What am i doing wrong with her bed!??

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ChestnutConvert

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I have changed my girl from a straw bed as had issues with her peeing at the back and next door neighbour getting a nasty surprise come the morning.
I first put her on shavings with mates but the shavings were large flake and seem to be cr@p, another horse was using them and they did seem rubbish, only lasting 2 days.

Now she is on softchip which is great until it needs another bale added, ok nothing wrong so far but i was wondering ow often you should be adding bales?
I know each horse is different but i can't seem to get her bed right for he.

I have tried a shallow bed now trying a deeper bed with the clean bedding kept at the sides ready to move down. She poops right in the middle which doesn't help as she loves to lie down.
Any tips on finding he right way to get her bed right?
 
My horse comes in at night through the winter. I deep litter her stable and add a new bale of shavings every week to 10 days. My yard owner has put a layer of wood pellets under her shavings as her horse is very wet.
 
I use shavings for my horse (large flake but he is apparently very clean although he does like to bury his poo!) and I deep litter during the week just remove poo daily and then muck out one day at weekends. I started with 4 bales (my stable is approx 12ft by at least 14ft but might be even 16 and bed is just over half the depth) and then I remove about one standard wheelbarrows worth of wet at the weekend and add one bale a week after the full muck out.
 
in a 12x12 stable we would use 4-5 bales to strt with and top up a couple of times per week using up to 4 bales per week depending on the horse. These are racehorses and stabled full time so slightly different to your average pleasure horse. We had great trouble withsome shavings, some were CR*P, some have very little per bale. We found Mendip to be far and away the best and the bales are PACKED full.
 
I think you probably need to top up more frequently. When mine is in from 3/4pm until 8am I need two bales a week. At the moment she isn't being turned out so more like 4 bales a week.
 
Chestnut mare said:
My yard owner has put a layer of wood pellets under her shavings as her horse is very wet.
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I do this. My stables don't drain very well, so the beds get very wet. I sprinkle wood pellets along the back to mop up the moisture and leave for a few days, just raking the straw off from on top.

You could do this with a straw or shavings bed.

I don't use enough wood pellets to buy in bulk so mine are cat litter wood pellets from Pets at Home. 2 large bags for £18 and last for ages as only a small amount along the back is needed.
 
horserider said:
I do this. My stables don't drain very well, so the beds get very wet. I sprinkle wood pellets along the back to mop up the moisture and leave for a few days, just raking the straw off from on top.

You could do this with a straw or shavings bed.

I don't use enough wood pellets to buy in bulk so mine are cat litter wood pellets from Pets at Home. 2 large bags for £18 and last for ages as only a small amount along the back is needed.
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Do you soak them first or do you just chuck them down under the shavings/straw? I'm wondering whether this might be worth doing for my wet and messy mare and would be interested in any advice. At the moment she is deep littered on shavings, but anything to help the shavings go further would be good.
 
Kat said:
Do you soak them first or do you just chuck them down under the shavings/straw? I'm wondering whether this might be worth doing for my wet and messy mare and would be interested in any advice. At the moment she is deep littered on shavings, but anything to help the shavings go further would be good.
Click to expand...

No, I just chuck them down dry because the wet collects there and it quickly mops it up, so no dust.
 
Kat said:
I think you probably need to top up more frequently. When mine is in from 3/4pm until 8am I need two bales a week. At the moment she isn't being turned out so more like 4 bales a week.
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Snap!! I use the Mendip shavings and I do the same as you. I was looking at pellets last week, really thinking whether it would would out cheaper & quicker.
 
After 3yrs of agoniszing over the same issue with either straw or shavings, I've just given up. I honestly couldn't care a less if he's standing knee high in 5h1t!! Deep litter bed in a 14x14 box - the floor is covered in straw about a half foot deep. It makes not one tiny bit of difference whether I use 1 bale a week to top up or 100 - it still ends up mixed into one mashed mess of p155 and 5h1t. So I just don't care anymore! There's only so much you can take of putting it in and mucking it out again that very same night. Pointless.

But good luck with your bed - i hope you have more success than I ever have!! :)
 
Oh my goodness I can so relate to this! I had neighbours moaning at me as my boy's wee ran into their stables and also drained out the front all over the concrete (not nice in an american barn!).

I tried shavings (bog standard), wood chip, straw, bedsoft, cardboard... deep litter, muck out daily, thin bed, thick bed, whole stable covered, one corner covered.....everything was either not absorbent enough or too palatable (yes my horse will happily chow down on cardboard)....NIGHTMARE!

Finally I have cracked it!! I took out the rubber mats at the back half of his stable where the bedding goes so it cant pool underneath. I use littlemax (from the bedmax range but I find it more absorbent) and for every 2 bales I put in of this I put in one bag of shredded paper. Paper round me is expensive @ £8.50 a bag but some people with access to lots of paper I know have a big shredder and do their own. Instead of putting in normal 4 bales for starting a new stable I put in 6: 4 littlemax 2 paper. Then top up with a new bale every 5 - 7 days.

I think the thing that made the biggest difference was removing the mats, as they always seem to pee on the seams/edges so it just pools underneath.

I also think that pellet stuff would work but have never tried it.

Good luck!
 
I have a badly drained stable and I use a base of Laysoft, topped off with straw.
I remove the droppings twice daily, top up the straw bed with a new bale every other day and remove the wet base when necessary - about 2-3 weekly.
So far, it is working for me.
 
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