What am i letting myself in for

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Kelly1982

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I have decided to change from shavings to straw and have ordered up 10 bales but now i am worried i'm gonna hate it.

When horse first came she was really clean and i was so happy coz my last horse was filty. Then she started to get really messy and kicking it all around taking me at least half hour to muck out (i only deep litter). So i decided to bite the bullet and go on straw as i thought that might be easier to sort out the poo from and its a lot cheaper so if it got really bad i could get rid and start again.

Now she has decided she wants to be clean again so i am wondering if i have done the right thing
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Suppose i can only try it cant i
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Any advise or tips on how to keep a straw bed?? Or how to stop it stinking?? (think thats what i am dreading the most LOL)
 
To keep a nice bed what i do is in the morning muck it all out and put all the nice good clean straw up on the sides of the stables where the banks are, then take all the wet and poo out and then i leave the straw up on the sides ALL day so that the floor dries and the smell goes, then put the bed down in the evening before bring horsey in (if out at night then i air it at night) that way the bed is always dry and doesnt smell awful
 
That will be ok at the weekends but i dont go down the stables in the morning during the week as i work up london so muck out etc after work.

Was thinking of spraying Jays fluid and putting a couple of wedges of clean down everyday. Thought it might stop her eating it and make it smell a bit fresher.

Or is that just total rusbbish?? Sorry never been on straw before
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I dont find straw smelly at all
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. I find it far cleaner and really much better then shavings. In the morning (leave it later then it might smell alittle) With rubber gloves pick out the poo and clean a bank, then slowly move all the clean straw on to this bank as you go pick out any loose dirty bits until your left with only wet straw sweap it all out, and leave it to air during the day. Bring the bank down making a even bed leave it with out a bank or two and fill these in with fresh clean straw, this way you get a good turn over of straw rather then it ageing. Use a differnt bank each day so that over a few days each bank has been cleaned and sweaped out.
 
I only muck out at night during the week and I don’t have a problem with smell in my straw bed; I just make sure that at least at the weekend I give it an all over clean with leaving straw up for the day so it all dries out, I also attempt to take out any wet straw I can find each time I muck out; I like the suggestion made here of replacing one bank each time think I will adopt that. My girl also is less dirty on a really thick bed, no idea why but it works…
 
I find straw much better then shavings.
Not only does it look alot more comfy then shavings but it also does not get as smelly.
My horse is filthy - he seems to wee and wee so every morning I have to get down there and muck out loads.
To help me out and so that the wee was not going everywhere I add shavings to the bottom of the stable with straw on top. The straw not only seemed to stop the poo from hitting the shavings but the shavings also soaked up the wee.
I did not use a huge amount of shavings. I found one bag could last about a week if laid thinly under the bottom of the straw. The shavings also made it obvious where he had weed...just had to remove the poo and the smelly weed on straw and shavings in the mornings - saved loads of time.
might work for you...sure helps me out
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i find shavings a whole lot easier, and less smelly than straw. when i go to my friends yard all the horses there are on straw and as soon as i get out of the car i can smell it! mines mucked out at 6.45 in the morning i muck the whole stable out properly and leave the bed up and brush the floor out then depending on if shes had a hard day and might need a sleep i put her bed back down about 2/3 ish and i always put some fresh on. only takes me 10 mins to muck out but i keep my bed really big as i think shes cleaner on it. but if you are using deep litter i would say use straw, shavings is better mucked out every day
 
I have just changed from shavings to straw (trying to save money) and the smell!!! I muck out first light and I come in stinking to high heaven. My horses love it and yes I find it cheaper but having to wash my hair every day is something I had not considered!!

I am toying with the idea of going back to shavings, my yard, muck heap and horses were much cleaner on them. I dont like the smell of wee and feel the only way to get rid of it, is to wash the stable floor weekly which is a pain.

As I mentioned before I muck out completely first light, never leave any muck in and I am still moaning about it. Also the horses rugs are really smelly and stained because it just does not soak up the wee like shavings.

After writing this, I think the straw will be going for me. Good luck what ever you decide, I can only think of the pit falls.
 
I had my horse on straw, and he wasn't particularly dirty, but he used to eat so much of it it was getting ridiculous.
I switched to shavings and rubber matting which I far prefer, but my horse is filthy on it, so I know how you feel there!
As someone said above, ironically he's far cleaner with a thicker bed, so i tend to put at least two bales of woodchips in a week.

You can always give it a go and if you don't like it, switch back to shavings. Straw is noticeably cheaper, I definitely miss that! My hay man has just delivered the most lovely oat and barley straw for my neighbour - £1 a bale.......almost made me cry when I was stacking my 6 quid Hunters.......
 
We've just swapped one of ours from straw to shavings, on my farriers recommendation (horse dodgy feet). The other one is on straw, and is fine if a bit smelly.

I wish I could afford rubber matting - it'd save a lot of money and time!

For me, my personal choice would be shavings - love a fresh shavings bed all neatly set fair.
 
Sorry Kelly, cant help. I have just gone from straw to shavings and its brill! Not really what you wanted to hear i know!
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I was coming home stinking, really stinking and that was one nights wee only not deep littering!

We get straw in the price of our livery if we are on shavings the YO knocks off £5 a week and a bag of shavings costs £3 so i put 2 bags in to the equasion every week and it makes no difference to price well £1!! I would pay extra anyway to not stink.

I was not keen on going on to shavings but it turns out i have a clean horse!! He wees in one place at the front and poos but doesnt kick it about! He spends too much time eating!

The only thing i loved about a straw bed was the lovely feeling of cosiness that comes along with a big straw bed, i could sleep on it myself but i think shavings looks a lot neater!

I would suggest poo picking every day, like you would shavings and then make sure there is enough straw covering the wee and then do a big muck out at the weekend - that way you only stink once a week, you can do it as soon as the neddys are turned out so by the time they come back in the smell of amonia has gone.

Then just get some goggles and a nose mask so the smell doesnt knock you out
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LOL

I dont think it makes any difference time wise really if you do it that way but you will notice a difference from the money side and if you dont mind getting smelly once a week it wont matter!

Thats turned in to a right essay! Sorry!

xx
 
Oh no by the sounds of it i might have mad a mistake then
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She has been kicking her poo around quite a bit and its taking me longer to muck out than ride and i would rather spend the time riding so thought straw might be the way to go. Especially as the winter is drawing in and they will be staying in more.

I was going to muck out everyday but may consider deep litter now and just make sure the bed is deep so i only have to muck out once a week.

I can only give it a go i spose but some how i can see myself converting back LOL
 
I would give it a go, i never thought i would be back on shavings to be honest, like the look of a straw bed but i was stinking so bad, maybe i just have a stinky horse!
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It will be cheaper definately especially if you are only mucking out once a week then you only stink once a week too! It may be quicker to skip out on straw but if she knocks it all about it will be a little harder to find on straw, you might have to leave it until your muck out.

I know it comes across evil but i thin it looks so comfy!

I used to make my banks really big so i didnt have to cart fresh straw in every day i would just skip the poos out and pull some banking down, thats even quicker!

Just thought of a thread actually!

xx
 
Ive used straw on my boys for years and they are fine on it.

I deep littered all last winter and it worked well - with no horrid smells!

I do like to muck out shavings beds, however I am so fussy I would be there till midnight making sure there isnt a dirty flake!!!!

Straw works well for me, new pony was awful to start with - now ( a week later) has settled down and is as clean the other two put together! He did eat his bed at the beginning but has now stopped also
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Personally during the winter, straw to me is far warmer! but I agree with Rambo the look of a clean new shavings bed is nice
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So you both reckon deep litter is teh way to go??

I deep litter my shavings bed but never thought about doing it on straw as i thought it would get too wet and smelly.
 
My two are on straw and always have been!! Find it doesn't smell too much but then i always make sure they have loads of the stuff in there as with more straw the cleaner they seem to be!
 
Well i think during the week yes just skip out the poos and make sure she isnt laying on wee by putting fresh in.

Having read the other posts i agree that banking it and letting the floor dry every day is a good idea but you have to be there in the morning and its twice a day spent on your bed.

Maybe on a weekend do this so the floor dries out fully in the day time but i have found in the past especially in the cold tems it takes longer than a day for the wet to dry but maybe thats just my floor.

xx
 
Yeah! before having 4 to muck out in the morning I would leave the beds up to dry out - however I have too many to do and get ridden before 9am so I have to put beds back down again.

Kelly, I deep littered 5 days a week last winter and it was fine
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but now, because i have my own yard, plus the stables are a lot smaller it takes less time to muck out the whole thing
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so i dont deep litter atm!

However, go for it
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it is really simple
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@My girl also is less dirty on a really thick bed@

i find that too, i give mine a good deep bed (other owners think im mollycoddling horse) but i throw away less than they do with their pathetically thin and sparse beds
 
Erm i would just say that i would never ever consider deep littering a straw bed, maybe my boy is dirtier than others but if he was deep littered his feet will be falling off with the damp!! Deep littering the straw will lead to a horrible wet bed, i would suggest take ALL wet out every day, it only takes 10minutes and i find it a LOT quicker than mucking out shavings!
 
Get some stable dust (Stable Boy or other stuff - can't remember the name but I get it from Equiform, £30 a sack and lasts for ever). Sprinkle it on the wet floor and it soaks up the ammonia to leave a sweet smelling stable, just chuck the straw back on top.

I've used straw for years and love it - find it easier to muck out especially for my Shetland who drowns the place and his shavings bed used to literally float out the door! Now the wee drains to the bottom and stays there.

Admittedly it does pong, so I don't muck it out until I get back from work. Wear a woolly hat to keep the pong out of your hair, and I shove leggings and an old jumper over clean clothes if I've got to muck out before work and don't want to go in stinking!

Also, they're rugs get a bit more 'uriney' if they lay in a wet patch, so I do my beds mega deep.
 
My horse was a filthy pig on shavings so after years I switched him to straw. I gave him a huge deep bed and took out all the mess every day and put in half a bale of straw a day. It was great and cost pennies compared to what I was spending on shavings a wek!
 
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