What bedding for a very wet gelding?

[Supertrooper]

Already using rubber matting and at the moment shavings but he is very wet (to be fair on him he is 16.3hh so he's going to wee alot). Is flax bedding more absorbant? Our local tack shop sells Arden safe mix which I've never heard of but I think it's a mixture of flax and shavings.

 

[Bowen4Horses]

wood pellets worked best for my (very) wet gelding. x

 

[Ali2]

I'm using wood pellets just put straight down (not wetted) in the wet patch under a shavings bed (cos it looks nicer :-S) and its working a treat - wet stays in one placea nd I need to take it out less frequently. Pellets are cheap too

 

[wizbit]

wood pellets are superb for absorbancy and are cheap! Alternatively, Megazorb is great for soaking it up

 

[caramel]

My boy's beds at times are completely saturated. Straw was a disaster (nearly a bale a day!!) so on shavings. Other days aren't as bad.

 

[Echo Bravo]

Have rubber matting, tried shavings and have gone back to straw, it's cheaper and ok a bale a day at £1-50 is a lot cheaper than £6-50 a bale and it rots down better.

 

[ofcourseyoucan]

a big big bed! and mucked out properly every day!

 

[Echo Bravo]

Agree on that

 

[FanyDuChamp]

I use Rapport for my very wet mare and it works really well, she too is on rubber matting and it doesn't harm that. However it is not cheap, £8-00 a bag but it does work.

FDC

 

[china]

i used to use straw as it was the cheapest option but it has gone up to £5 a bale here and the mare eats it! just aswell let her eat my cash really! so i use paper and wood pellets. this seems to work well but i dont give him a big bed so i take the main bed out daily. im thinking of deep littering him with shavings and pellets and see what happens!

 

[JoJo_]

I'm currently using Megazorb with my gelding who is very wet. I use about 2 bales a week and pay £6.25 a bale. Its wood pulp so very absorbent and doesnt smell like shavings can do. I used flax with my last mare and it was great to use, she wasnt particularly wet or messy. Cant get the same stuff in Aberdeenshire and i'm not sure it would be as good as megazorb for my gelding.

 

[Theresa_F]

Farra our Clydesdale can pee like no other horse - big girl who eats a lot of hay and will drink up to 70 litres of water in 24 hours.

I have rubber mats and have tried shavings, megazorb and now am on wood pellets. These have been the only bedding that allows me to keep a dry bed and not spend £30 a week on bedding.

She has a bed about 3" deep over half the stable. I take out a bit of wet midweek and then all of it at the weekend. I also pull a little dry bedding over where she pees daily. At the weekend after all the wet is out, I put the older bedding into the middle with dry pellets on top and use new pellets at the sides with a sprinkle of water just to allow them to swell and start to crumble.

I start the bed with 6 bags and then use 2 - 4 bags a week x 15 k depending on how much she is in and my bill for her is £6 - £12 a week now and her bed is dry. It is also so much easier to muck out, just skip out the poo which sits on top and does not get mixed in.

I also have Stinky on them and use 1 - 2 bags a week and he only needs the wet taken out at the weekend.

I at this point in time wouldn't want to use any other type of bedding, even if I could have free straw as the wood pellets keep them dry, not smelly and are so easy to do.