Bedding

[USER=42]George Geist[/USER], stated in a different thread that a lot of the moisture problem was due to bedding.

I was wondering what peoples thoughts were on horse bedding?

Here are a couple of quick opinions I have on the subject:

1) When my wife and I moved from New England to Pennsylvania our horse changed from shavings, saw dust, and pellets (he had a combination of it over the years) to straw. Immediately his frogs and the bottom of his feet had a lot more bacteria. My thoughts were that the straw harbors a lot more yeast/mold/bacteria/whatever that leads to less healthy feet and frogs. Also I believe I read that straw is worse for their respiratory tract

2) Companies that sell rubber mats market their products as a way to "reduce bedding costs". A lot of people are using absolutely minimal bedding on rubber mats. This has 2 immediate consequences:

a) The bedding becomes saturated more quickly.

b) When the horse is walking on rubber the frictional coefficient is much greater between rubber and shoes than it is with traditional clay bottom stalls or on a deeply bedded stall. This is further exaggerated when traction devices such as pin studs or borium are applied to shoes. Bottom line is when a horse pivots a foot on rubber stalls a lot more force is imparted on the collateral ligaments. It is my opinion that this has a negative cumulative affect on the health of the horse

I also find straw to be the worst bedding one can use, but if it is the only one you can get it still works well if the horse is not suffering from COPD and is not eating too much of it. I personally prefer shavings and rice hulls. Coarse saw dust is also very good as a bottom layer under shavings or rice hulls.

Rubber mats are IME a necessity if there is not enough bedding material available and the floors are hard. Many horses will scrape their hocks getting up from a hard surface, some will not even lie down at all on inadequate bedding. That said, I do have one horse who never lies down even in shavings 2 feet deep and one other who lies down and sleeps comfortably even on concrete. But most horses will need to lie down on a soft surface and if bedding is scarce or too expensive rubber mats are good hock savers.

I notice a lot of difference between straw and wood products. Shaving, pellets and such do keep a much dryer hoof in my opinion. But it also does make a difference in which type of straw you use. In my opinion wheat straw is the worst, oat is better. One thing I have seen a few using areound here is flax, I am impressed with this. But no matter what you use, if you let it get super saturated, nothing works.

That is interesting about the different straw types.

I know in other parts of the world they use Mescanthus aka elephant grass.

With the OP entirely.

I use sawdust because I am obsessive about managing diet and feet. They don't eat sawdust. They do eat straw.

Sawdust smells better doesn't stink of urine when it gets wet and is easier to skip out. You just lift the droppings off and dig out any wet patch and you're sorted. With straw you're having to shovel the whole lot out if you want to reduce the risk of bacteria and the likes of thrush.

Reduced risk of things like lice and mites which love to live the thrive in straw.

It provides a good surface for them to come in and get their feet dried out. Particularly important to me in wet and mud of the United Kingdom. (I've never had a horse with mud fever (you call it scratches) or thrush.

I compost it down and spread it on the land and truthfully it takes no longer than straw. It has the advantage of being less bulky than straw so takes less space when it's clean or on the muck heap.

I buy it by the truck load direct from the timber yard and what they call "green sawdust". It's from newly cut timber before it's seasoned and dried out and so it's a bit "sappy" and not particularly dusty. IF I get some that's at all dusty then I just spray it with a fine mist dilution of jeyes fluid and water. Here it tends to be barley or wheat straw that's used and no matter what, it's going to be dusty and there's going to be an increased risk of respiratory disorders. (To staff and horses)

Rubber mats are o.k. but IMO they're hard work. You can use less bedding because the rubber helps to provide a 'softer' surface. But you still have to use bedding for the reasons mentioned by the OP and also because you've got to have sufficient to soak up and prevent splashing of urine and faeces and for the horse to be able to lie down comfortably and without the risk of getting cast. The thing I hate about rubber mats is the fact that in the main those that use them don't lift them often enough to clean under them and even when they're high quality interlocking mats they get filthy underneath because urine does find a way through!

The wife's got eight horses (that's why I have no money), and we bed all with oat straw. Boxes are cleaned everyday and I know she completely takes all out, jus the piss and crap. You can come in our stable first thing in the morning and it doesn't smell. All out boxes have drains in the floor, so that does help. About the only time I like rubber mats is when a horse stands and scrapes in the box - they save the hooves.

I'll take sawdust any day. I love the absence of dust, the fact that the barn virtually always smells good, and I find it easy to clean and dispose of. My horses all lay down in it - and I bed nice and deep so that they are comfortable. I notice that around here, the 'trend' seems to be minimal bedding - I think that's for the people not the horses!

My stall floors are limestone - I have no 'drains' in my stalls - the bedding must absorbe the moisture!

Stalls are a piss poor way to keep a horse. Period.

Travis, you're assuming a lot

you mean they're forced to own a horse

If you've got no other way to keep a horse, you really don't need a horse. It's well established that the foot capsule does better in a horse that gets to move. Not to mention the problems inherent in stalled horses; shoe boils, ulcers, anxiety, cribbing,.......
"Stall horse" people seem to always be treating one things or another, especially colic. I've had horses nearly all my life, and I think we only had one case of colic, and it was really minor; coulda just been a bad case of gas. No other real issues to speak of, aside from having to get a coupla horses stitched up that got into something that shouldn't have been there.

No kidding.

And to think I almost missed your humor!

Travis, if you're going to own horses with those kinds of problems then it certainly is more convenient to have them in stalls for treatment.

And if you keep horses in those conditions, you're more likely to have those problems.....

Since we moved the horses from England to GA we switched from shredded hemp stem over concrete, which we loved all the advantages of sawdust without the dust, to mats with fine shavings over a clay floor. I stall during the day under fans and put them out at night. Don't have too much rot problem even with sliders. My Dad used to keep his Suffolk's and Shires on straw, hated it especially baling and stacking 36,000 of the buggers

I know the feeling!! Now we buy our straw in mini-big bales and move them around with the tractor.