Wood pellets or Aubiose?

I’ve been looking at this and have decided straw pellets with aubiose or another hemp based bedding on top works well. The trick is in the initial laying down. I wasn’t keen on pellets but once there are enough down they seem to work ok and so much cheaper than shavings for a wet horse.
 
Wood or straw pellets. Aubiose is very expensive and works best imo as a deep litter bed and not so good if you have a bed trasher.

As wood pellets have become a lot more expensive last couple of years I used chopped rape straw with pellets underneath.
 
Aubuiose is a bit like a sponge, it has to be a bit damp to work well, deep littered and packed down. I used to put a pony on the bed until it settled before I put the horse on the bedding. Pellets are less to start up, I was very sad an did an experiment at home weighing 100grms and adding a measured amount of water and they take up roughly their dry weight, but you wouldn't that wet a bed.
 
I'm trying both!

I've been on Aubiose for my two little ponies for a year or so, but despite the bed being a good 6 inches thick, and the ponies being very little, the wet rises to the top far quicker than it should, even within a week. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

I've used wood pellets before - both 'normal' wood pellets and Aquamax - but with some of my old horses not these ponies. I loved it in some ways, but it dried the poo out so much that no matter how carefully I picked the poo up (all by hand!), some would inevitably break up and I'd end up with little pieces in the bed. This was not ok for me as I love pristine white beds! (It also coincided with a particularly bad period for my mental health, and tidying the beds became a focus/outlet for my stress, and the resulting OCD flare-up meant that I'd literally spend 3-4 hours each night picking up all the tiny little pieces of poo, crying my eyes out that I was unable to simply stop myself and just go home. It was a bad time...!). Looking at some of the DIY beds at my yard that use wood pellets, the beds do look very flat, grubby and uninviting, though that may be down to management. I also struggled with the concept of the bed having to be almost slightly damp - it always felt very cold to the touch, though that could just be an anthropomorphic concern on my part.

I've decided to try a wood pellet base with the Aubiose on top, with the hope that the pellet base will absorb the wet a lot better than the Aubiose, but the layer of Aubiose on top will stop the poo drying out so quickly and give a nice fluffy warm top. My pallet of Aquamax is arriving next week, so I'm trying to run the Aubiose down a bit now, which means I've got horrible not-thick-enough beds for now.

I did find the Aquamax to be far superior to other wood pellets (can't remember the brands I used), so would recommend that if budget allows.
 
Wood pellets with shavings on top - works well particularly for wet mares.

If you haven't used Aubiose before just try a couple of bales first before buying in bulk as one yard I was at changed to that from shavings and my gelding had a very bad allergic reaction to the stuff which took months to clear up (his hair basically fell out and his skin was weeping and we had to do a process of elimination to find out the cause)
 
There is something so very soothing and satisfying about watching a bag of pellets expand with water...


Disclaimer - this video is only mildly more interesting than watching paint dry.
 
gallopingby said:
I’ve been looking at this and have decided straw pellets with aubiose or another hemp based bedding on top works wll. The trick is in the initial laying down. I wasn’t keen on pellets but once there are enough down they seem to work ok and so much cheaper than shavings for a wet horse.
Click to expand...
I agree, I almost think you need to really over do it almost. I had a horse go down with laminitis and need bringing in suddenly years ago. I put a crazy amount of pellets down as it was all I had and was able to get quickly.
I had the laminitic big horse and his pony companion in for 3 weeks solid on box rest in a huge box and didnt see a wet patch. When it came to digging it all out it was really weirdly in layers and the top and bottom were bone dry.
 
Aquamax are great for absorption, I have a cushings Shetland who wees like a waterfall and is in a fairly small stable so not much room to spread the wee out. A nice aquamax bed at least 3/4" thick means the wee goes to the bottom and top stays dry. Then you can dig out the worst or mix it in with the dry and the wee evaporates away.
 
I lay 2-3 bags of wood pellets in her wee zone then deep litter aubiose. I take the poo out daily but the wee is literally only when it's at the top and I can't just put another bag over it.

It works well deep litter but the digging out post winter is a work out. Composts well.
 
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