Messy horse bedding help

squidsin

squidsin

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Feb 16, 2013
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I have a really, really messy horse. She's on wood pellets and walks around a lot in her box and poos and wees everywhere (a LOT) so her bed is always disgusting in the mornings. The poo and wee is churned up into the bedding so I usually end up taking the whole lot out and putting a thin later of pellets in the back half of the stable (she's on rubber mats) and scrubbing down the front half and leaving it to dry. I went to see my RI yesterday and she said 'this is how it SHOULD be done' pointing at her horses' beautifully deep littered wood pellet beds. Mine NEVER look like that! I tried deep littering but it was just a massive waste of litter as the whole lot needed chucking out within 2 weeks. Am I doing something wrong? Is there a way of making my horse's yucky box easier to keep clean? I've a ton of wood pellets in my garage so could try deep littering again but I am not convinced it will work! I prefer her turned out but at the moment as she's a bit lame, I'm bringing her in at night. Thoughts please!
 
I have no experience of wood pellets - but have to say I find straw the easiest to keep looking nice. I used to use shavings or Nedz Bedz - both of which are nice, but due to cost I had to switch to straw. Must say, I sort of semi deep litter, but, I still find it makes the job easier than shavings (not sure if wood pellets are similar?). I also think you can cheat a wee bit if you are in a rush and just chuck a couple of extra slices of straw down on top and fluff up! Probably no help at all .... lol. I am sure there are others on here that will have advice.
 
Best thing to do with pellets is to do a thick bed and let it settle, it will work out really costly taking it out everytime and laying fresh. With a thick bed, the wee will help it compact and the poo will sit on top.
 
I wouldn't use wooden pellets. I have Ben on straw and get a real satisfaction from cleaning his stable everyday. It always looks good enough for me to lie on when I have finished.
 
I have one who is very wet, but tidy and one who blends the lot. I've given up trying other bedding and gone back to straw as its cheap to throw away - I just gut the lot every 2-3 days and put a bale down again - I can't manage it any other way
 
My sisters mare is like that, she's impossible to keep on anything but straw. A nice deep straw bed and she's much easier!
 
Eugh, I couldn't deep-litter wood pellets! Tried it once in an old yard and they were horrid, I'd say your RI is just very lucky with her horses' bedroom habits! Thinner pellet beds have always worked much better for me especially with the really messy / wet mares. With the worst ones I put the majority of the bedding up the sides, and just have a thin covering of it in the middle - then they can tramp it around as much as they like, you can just take out the manky middle bit and it means you won't be getting through too much new bedding. For messy horses I find the thinner the bed the better, and TBH if you've got mats underneath and she's only in overnight she doesn't really need a full bed.

I love straw beds, I prefer wood pellets because I have a whole yard to muck out and they are quicker / easier / more practical for me, but if I only had one or two to do I would always go for straw. You could put a thin layer of wood pellets underneath to soak up the worst of the pee and make the straw last longer.
 
My livery mate's mare Bella is also very very messy and treats her stable as if she is the blade in a food processor :banghead:

She has to be on wood shavings as she would eat straw. Suzi tries to keep her bed quite shallow and digs it out every few days. It's awful, I don't envy you!
 
Straw is a no-no. I tried that when I first got her and I'd need so much for her, it's more expensive than the pellets (which I've bought in bulk so work out quite reasonably.) I put her in my friend's semi-deep-littered straw bed overnight the other night and it was totally trashed by morning! I had to take all the straw out, including the banks as she'd peed on those too. My friend hadn't really believed how messy she was until that moment, I think he thought I was just whinging because I don't like mucking out! She's a troublesome mare and no mistake. She's actually got a bit of thrush now from being on box rest in her own wee and poo for a week. She's mucked out every morning and skipped out every night but I feel like a crappy owner and also a bit :banghead: now.
 
Jane&Ziggy said:
My livery mate's mare Bella is also very very messy and treats her stable as if she is the blade in a food processor :banghead:
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My YO says much the same - that she treats her stable as if she was making cake mix! Only a LOT less appetising!
 
Rubic can be messy when she is in overnight in winter. She seems to be fine for a night here and there but when she is consistently in she starts getting messy. I found the best thing for me to do was to have a thin bed of shavings. If it's deep she buries everything and churns it up and I waste a lot of bedding. If it is thin then she just churns it up but at least I'm not wasting anywhere near as much and it is quick to muck out.

If you have mats I'd be tempted just to have a thin layer of pellets down in the middle with steep banks overnight (one one bank if there is a side of the stable she doesn't use as much). In the morning, pick the middle dirty bit out and leave the floor to dry and in the evening just pick out the poo off the mats, get rid of any pee and scrape down some of the banking to have a thin bed in the middle again?
 
I thought that rubber matting was designed to be used with only a little bedding to soak up the wee. If you don't want to use straw, I would use a thin layer of shavings as Rubic suggests.

Or, just turn her out overnight!
 
Mine is a messy bugger but on rubber mats. I put them in myself and it's a sealed floor. I deliberately only keep enough to act as an absorbent as for wee and poo. I don't do big banks but if e was REALLY messy. He'd only have the bare minimum bed. I don't like deep littering and only have him in when desperate.

I use shavings for the absorbancy and because of the risk of mites from straw :(
 
Deep litter is spawn of satan!

Is your horse truly content in her stable? Is she fretting and box walking? A messy bed is generally a stressy horse.

We have rubber mats, Use either a bit of straw or a sprinkle of shavings. Bio Super is good as it stops the wee stinking the place out
 
Wally said:
Deep litter is spawn of satan!

Is your horse truly content in her stable? Is she fretting and box walking? A messy bed is generally a stressy horse.

We have rubber mats, Use either a bit of straw or a sprinkle of shavings. Bio Super is good as it stops the wee stinking the place out
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She is a stressy horse but I don't think there's much to be done about that, I think it's just her personality. She's on a calmer and in a routine and is waaaay happier than she was when I bought her four months ago. Her stable could ideally be a bit bigger but there isn't a spare one. She's not a full-on box walker but she does wander about in there.
 
Well, I deep litter but pick out the poos, any wet that comes to the front and put new straw in every day. Everyone admires Tobes bed, and I have to say, he loves it.

However, he is not stressy, but yours sounds as though she is. Would a mirror help her? A lot of horses love their mirrors, and might calm her down. Generally there is a reason for it.

A fellow livery had very thick rubber mats and just sprinkled shavings on top - I always felt sorry for her mare, because she ended up having to lie in poo and wee because there was nowhere for it to go except on the mats, and when she did have a wee it splashed up her legs which isn't fab.

I have previously tried shavings, paper, and I just love straw!!!
 
sjp1 said:
Well, I deep litter but pick out the poos, any wet that comes to the front and put new straw in every day. Everyone admires Tobes bed, and I have to say, he loves it.

However, he is not stressy, but yours sounds as though she is. Would a mirror help her? A lot of horses love their mirrors, and might calm her down. Generally there is a reason for it.

A fellow livery had very thick rubber mats and just sprinkled shavings on top - I always felt sorry for her mare, because she ended up having to lie in poo and wee because there was nowhere for it to go except on the mats, and when she did have a wee it splashed up her legs which isn't fab.

I have previously tried shavings, paper, and I just love straw!!!
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Poppy definitely lies down in poo and wee because it's EVERYWHERE. A mirror is a good idea, I didn't think of that. Thank you! She's very rarely in on her own (only a bit when she was on box rest) and I keep my chickens right next to her so she has some company at all times, if only of the bird variety, but I think she considers them a poor substitute for her equine friends!
 
Us too, but for some reason it's only attractive the night before a show... he's a grey as well :poop:
 
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