Bedding for a foaling stall....**photos added**

[Whispering_Pines]

So I have been placing straw in Ginny's foaling stall for months, apparently that is a bad thing! She has not coliced, she does pick the hay out of it if she sees any. Would you switch her bedding over to hay now? She is 310 days today. I don't see any changes as of yet. She is getting wider though!

Her foaling stall is 10x10. I let her out all day and put her in at night.

Now we just wait and wait and wait...

Val

I will try to get some pictures today to show you all and see what you think...

 

[Magic Marker Minis]

Straw is fine to put in a foaling stall. That's what I use. They will nibble on it, but not enough to hurt them. Straw is usually not as stemy, so less likely for a foal to get his eye poked. Putting hay in her stall will cause her to eat more of her bedding, than straw.

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

We always just use hay. It's softer and since we already have it, we don't need to run out and buy more! We don't mind if they eat all night long....

 

[Whispering_Pines]

I have both hay and straw available, Ginny wouldn't eat it all night, believe it or not she doesn't over eat that way, her hay bag is filled at night and she generally only eats what she wants and about half is always left. I am going to stick with straw for how I think. My next major project is seperating the little fainting goat from Ginny, they are insepertable at the momemnt, I get that may change when the baby comes, but right now when one is out of the others sight, they will talk back and forth and that goes for the horse too. They have had only one another since Ginny came last summer. I should add some pictures to show you guys!

 

[bevann]

I have used hay in the foaling stalls for years.I put a nice layer of shavings on the bottom and a nice layer of hay on the top.A bale of hay is waaay cheaper than a vet call.As the baby gets older I gradually remove the hay until is all shavings Can't wait to see phots of your baby..

 

[stormy]

I use shavings under a thick bed of straw, horses are more inclined to eat oat straw then wheat straw I have found but if they also have hay in their hayrack thsy leave the straw alone...except a few mares when they start getting crampy right before foaling seem to want to eat everything in sight!!

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I have alwasy used straw, they do not eat enough to do any harm normally. Do not use wheat straw if you have a choice.

 

[Lil Eowyn]

I like wood chips, but with a foal (no, I've never experienced a mare foaling before) but if I did, I would use either hay or straw since its softer =) Good luck!

 

[Minimor]

We always bed with straw here--prefer oat or barley straw but wheat straw can be nice too--it just isn't as nice for the horses to pick through and eat what they want--barley and oat straw makes nicer eating. It does them no harm--as log as they have hay too they do not over eat on the straw.

In actual fact I have 14 big round bales of barley straw on order--just have to get them hauled home and then will be setting them out in the paddocks for the horses to eat what they want--then they can sleep on the rest.

 

[Mona]

There is no reason not to use straw...why do you say/think it is bad? I used it exclusively in my foaling stalls for the 16 years I raised minis, and never once had a problem.

 

[Equuisize]

We use grass hay to bed the foaling stall with thick shavings in the normal pee spots.

It's soft and gentle on the foals body.

Because I feed alfalfa close to foaling, they don't find the grass hay all that appealing so

I don't feel they gobble the bedding down.

I don't use it for a super long time before foaling but only when I know that the foaling

date is getting closer. Sometimes when I'm lucky they will start to making nesting

areas in the shavings so then I throw the hay down on the spot they seem to have chosen.

I use it for about 10 days after the baby is born and the umbilical cord is dried, with the amount

of hay getting less toward the 10th day....

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

There is no reason not to use straw...why do you say/think it is bad? I used it exclusively in my foaling stalls for the 16 years I raised minis, and never once had a problem.

Not bad down here, hay is cheaper and easier to get!

I've also found our hay (coastal) is softer and not as stemmy as straw.

 

[paintponylvr]

The only reason I don't use straw here, is that it is rather nasty. Always a dark brown (instead of the beautiful gold of everyone esles' that I see) and very, very dusty. It's just nicer to use hay over the shavings and they can eat to their hearts' content while getting ready for the baby.

Some of our mares have foaled outside - some in grass and some in the "dry lots". I prefer on grass if I can do it... Most mini breeders don't seem to go that route, tho.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Mine foal out if they have a choice and grass is definitely the cleanest bedding you can have. Since any "dry" lot will turn into a mud bath at the first sight of rain I would never allow that to happen- it is easy for me to say though, with 12 acres of grass.....