Anyone tried bedding blocker?

Anxious to hear!

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I wonder how many times the horse would have to step on those “bristles” before it became a big PIA every time you opened the door.

The bristles appear rather soft and flexible but I haven’t seen them IRL.

Yes, I installed 2 of the Bedding Blocker this summer. It worked great for 6 weeks. It took the eventer gelding a couple days before he was comfortable wandering in and out over the brush (giggles). I would say it kept 90% of the shavings that used to be moved into the aisle in the stall. Not 100%.
Unfortunately after 6 weeks my new mare came home and the brushes were pulled out each day. The installation that came with mine had a screw down a plate on each side of the brush. With a little cleaning I could reinstall the brush, but I gave up after a few days.

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Ugh. That is SO disappointing to hear. Are you saying your new mare was chewing and pulling them out?

Nope, I can just say that after she came home the brushes were pulled out each day. But a pretty strong correlation between her presence and the brush’s daily relocation.
No damage to the brush but annoying to put back in.

Unfortunately, in many cases these brushes might work only in situations such as stall doors opening into an aisle, i.e. when there is a closed door protecting the brush except when a human is there. :frowning:

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BEDDING BLOCKER REVIEW

Eh.
That’s pretty much the review.

I had a 60 stall barn and we bedded very deep with shavings and put 2 x 6" boards across all the doorways- just a pine board with joist hangers (under a buck each) screwed into the door frame to support the boards. Every few years a horse might be able to chew his wooden door sill enough that we’d pull it out and replace it, but that was maybe a handful per year. And I can’t recall anyone ever actually falling over one. Horses figured out pretty fast to step over and if they did hit it, whapping their toe on the soft pine board wasn’t a hazard- less than hitting a jump pole at speed for example.

So now I’m a boarder and it made me crazy to see my horse drag his bedding out into his yard or see it dragged into the aisleway. I figured new BO would let me put in a 2x4" (they don’t bed deep here so shorter board works fine) but NO too much liability for employees to fall over the board.

OK, can I try this Bedding Blocker thing? After much power-flexing deliberation I was allowed to try it. Useful barn guy installed it with lag shields into the concrete door sill, so there was a certain hassle factor to installation. And there is a base that’s almost 2" high that holds the bristles, so I guess a cloddish barn worker could trip over that too but so far, no worker’s comp claims from not lifting their feet up a few inches.

I’ve had two different horses in that stall and neither one has bothered the blocker, so it’s just as it was when first installed.

It’s way less effective than a board in joist hangers and literally 10X as expensive, but it does help somewhat to keep bedding in the stall; I’d say it helps by a factor of about 50%. I may get another Bedding Blocker for the front door of the stall but it’s still frustrating that the best solution, a plank and two Simpson Strong-Tie joist hangers that cost about $8, is not allowed.

At about $100 for the Bedding Blocker I’d think long and hard about installing, but would highly recommend the board in the door approach if that is allowed.

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Even if you have the bedding blockers, horses can still carry shavings into the aisle when they are packed into their feet.

I appreciate all the feedback. I decided against using them for now, although when I see how much bedding my mare drags outside from her stall (especially in the rain, making the bedding useless for getting swept back in), I have second thoughts!

I just installed Bedding Blockers in the doorways that lead from my stalls to the dry lot. So far I love them. They work great and have almost totally eliminated bedding being dragged out the door. One of my horses would drag so much bedding out that it would interfere with the closing of the stall door at mealtime. I’m very happy with them.

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My Dutch doors to their in/outs have a high threshold - like 8-10 inches (miscommunication with carpenter). Even with that, bedding makes its way outside. The threshold for the doors to the aisle only have about a 3 inch threshold and even more makes its way into the aisle.

I’m so happy to hear this and it inspires me to get this on my to do list after the brutal cold ends.

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