# Bedding?



## JetHorse (Aug 18, 2014)

What are some of the most popular kinds of stall bedding, and how do they compare to each other?


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## budley95 (Aug 15, 2014)

http://www.bhs.org.uk/~/media/BHS/Files/PDF%20Documents/Bedding.ashx 

I always used strawbut then my new boy started to eat it and was wet on it and it cost a fortune because of this. However pre - Bud days I found it cheap, easy to muck out and easy to get hold of.

Moved him onto shavings and loved it was a lot less dusty than straw, a lot more absorbent and it worked out cheaper because of this. 

Then moved onto paper because of allergies - hated it at first as requires a very "different" approach to mucking out. After a few weeks I love it. It's cheap, the most absorbent by far and is virtually dust free - however it takes forever to rot down and is a pain to sweep!

I have tried the rubber matting route, and for a wet horse, it's grim and it stains the concrete outside your stable when the urine runs out of the stable - but is very cost efficient after the initial investment and very easy to muck out - I had to have a ful bed on top of it and it really wasn't worth it. 

I know some people use flax - I personally can't get on with it and my horse "inhales" it somehow or other but it is very absorbent and you can get citronella scented flax to keep the flies away. There are loads of options including cardboard, wood pellets, peat moss etc to name a few!

Depends really how easy it is to get hold of and to dispose of a bedding for your area and what's allowed and also what your horses health dictates and also their er... "toilet" habits which will dictate your eventual choice.


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## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

In my area, it's most common to see shavings, sawdust, or pellets. My barn provides sawdust, which I really like. The particles are large enough that it's not dusty, but it's very absorbent and easy to muck out. I do find that the wet patches require a shovel, since it falls so readily through a manure fork. My barn buys it very cheap by the truckload from a sawmill.

I used to buy shavings when I would go out to a show that didn't provide bedding, but I'm not a big fan of them. The shavings are generally too large to fall through the manure fork, which means a lot of it gets wasted. 

Pellets are essentially compressed sawdust. When you initially put down pellets in a stall they're pretty hard, though in time they break up under the horse's feet. You can get around this initial hardness by adding water to a portion of the pellets (which causes them to "fluff up"). Later, as you clean the stall you can just add dry pellets since there will be enough existing bedding remaining to provide a soft cushion.

I've only seen straw used at one facility that I went to for a show, but found that I couldn't use it because my horse was very interested in eating it! It seemed very bulky and difficult to muck out, but I suspect if you use it regularly you develop a technique that works with it.


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## twolucid (Jan 14, 2014)

Sawdust and pine shavings are most commonly used in my area, shavings are more absorbent IMO. I use sawdust at work, and it can get dusty, but only costs $100 for a commercial size dump truck worth. Which lasts 8 horses at least 6-8 weeks.

I prefer to muck out sawdust VS shavings, you waste a lot more shavings then you would the sawdust. SD falls through the pitch fork easily.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Wheat straw is the best bedding material and horses don't eat it. Part of my "indentured servitude" was learning how to properly bed horses with judicious use of straw. It had more to do with how the stall was cleaned. Horses bedded on shavings wind up standing heel high as the toes sink in.


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## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

Saddlebag said:


> Horses bedded on shavings wind up standing heel high as the toes sink in.


You can get around this by not bedding deeply if the stall also has rubber mats. The mats provide cushioning and the bedding is there primarily to soak up liquids. You really just need enough to keep the urine from splashing and make the stall floor inviting to lay down.


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

I use whatever is most readily available and economically feasible for an area.

That said, I was prepared to _not like_ paper. But, gave it a try and found it was surprisingly good. If it was as available as wheat straw in my current location, I would use it again.


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## Horseychick87 (Feb 5, 2014)

Straw: Traditional, attractive, can be dark, hard to pick through, and not very absorbent. great for foaling though.

Shavings: Absorbency depends on the flake size a bit I've noticed. Can be dark, especially after it's been in the stall for a little while. Can be dusty depending on the brand and quality. Smaller flakes pick easily.

Pelletized: Straw (Streufex), Wood (Woody pet, Guardian, etc.), Paper: Simply compressed bedding that breaks down when walked on or wet. Can be dusty and dark if not from a good brand/ quality. Stores easily and can be more cost effective in the long run. Pick's well.

Hemp, Rape (from the rapeseed plant), Flax, Kenaf: All new and somewhat hard products to get (at least in the USA), have heard great things about them though. Low dust, easy to pick, horses won't eat them, et cetera.

Sawdust: Not always recommended as it is well...dust/ dusty if not managed correctly. Highly absorbent, small particles compost quickly, easy to pick through. Must have a way to store it and make sure it's only pine.

Paper: A giant PITA! But it can be low dust, low allergen, and cheap if not free (make your own.), can be dark and hard to pick through though. You'll need somewhere to store it, and if gotten through an office you must check for metal before using it.

Rubber mats: I always recommend these to go along with another absorbent type bedding.

Sand: Yup, sand, hard to pick urine. Will begin to smell if in an enclosed space with nowhere for the urine to go. Heavy and hard to manage.

Also with the bedding, I never bedding any more than 4 inches at the very most(unless I absolutely have to), and then I only use an 8x8 foot area even in a 12 foot stall. This saves bedding, and give the horse a bare area to eat over so that he doesn't have to nose through the bedding, thus inhaling dust particles any more than is necessary when in a stall.


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## SaddleUp158 (Dec 26, 2008)

I absolutely love paper shavings; unfortunately, they are discontinuing this product b/c it is made from telephone books and no one uses those anymore.


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## Horseychick87 (Feb 5, 2014)

SaddleUp158 said:


> I absolutely love paper shavings; unfortunately, they are discontinuing this product b/c it is made from telephone books and no one uses those anymore.


 
You can make your own. Junk mail, old mail, used office or drawing paper, news paper et cetera. If you work where there is a paper flow, typically an office you can ask to have the paper bagged up for you and take it home each week and shred it yourself. I like a cross cut shredder for paper bedding, but some prefer the longer strips.
Of course this is only effective for one or two horses, anymore than that and you'll spend all of your time shredding paper and bagging it up, LOL.


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## SaddleUp158 (Dec 26, 2008)

Horseychick87 said:


> You can make your own. Junk mail, old mail, used office or drawing paper, news paper et cetera. If you work where there is a paper flow, typically an office you can ask to have the paper bagged up for you and take it home each week and shred it yourself. I like a cross cut shredder for paper bedding, but some prefer the longer strips.
> Of course this is only effective for one or two horses, anymore than that and you'll spend all of your time shredding paper and bagging it up, LOL.


That is a wonderful idea! Unfortunately we have about 7-9 stalls that need bedded, so we would be shredding constantly.


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## Horseychick87 (Feb 5, 2014)

Yup, that's the down side. Of course if you give your horses a day off or so each week you could fill those days with shredding, LOL.
I've seen people buy multiple large shredders and shred up to 12 sheets of paper at once in one shredder, with multiple shredders it doesn't take as long, but it'll still take a while.


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## Jumping4Joy (Jan 29, 2014)

We use Mini Flakes at my barn, and they work really well.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

I recently looked in to bagged wheat straw. It's chopped, compressed and bagged, for the same money as a bale of straw which weighs the same for the same price. At least with bales they stack nicely and stay stacked. The bags, altho bale shaped, are slippery and don't stack well.


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## Zexious (Aug 2, 2013)

I like shavings <3 Good on the joints


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## Horseychick87 (Feb 5, 2014)

Saddlebag said:


> I recently looked in to bagged wheat straw. It's chopped, compressed and bagged, for the same money as a bale of straw which weighs the same for the same price. At least with bales they stack nicely and stay stacked. The bags, altho bale shaped, are slippery and don't stack well.


 I've found by doing a 'interlocking' stack that the plastic/ slippery bales of shavings stack better, especially if you can 'wedge' them tightly against a wall. It might work with the bagged chopped straw as well.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

The bedding I like the best is bark peelings. No distance at all, which you get to some extent with all other bedding.

I bed this at least 8" deep even on rubber mats. I remove the droppings several times during the day and no need to remove the wet for a month as it doesn't get soggy and there is no smell.


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## Horseychick87 (Feb 5, 2014)

Foxhunter said:


> The bedding I like the best is bark peelings. No distance at all, which you get to some extent with all other bedding.
> 
> I bed this at least 8" deep even on rubber mats. I remove the droppings several times during the day and no need to remove the wet for a month as it doesn't get soggy and there is no smell.


 What kind of bark peelings are they? I've never seen bark of any kind used as bedding, sounds interesting.


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## NBEventer (Sep 15, 2012)

I love love love pellets. I wet them so they fluff up. Then after I muck out I sprinkle them with a watering can just to keep dust down.

I have mats under the pellets. A 10x12 stall with mats takes 4 bags of pellets to start then I usually only need one bag a week added at the most. And I like deep bedding. So its super cheap to bed with and has minimal waste.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

Horseychick87 said:


> What kind of bark peelings are they? I've never seen bark of any kind used as bedding, sounds interesting.


These come from a local woodyard. It is where they strip the bark from felled trees before making it into lumber. 

My post should have read no dust, not distance! 

We experimented with dust and bedding. Shavings do have a lot of dust, the dist extracted are better but there is still a significant amount. Paper has even more unless it is glossy paper when it drops right down to very low. 

Straw varied a lot good clean straw was lower than sawdust or shavings. Bark was zero dust.


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