Wood pellets (again.....sorry)

[FaldingwoodLivery]

Originally posted this is Stable Yard but don't seem to get any response from there.


I have an extremely filthy disgusting mare!

She is dirtier in her stable than any horse i"ve ever seen, we're talking the whole of the middle of the bed being a brown soggy mess every single morning. just want to point out she isnt a box walker, shes very settled in her stable, i thik she is just incredibly wet!

At the minute she"s on shavings, the whole yard is on shavings and it works very well for us so i am a bit reluctant to change but i need to do something!
she has a full bed on one side of her box then the other half has a rubber mat which i just sprinkle over with bedding as she tends to do most of her poo and wee one one side. This for a while worked, could just scrape everything off the mat and tidy up the other side but I recenty moved her to a new stable and she now poos and wees everywhere again. We literally have to take out the whole of the middle of the bed everyday.

So ideas anyone? i dont like the idea of just rubber matting the whole stable and having a sprinkling of bedding, as i think it smells and makes rugs filthy. Ive been considering trying wood pellets....possibly just as a base with a layer of shavings on top or maybe wood pellets in middle with shavings banks? would this be possible and would it work? I like big banks so thats why i am considering using the wood pellets/savings combo, or would i be better using wood pellets alone?

Secondly Ive been looking at the liverpool wood pellets website, there seem to be lots of different options on the online store... which one is best? and also been trying to find local stockists as id like to try it first before buying whole pallet, anyone know one around south yorkshire??

 

[daveem]

I posted a similar thread a while back, Ive allways been on straw but she kept digging a hole and laying on concrete so have invested in matting and needed some form of bedding (only ever used straw) was recommended pellets and gave liverpoolwood pellets an email with a few questions, they sent me 2 15kg bags to see what they were like and I loved them - ordered a full pallet today as it worked out cheaper and will last ages.

 

[cbmcts]

I looooove wood pellet bedding, mainly because I hate mucking out, especially a dirty horse!

If you want banks, you'll need to use shavings as well as the WP as they really don't bank well. What they do well is soak up pee, no matter how large the quantities.

What I did was order 25 10kg bags from White Horse (I think!) to start with - I'd never even seen them used, just read about them so I didn't want to end up with 100 bags of them if I didn't like them. I put down 12 bags in 12x12 stable to start the bed (it was bizarre to take a hose and start watering a new bed, very counter-intuitive ) . This was for a pony who wasn't filthy but was on box rest so in 24/7. If you just want to try them on a wet patch you could go to a feedstore/big petshop and buy a couple of the big bags (30l) of wood based cat litter - it's the same stuff. Not the cheapest way to buy it but might save postage and minimum order hassles?

They aren't pretty and do take a bit of playing around with to find out what works best for you but I would never use anything else if mine were stabled again. Apparently, they also reduce your muckheap hugely and make very good, quick compost!

 

[Ginge Crosby]

There was another thread not long ago (but now I can't find it) about a messy horse, and a couple of people recommended putting a layer of wood pellets underneath a shavings bed. Its something i'm considering doing with mine as he's really wet, I deep litter too but his bed is only about 3 inches thick, and he has a sprinkling of dry shavings over the top every day. I have tried every which way of bedding him down, all with similar results. I was using 2 bales of shavings a week with a really deep bed, but now i've cut right down to 1 every 10 days. But I think once I can get the car up the drive again, i'll get some wood pellets and give it a go as a base layer, with shavings on top. Not much point to this post, just musing really!

 

[Ali2]

Copied from SY:

I used to use pellets under a shavings bed and it worked brilliantly - I'd certainly give it a go in your situation. I now just use pellets and its even easier, although not as easy on the eye!

Has she always been very wet?

 

[StoptheCavalry]

My horse is completely disgusting in the stable, he has a huge stable and about 1/3 is bed, I was previously on shavings but he seemed to be dragging it forward and pooing and weeing everywhere, so bad that when i pick the shavings out they would be dripping and leaving puddles of wee. I have recently tried a wood pellet base with shavings on top, it hasn't really made him any cleaner but has definitely made it smell less and I have to take less bedding out each day. I'm finding it difficult getting used to the look of the wood pellets, they look dirtier than they are.

 

[d_morrow]

I've been using wood pellets this winter and like them. I started off with a half bed on rubber matting and this worked great as my mare leaves dropping mostly in one corner. Recently though, she damaged a tendon and has been on box rest so I have been putting more pellets in - effectively making a deep litter system. It's great because it soaks everything up - just take out the worst of the wet and fill in. It also renders poo down to inoffensive dry bits - and no smells!
However, it wasn't a particularly comfy looking bed for a horse stabled 24/7 in the depths of winter. Then last week, the forecast was particularly dire, so I went out and bought a few bales of Aubiose (hemp) which looks like chopped straw or small shavings and is supposed to be extremely absorbent. This went straight on top of the wood pellet/sawdust base and made a lovely big bed. Aubiose is expensive but they say you don't use much to maintain it and there is someone on here who mixes it with pellets (which is where I got the idea from). I'm glad I did this as the yard has been snowed in since friday and my YO has been holding the fort by skipping out only, due to lack of time and other difficulties and the bed is holding up well (so I'm told).

I'm sure you could use shavings on top of wood pellets - it would work very well I think.

 

[Liath]

I replied in SY! Copied from there...

I've tried pretty much every beddig going for my filthy and very wet gelding and wood pellets are the only thing that is remotely manageable!

I've switched from Aquamax to a cheaper version as I still have to use 3-4 bags a week to keep a remotely pleasant bed, and to be honest, other than the colour (cheaper ones are darker!) I'm not noticing much difference.

Also did the pellet base/shavings top, it looks nicer, but His Lordship still trashes it very quickly and the pellets alone are MUCH easier.

Currently have the remnants of the shavings 'top' as banks with pellets in the middle, and that is working really well

 

[FaldingwoodLivery]

Copied from SY:

I used to use pellets under a shavings bed and it worked brilliantly - I'd certainly give it a go in your situation. I now just use pellets and its even easier, although not as easy on the eye!

Has she always been very wet?

only had her from the beginning of december but the dealer i bought her off did mention she was a minger.....she was on straw there . sounds like wood pellets might be my saviour......hopefully. Im no just confused as to which brand to try, there seem to be so many.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Try any brand that will deliver say ten 15 kg bags, enough to set up the bed and maintain for a week or three. You need to remove poo (I sieve out with shavings fork) and mix dry into wet.

Mine's on mats and locally sourced wood pellets. I must say, I find mixing in a bale of shredded wood (cheap, dense shavings, quite sharp) has worked wonders and keeps the bed decent lots longer.

Tip: add dry pellets and put rest of bed on top rather than adding water in this weather.

 

[Liath]

I've PM'd you OP

 

[SpottedCat]

I am massively struggling with wood pellets as though I love the idea and the price, my bed is permenently dark brown, I hate the way it looks. I have tried more pellets (goes brown), less pellets, adding them with water, adding without water (when they don't break down so presumably the bed isn't wet, it just looks that way!), everything. But it just looks vile and I can't really get past that!

Unless I can find a way to manage the look, I'll finish the remainder of my half pallet and switch I think.

 

[QUICKFIRE]

I did do a long reply but it's disappeared, or i forgot to push button! I use elephant grass on top of unsoaked wood pellets, on a deep litter system, brilliant and cheep..

 

[FaldingwoodLivery]

Cinnamon toast - funny you should say that about locally sorced as I've just discovered my shavings supplier also does wood pellets, until I call him tomorrow I'm not sure if they're branded ones or ones which he makes himself (sells his own sawdust/shavings and wood chip) I'm thinking I could go over and get some tomorrow to try then can add a pallet to my normal shavings order if I get on with them.


Liath - got your pm but won't let me reply as I'm on my phone, thankyou so much for the info, it's really helpful if these local ones are pants ill go for your reccomendations x

 

[Seren11]

I have just used a sample bag of wood pellets from Liverpool woodpellets, and I spread them out underneath the straw I normally use to test them out. My horse is quite messy and usually very wet and I am taking out nearly all her straw everyday. After putting the sample bag of pellets down for the past two days I have only taken out the poo and her straw which is ussualy soaking is lovely and dry and can be left in.

 

[Monkers]

Spottedcat,
I found the same, so I chucked it all out and started again but this time I didn't mix the wet into the dry. I remove the droppings and only take out the wet that I can see. I don't disturb or mix the bed around and add new bedding a couple of times per week. Using hot, even boiling water works well, forget cold water whilst the weather is like this it doesn't work.
My bed is still more or less the original colour and my mare is queen of the mingers!

 

[Ali2]

OP - I'm using LWP and am happy with them

How old is she? I'm just wondering whether there's a PPID possibility for the extreme wetness and whether it's worth testing?