What do you use for bedding???

Miniature Horse Talk Forums

Help Support Miniature Horse Talk Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

What kind of bedding do you use?

  • shavings

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • sawdust

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • woodypet (or similiar product)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • straw

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • other

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0

Sonya

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 7, 2004
Messages
4,088
Reaction score
168
Location
Newaygo, MI
I'm sure this has been done before, but humor me please. What kind of bedding do you use in your stalls? If you select other...please specify. If you like, tell us why you like/dislike certain bedding. I am considering options here for new bedding. I know there is a new kind of bedding out, that is kind of like shavings, but smaller particals and less dust, but I can't remember what it's called (maybe gaurdian??)

I'll start...I use shavings, I've used woodypet (which eventually turns to sawdust), but found it too dusty and stinky, but it was so easy to pick, I loved that part of it. Shavings I like, but there seems to be such a waste with them and can be time consuming to pick. What about you?
 
I use straw because I did try shavings once and found out that my one mini was eating some with his food and had a slight case of collic - was warned from my vet that minis and shavings do not mix well -- so even though shavings does smell nice and it is easier to collect the poop - I think I will stick with straw - never had a problem with that even though it is a pain to clean out when it needs to be.
 
I use straw- I can get it cheap- less than a dollar a bale delivered and stacked- it is good clean stuff too and Barley only never wheat. I have never understood this - it's hard to muck out, thing- why?? I muck out three stall a day when they are in and I get less than a wheel barrow out. Once a week I take almost all of it out and burn it- I say "most" because I always put some clean but damp straw back as a bottom layer- that way the stall still smells of the horse and it does not feel the need to make it's stall smell of itself by pooping and peeing as much as it can!! The cleaner you keep a stall, the dirtier a horse will make it- BUT you can keep the top layer squeaky clean and not upset anyone!!
 
We use straw. Lost two puppies before from getting bedding lodged in their little throats and we read if black walnut gets in your shavings then your horses could get laminitis, colic and stomach problems.

Fran
 
Sonya,

The type of bedding (the small shavings) I've used is made by Magnum horse bedding but it seems lots of places are selling it now under their own brand.

I LOVE this stuff and used WoodyPet for some time as well but I like these small shavings much better.

As long as you pick out the wet areas and don't mix it in, it stays very clean and good smelling. I also like that there is less dust, although it still is present, you can easily get it picked out and it makes a nice soft bed. It lasts me approximately 3-4 months without changing it out or adding more if I put in 3 bales to a 6'x8' stall. By then it's still clean and no amonia but it starts to break down and gets too dusty for my liking.

With my big horse I'm going to use a combo of pellets and the small shavings since there is a lot more pee to deal with.

I think you will really like the product if you can find it locally.
 
I use this 'Dry Stall' pelets. I did use Straw up untill yesterday when are DryStall came in finially. I got sick of coco eating the straw!
 
I use chopped straw (as opposed to long straw) and find it works well. We prefer barley straw but in years that we do not grow barley its harder to come by. many years we have the wheat straw so thats what we use. There is not a big difference in the two.
 
A horse will only eat the straw if it is hungry. My horses get ad lib hay and - No they do not get hay bellies, theses are my show horses
smile.gif
My straw is good Barley straw- no problem if they did eat it?? What is Coco going to eat now?? The Dry Stall?? His stall?? Be very careful, very very careful.
 
We use Sawdust in the Summer months when the Amish are milling and Staw in the winter months and for foaling.
 
My straw is good Barley straw- no problem if they did eat it?? What is Coco going to eat now?? The Dry Stall?? His stall?? Be very careful, very very careful.
I checked it this morning and he didnt eat any of it. He is fed VERRY well even when he was on a diet he ate the same amount just healthier foods. Usually when i went down there the next morning all the straw was gone!. He has sweetfeed/hay in the morning ..grass at noon ..and then sweetfeed/hay at night. I think he just ate bc he was bored and our straw was a little green in areas. The drystall is safe if he for some reason did eat a little of it (did my reasearch
biggrin.gif
). He doesnt eat his stall or anything ...dont worry im careful!. He is doing fine. The straw eating was making him really fat and got wet way to fast so i pretty much HAD TO change over to something better.

But if i do find that it causes any problems i will probaly send back the bags i have left and try something else. Deff. not straw though!
 
I use different things at different times of year. I use woodypet during the Summer, Fall and Spring and I use shavings during the Winter. I have tried other imititations to woody pet and I didn't like them, they were dusty and smelly. Using the woodypet I have cut down my stall cleaning time in half and that's worth it to me!!!! In the winter I use shavings for warmth.
 
I'm with Rabbitsfizz--we use straw, and clean out is the same here as she describes; I don't get all this 'straw is hard to clean out' stuff either!
 
I voted shavings, but have used both shavings and straw. Both have their place. My horses currently are not stalled, so have no need for bedding of any kind.

My stallion has a run-in shed which he uses to escape the heat, but he neither pees nor poops in his run-in. He's a little neat freak.
aktion033.gif
 
I voted other because I use Paper Shavings
yes.gif
They are AWESOME!!! No dust and no allergies, super absorbent, I could go on and on on
yes.gif
 
The stuff Shirley gets sounds great, I'm going to have to look into that. I've looked into the straw $4.50/small bail (80lbs). My hay is cheaper than that and so our my shavings, so straw is a no go...I've never seen the paper shavings, but that reminded me of some other stuff I saw at TSC and I forgot all about it....it was shredded cardboard...anyone ever use this?
 
Shavings are prety much in abundance here in the Pacific NW.

Quite a few years ago they took a huge jump in price but

they leveled back out so they are very affordable.

We use a combination with Woody Pet type pellet and a sprinkle

of Stall Dry in the pee spots, with shavings over the top and then

all about for bedding.

My kids are all very tidy so clean up is not super labor intensive.

That helps A LOT!!!
 
Woody pet in the rear over compacted dirt, mats in the front. If we keep the stalls picked out and do NOT mix the wet stuff with dry, it's AWESOME bedding and EASY to clean.
 
[SIZE=14pt]I use pine shavings at about 5 dollars a bag 2 bags a week perstall. I would like to get small mats and try the woody pet if we can get it here... havent seen it but we have dirt stalls in the new barn.[/SIZE]

We had too much stomach trouble when we used straw.

Lyn
 
We used to use straw but it was just too hard for us to clean out the stalls daily. So we switched to shavings and it made our job soooooo much easier!
biggrin.gif
 
I actually use sawdust in the summer months and shavings in the winter months. I haven't had a problem with my horses eating the shavings.

Christy
 

Latest posts

Back
Top