What bedding do you all use?

[Stenners]

I usually use straw but it's incredibly hard to get near me at the moment and struggling to source any, so I think I need to move to another bedding (He's out 24/7 but always like something should he ever need to come in)

What do you all use or recommend? He's not a particularly dirty horse.

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

I deep litter and he's out overnight so very clean bed.

I have a layer of wood pellets covered by laysoft soft chip bedding. I was on ethos on top but the laysoft behaves the same but cheaper. The laysoft lets the wet easily drain through so his bed is always dry on top. I find skipping out is very quick and easy. I dig the wet pellets out once every 2 to 3 weeks while he's out overnight. During winter when he's in at night I'd dig the wet out weekly.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

I also used soft chip but the Snowflake one. The bale looks small but it's compressed massively, there's loads in there. It's very absorbent, easy to muck out, not as dusty as dry wood pellets, cheaper than shavings. I used to remove the wet once every 4 days or so.

 

[MuddyMonster]

Wood pellets.

I love it personally. It doesn't smell & it's quick and easy to use. I skip out 6 days a week & remove wet and top up with a new bag once a week.

I did start with a deep bed though, which I think helps (10 bags).
.

 

[Ownedby4horses]

^^^ This, wood pellets was a game changer for me. Easy to muck out, I take the muck and wet out daily and you can see any wet patches. Ive used straw for years and theres far less smell and far less bedding comes out. I’ve also used big flake shavings too at one time and they’re pretty good but not ideal if you have a really wet horse.

If you go for wood pellets, get the softwood ones, they’re more absorbent. We were using hard wood ones as an interim over here as the house came with five pallets of pellets for the boiler, they make the bed a darker colour and just don’t soak up the wet as well. The softwood gives a nice fluffy, light coloured bed. They can get a little dusty in summer, when mucking out, so I don’t muck out with them indoors then (Or skip out carefully).

 

[cauda equina]

Chopped rape straw
It's really absorbent, sticks to the droppings so they're easy to pick up and rots quickly

 

[TPO]

Nedz pro

Everything else had proven to be too dusty including bedding advertised as no/low/extracted dust

 

[Stenners]

Chopped rape straw
It's really absorbent, sticks to the droppings so they're easy to pick up and rots quickly

Ah I was wondering about these as a few others on the yard use them and they look like they do a better job than normal shaving. He has quite a big stable but fully rubber matted.

 

[I'm Dun]

I've just changed to auboise and I'm not sure I like it! It doesnt seem dusty but does seem to move about a lot. Mine live out wit access to their stables, so I dont think all the in and out helps though.

 

[littleshetland]

Straw for the clean legged ones, especially the one that lies down a lot when he's in his stable - he really does seem to snuggle into it. Woodshavings for the feathery ones...I'm so paranoid about harvest mites! Ive tried other types of bedding but always seem to return eventually to these two.

 

[NinjaPony]

Bedmax with wood pellets in the wet patch. This seems to be the best combo for comfort and cleanliness, plus it makes a nice fluffy bed.

 

[Birker2020]

I usually use straw but it's incredibly hard to get near me at the moment and struggling to source any, so I think I need to move to another bedding (He's out 24/7 but always like something should he ever need to come in)

What do you all use or recommend? He's not a particularly dirty horse.

Metsa wood Stable Choice. Lucky enough to buy it for £7.88 per 25KG bale, that includes vat and delivery.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Megaspread shavings big deep bed and I lift the wet every other day and add a 3rd of a bale, it stays lovely and clean and white they are in during the day out at night.

 

[J&S]

I use Easibed, really is easy!

 

[Sealine]

I use Hunter shavings but I'd like to explore cheaper alternatives hence I'm watching this thread with interest. I'm currently using one bale a week and paying approx £12 a bale.

I like Hunter shavings because they are so absorbent and my (coloured with white legs) horse doesn't get stable stains. But, at certain times of the year they are difficult to get and they are quite expensive. Also, my stable roof has started leaking. I know you're thinking 'Why don't you fix the roof?'. The roof is asbestos and there are other stables with a leaking roof that the yard owner can't/won't fix so I don't expect the situation to change in a hurry

ETA: I switched from straw to shaving as advised by my vet as my horse has had feather mites a couple of times. Note: I only have rubber mats at the front of the stable, not under the bedding.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

Straw. I deep littered both mine over winter and it was so easy. I used to use wood pellets but found then incredibly dusty.

 

[Quadro]

Bedmax, lovely big fluffy beds

 

[Fjord]

I'm using wood pellets, I love how easy they are to muck out. Trouble is they are so very dusty!

 

[Birker2020]

I use Hunter shavings but I'd like to explore cheaper alternatives hence I'm watching this thread with interest. I'm currently using one bale a week and paying approx £12 a bale.
.

HOW MUCH???
Does it come with bits of gold leaf?

 

[ed&arch]

ProBed - chopped rape straw. Better than anything else out there.
Smells nice, very clean and absorbent

 

[PurBee]

Ive settled on wood pellet base to soak up pee - which they do really well - and a topping of a few inches of shavings, only because shavings are easier to get for me in this country than anything else.

I tried chopped rape shavings but the horses ate it, got lami and colic symptoms, mainly due to non-organic rapeseed fields getting a roundup/glyphosate spray just before harvest, so them ingesting that had a bad effect. Most horses find it unpalatable, but some do eat it.
Mine dont eat miscanthus and fine wood chip, those are hard to source for me - but weirdly the rape they found really enticing.

The wood pellets are the best and cheapest per kilo for soaking up pee than anything else ive tried. Much less work and expense having them down as a base layer. Also they dont stink of urine if you deep bed with them. I‘ve deep bedded with other materials and it was more stinky. Really chuffed using pellets.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

Miscanthus, which I also use in the field shelters, and Aubiose when properly in overnight.

 

[windand rain]

Mine live out so don't need bedding but when I house sit they are often on shavings which I hate. They really do stink. I prefer to muck out straw beds as they are sooooo much quicker. One place had rape straw chopped up it was okay and not as smelly as shavings but it was almost as time consuming as the shavings

 

[SussexbytheXmasTree]

I’ve probably been through most bedding types in the market and wood pellets bought by the pallet are by far the cheapest and quick to muck out. I have a thick bed for both of mine and remove droppings daily removing wet patches weekly for one and every couple of days for the messier one when they’re in during winter. My current way of using them is to put a full dry bag in the wet area about once a week cover with older bedding and two wetted bags on top every so often depending on what’s needed.

 

[SussexbytheXmasTree]

... posted twice

 

[Sealine]

HOW MUCH???
Does it come with bits of gold leaf?

Exactly! Hence I'm looking for alternatives. Although I do think my local feed shop is more expensive than most.

 

[Goldenstar]

Shavings do not stink is they are being mucked out properly .

 

[Casey76]

I found straw to be easier and quicker to muck out... but it was included in my livery. I had also tried shavings (both large and small flake) and wood pellets, and they both cost me an arm and a leg. I had a caveat with that though... my stables were non-draining concrete, the stables were small and both ponies moved around a lot as hay and water were on opposite walls.

Once I developed a knack, I could muck out my (deep) straw beds, and put up to allow the floor to dry much faster than I could make a shavings or pellet bed look presentable.

 

[windand rain]

Shavings do not stink is they are being mucked out properly .

matter of opinion even mucked out properly , put up the wall (different wall each day) every tiny bit of poo and all the wet taken out they smell awful they really do stink to me and to keep looking nice need a fresh bale every day so expensive too. People don't think their stables stink because they are used to it. Same with rubber matting it stinks too unless covered by at least a foot of pellets or auboise so again expensive

 

[Tiddlypom]

Straw stinks, I can't be dealing with it. The smell gets onto my hair if I just walk past the outside of an open stable with a straw bed in it.

A correctly mucked out shavings bed does not stink - I have a pretty acute sense of smell, I'd certainly notice if it did.