Your Bedding Choices

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I had a horse once with a sense of humor, he took his foot and squashed the milk jug toy...it folded around his hoof... I wish I had a camera of how proud he was of his new "shoe". fearless he was... he marched around showing off his new "shoe" with the rocks jiggling inside. scaring the pants off of his pasture friends with the scraping noise he made.. lol, still makes me laugh to this day..
 
Maryann, thanks for the idea about the rock. The girls now have milk jug toys hanging in their stalls. Kestrel has nosed hers about a bit, Starling isn't interested so far. I'm guessing she'll catch on, though, she tends to let Kes try things out first.

Shorthorsemom, the mental image of your horse wearing a milk jug on his hoof made me laugh out loud!
 
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AngC...I think Amysue means her barn insurance...it is common to insure the barn, and any horses or other things that are in the barn. My farm insurance covers those things.

They would know what kind of bedding you use If ever the barn burns down--because their investigation of the fire would tell them what bedding was in it. Your claim would be denied. No fire? Then it wouldn't matter and they wouldn't care.

I use straw--it is my favorite bedding.
 
The straw is working out well so far. And now that snow is blocking the path to the manure pile and making it impossible to get the wheelbarrow back there, I'm glad it's so lightweight. I can carry the muck bucket with no problem. :)
 
I guess I need to speak to the insurance folks? I "upped" the coverage on all our outbuildings but only by about 20/30 thousand or so (forget how much.) And I never read the fine print about fires.

A comment on "milk jugs"...

I keep nagging at the husband to keep the plastic milk jugs out of Baby's reach. We use the plastic milk cartons to haul hot water out to thaw the girls' water; I peel the labels off, because Baby ripped a label off and swallowed it before I could intercept.

Husbands appear to have a listening problem; today he was carrying out a plastic milk carton; he let Baby sniff it. She promptly ripped a hole in the milk jug. Luckily, he thinks on his feet and swiped her mouth out before she could swallow any plastic shreds. I gotta' tell you all... I don't understand why people want to put rocks in milk jugs and dangle them in front of horsies.? ...to save on horse toys/entertainment? To me it just doesn't appear to be worth the risk; especially unattended.

Course maybe I'm a nut-job with a spoiled Baby who has really sharp teeth. ???
 
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AngC -

Some horses just chew at any/everything. Bet your "Baby" would have a go at anything left in her paddock/pasture/stall if it was left with her and she was bored. Part of it may even be the "freak out" factor of her owners. Some do that.

I've had 1 horse (full size) that had a thing for our cinder block barn. She would stand at the corner, tilt her head and lick/chew just like it was a mineral/salt block. Before we built a separate pen (out of METAL), she did some major damage to both the barn corner and her teeth. She then got her tongue stuck to the metal one winter - licking it. That was a terrible injury to treat (don't remember the details). She was tested - was not found to be deficient in any nutrients. Just the way she was.

I, too, use milk jugs (only the ones w/ the screw on lids), water bottles, 2 ltr soda bottles, and laundry jugs from liquid laundry detergent and fabric softener - for training and for "toys" (none of our current 27 head play with the bottles).

Used to have a shetland/arab gelding that would play with anything you gave him - feed bags were a great thrill of his. He'd wave it around and could get a pretty good snap out of some of them. He'd chase the other ponies and horses - causing them to run and "freak out". However, if you let him have them for too long or didn't watch, he'd shred and eat them, too. He also loved taking the cap(s) off of our daughter's head (only his person - he left everyone else's alone). He'd steal it, run off & circle around & come back either dropping it in a lap or at her feet. As soon as it was back on her head, he'd steal it again and the "game" would begin again. The day she let him keep it was a problem - he shredded it and ate part of it. We worried until it passed thru his system... She was more careful after that and always made sure that she left w/ her cap if she'd been wearing one. He started this as a weanling and kept it up thru the day we sold him (he was also a VERY mouthy colt - every thing had to be tasted & chewed on!) at 6 yrs of age. New owners were told about his many (fun) habits - but still found out the hard way when a bridle was left w/i his reach at a 3 day event. He chewed it up badly and ate part of the leather rein... They found him in his stall carrying the bit in his teeth and waving the destroyed headstall that was still partially attached. He refuses to play with horse style toys - even the ones that hold feed. I spent plenty on toys before we sold him and so have his new owners...

Awww - I love the "new shoe" story!! That's cool. Sounds like he'd have made a match for our "Blizzard". Though I'm really glad we only had one of those "goofs" at a time, 'cuz don't think I could deal w/ more than 1 at any given time.
 
AngC -

Some horses just chew at any/everything. Bet your "Baby" would have a go at anything left in her paddock/pasture/stall if it was left with her and she was bored. Part of it may even be the "freak out" factor of her owners. Some do that.
Baby likes to "mouth" at everything. For awhile, she went through a stage where she'd work her jaws (not bite, just make "mouth" movements) at everything. I would just push her head away. She tried to nip at me once; startled me, so I yelled, and smacked her on the shoulder. She's out of that stage. Now she's in another naughty type teenager stage where she wants to walk in front all the time.

But Baby and her mom like to get into things, especially if we're around. I guess they think if we're there it's safe? They like the grease fittings on the tractors, so the husband has been using food-grade lube. On some forum, I read about using a Nordi-Trak inflatable ball as a toy. Baby and Coco were having fun with it, but then Coco deliberately (I swear) reached over and yanked the plastic inflator out with her teeth. ...got that one in time too. But it's just made me really cautious what I leave around them. Milk cartons simply aren't sturdy enough for our goobers.
 
my horses have never actually taken pieces off of the milk jugs....so its not something I worry about. he likes them and they don't cost any extra money...so why not? lol. Obviously if I had a horse who liked to chew holes in things and eat them I wouldn't give them one. But I don't have that problem.

If they do naughty things only when you're around its most likely because they get attention from it and they know that so they're just playing games with you lol they're smart like that.
 

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