Which bedding - unusual stable

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parsley

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I have a portion of a barn as a stable - its about 12 to 14 ft wide and twice as long. The floor is dirt and the front is open. My horse has COPD and he does not like to have bedding just at the back - he won't lay down. Ideally I would like to be able to deep litter - taking out poos and wet daily but if necessary I will lift the whole lot once a week. I have been getting away with straw as the environment is so open, being a barn, but he did start to cough towards the end of last winter.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks
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What about Auboise ? I've always been a big fan of straw but at my new yard they are all on auboise and I quite like it. It's very dust free. I think it's quite expensive to put a full bed down but one it's down you only need about a bag down a week I think ?
 
I would imagine easibed would work ok with a dirt floor. I personally prefer shavings over easiebed, as i don't find it very absorbant, but in your situation the wet will just soak away nicely into the ground, in a similar fashion to using straw. Should end up quite easy to manage and quite cheap to maintain.

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Aubiose is really good for horses with copd, i have used it alot in the past and once you've got a full bed down it looks nice and lasts really well.
 
I cant recall the name of the stuff but there is a product recently imported from one of the Nordic countries which appears to be peat based. It would work very well on an earth floor and is incredibly economical.

I will see if I can find out more about it for you. It is pretty well dust free and is designed to be used as deep litter so would be perfect in your situation.
 
I have used Aubiose for 14 years on three dirt floored stables. You gain super absorbency no smells & few flies. I do not agree that shavings/straw will work as well. I have tried these and what happens is a horribly smelly wet mud layer building up where the horse urinates. I am on sandy soil so I do have great natural drainage, but the aubiose keeps the smelly wet in one area. I muck this out once a week.
I strongly recommend that you water the aubiose per pack instructions when you start and stamp the bedding down, the more compact the bed the better it works.
Avoid using Jeyes etc because if the horse still eats the bedding the Jeyes will cause digestive problems on top of the potential for colic due to Aubiose high absorbency. When we have introduced a new horse to aubiose we have put some old bedding on top.
Colic is regulalrly caused by horses eating straw and other bedding but as aubiose is very absorbent, keep an eye on your horse for the first day or two.
I cannot recommend hemcore as much it simply isn't as absorbent, creates a darker looking bed and does not seem to compact down as much.
Finally do not mix aubiose with straw on the muck pile, have your own heap and you will be able to sell the resulting manure for at least 50p sack as it composts to a peat like mulch and the local gardeners love it. It takes up very little space as it rots so quickly. If you put field poo picking on you will have lots of worms (good ones) in your compost also.
Hope this helps.
 
I completely agree with the Aubiose recommendation for dirt floors; my stables are delayed being built so the horses are in the old cart barn and Aubiose is being fantastic bedding for that floor, stays firm but comfy and locks any damp at the bottom, horsie loves it! He was eating straw and shavings were just wet wet wet from the earth. NB this is on quite sandy soil too.
 
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