber matting on your concrete bases and then use a more conventional bedding such as straw pellets, wood pellets or, how revolutionary... Straw!!
 
I like hemp best. Quick and easy to deal with. Skip out daily, muck out whenever you like and fill in the hole where the wee was with fresh bedding. It's expensive to start, you want a 8" deep bed brought right to the door, too little gets kicked around and is a false economy. After that its cheap to maintain.
 
I worked for a man who had built his own yard and left earth floors in the boxes. We bedded down on straw or shavings depending on the horse.

I hated it.

We had a box walker whose box ended up being all mountainous because he dug up the earth with his pacing, and the stink was unbearable!

I wouldn't ever use earth as bedding again.

Sand is also a pain as it gets into their coats and causes problems. It also dries feet out and stinks when it gets wet.
 
Sugar_and_Spice said:
I like hemp best. Quick and easy to deal with. Skip out daily, muck out whenever you like and fill in the hole where the wee was with fresh bedding. It's expensive to start, you want a 8" deep bed brought right to the door, too little gets kicked around and is a false economy. After that its cheap to maintain.
Click to expand...

just out of interest, how many bags do you reckon you use a month roughly using this bedding? and how much does it cost a bag??
 
I had a stable with a dirt floor years ago. Pony was bedded on straw. It got boggy and smelly in winter.
Concrete and rubber mats= total luxury!
 
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