Do you have mats in your trailer? Do you use shavings or bedding?

[beau159]

Just curious.

I have a 3-horse slant trailer and it came with mats in it. I like the mats because they are not slippery.

I have always used pine shavings in my trailer to absorb urine (my horses do pee in the trailer) and make cleaning out feces easy.

However, I’m beginning to suspect my one gelding is inhaling some of the dust which is making his breathing raspy when I trailer them. I’ve been using the same stuff for years so I don’t know why he is suddenly having a problem.

I just picked up some pellet shavings today to see if they would be better. ( http://media.tractorsupply.com/is/image//TractorSupplyCompany/2181006?rect=0,0,480,480&scl=3.125&id=S3Cco0 )

I just can’t bear the thought of having zero shavings in my trailer with nothing to absorb the urine. I board my horses and it really is not set up for me to hose my trailer out with each use to rinse out any urine. Plus I haul pretty much every weekend in the summer. I do wash my trailer out really good about once a year. There is a car wash in town where I can take it to, and lift up all the mats and everything and give it a good cleaning.

Not to mention, having some sort of bedding keeps white legs a lot cleaner when I am hauling to a horse show. I’d hate to have urine-splattered legs when I arrive.

So just kind of wondering what else I could try, in the event switching to pellet shavings don’t work.

Thoughts?

[GraceLikeRain]

I honestly have never seen someone trailer without mats and shavings. I remember being taught that both were a necessity to prevent slipping and provide moisture absorption. Without shavings/bedding I would be afraid of a horse slipping in urine or on manure and risk going down. Perhaps that’s overly paranoid but they do seem to be accident prone beasts.

[beau159]

I do try to get the low dust shavings, but I know it probably still swirls around back there and that may be what he’s breathing in that’s causing him problems. He only gets raspy “bubbly” breathing when I trailer him; no other time.

These are the shavings I currently use:
http://www.neimanenterprises.com/pine-shavings/

[Foxtrot_s]

No and no - short hauls only.

[Simbalism]

Maybe you could try one of the nose nets attached to his halter to cut down on the his inhaling dust.

[beau159]

[QUOTE=Foxtrot’s;8107174]
No and no - short hauls only.[/QUOTE]

Then what do you do on long hauls?

And do you hose your trailer off after you’ve used it?

My longest haul I make is 3 hours and I probably do that 4 or 5 times during the year. The rest of them are anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours, usually.

@Simbalism;8107208

Maybe you could try one of the nose nets attached to his halter to cut down on the his inhaling dust.

I’m not sure what you are referring to. Can you post a picture or a link?

[SouthernYankee]

I would not use the pellets to haul with, and I am a fan of them for using in stalls. To work they need to be dampened a little so they ‘fluff’, then they become sawdust. If they aren’t dampened then they are like standing on marbles…

I have 2 trailers that I haul with:

Trailer 1- is used most often as the general run around trailer, I haul with this typically once a week. It’s an open sided cattle trailer, it has mats, I do not haul with shavings. It’s so open that they would just fly out, I do not have any issues with horses slipping and they can move around as they have a 7x8 box stall.

Trailer 2- is the real horse trailer, used for longer hauls only (like weekend trips). I do put large flake pine shavings down in there and open all windows. do not have any issue.

[pheasantknoll]

Once when I was doing a long distance haul, someone advised me to wet my shavings down well the night before. There was less dust and they still absorbed well. I have also heard to add ice in really hot weather to keep the horses cooler.
HTH,
PKN

[beau159]

[QUOTE=SouthernYankee;8107273]
To work they need to be dampened a little so they ‘fluff’, then they become sawdust.[/QUOTE]

This I did not know (sawdust). Good to know!!

[sabinomare]

Personally I think pellets are fine, so long as they are soaked and broken up. They shouldn’t be as dusty as shavings. I use them for stall bedding at home and I definitely prefer them to shavings.

I’ve never seen or heard of anyone hauling without mats in their trailer.

[Foxtrot_s]

She has never peed in the trailer and some of my trips have been 5-6 hours away!

I sometimes have felt like I need shavings, and the wetted pellets would work as long as they were dampened - they need to have broken down into sawdust.

Mostly, tho under an hour these days.

My trailer does not get hosed except once a year when my teenage schoolboy cleans and details it!

[Foxtrot_s]

Sorry - I do use mats, of course.

[Quelah]

Always bedding ,always. In the summer I mist it down so no dust. Just pulled mats and checked boards, perfect in a 10 year old trailer

[Jim_R]

I haul a vets dressage horse up to 12 hours and no shavings. If horse pees it runs right out the back in a 2 horse BP. Do not want to have respitory problems when getting to show.
Hauled my horses 8 hours tons of times with bare trailer never a problem.
Always on mats .
Saw a trailer with no mats and horses foot went through on the turnpike.I would never use a stock trailer with no mats after seeing that
We are a little anal about what the horses breath in.

[subk]

The single greatest threat to your horse when trailering are respiratory issues related to breathing dust and an inability of your horse to lower his neck so he can cough and clear his airways. This idea was presented to me years ago in a discussion with a vet friend who was the on site vet when the USEF Pony Finals came to town. He had a couple dozen ponies come off the vans at arrival or shortly there after with respirtory issues compared to only one come off with and injury. And to think of all the time we spend worrying about leg protection!

I rarely trailer with shavings. If I do trailer with shavings or if I am trailering more than a couple hours I make a point of dropping my horse’s chest bar to give him room and closing the door for a few minutes to allow him to lower his head to cough. (Not the safest thing in the world to do and I wouldn’t do it with a horse whose travel habits I was unfamilar with!) I also make a point for any hay to be in a closed hay bag with only a single hole for hay to be eaten through. Wetting hay is also a possibility. On the rare occassions I use shavings I wet them and I use a minimal amount with the idea they are being used for absorbtion and not to cushion the ride.

[asterix]

I use pellets from southern states that do not need to be wet down. My horse pees in the trailer in a regular basis and they do a good job of fluffing up and soaking the urine up. I use a fairly small amount more or less under his belly - he’s not really standing on them and I have not had any trouble with him slipping. Trailer also has mats.

[Quelah]

My personal horses are all black (Shires and Andalusian) and they come out of the trailer dust free and trust me, it would show LOL! I haul mine and others, 140K on this trailer, never a respiratory issue and I’ve got one horse, my little QH rescue from years ago who spent over a year on metronidazole for a lung infection, so he’s my canary in a coal mine so to speak. My Hawk has pretty awesome airflow, lots of windows and I use them. Hay bags not nets, tied so they can lower their heads. It’s worked for me

[cutter99]

Slightly dampen your shavings. I also buy the triple screened “dust free” shavings. I don’t beilieve they are totally dust free, but it does help. I will never haul without shavings in the trailer- 1) mats get slippery from both manure and urine, 2) some horses won’t pee without shavings and I do not want my horses to be uncomfortable, especially on long hauls.

We have done some long trips- up to 15 hours, and I have never experienced respiratory issues with any of my horses, but both if our trailers are also very well ventilated.

[cowboymom]

Mats always, never shavings.

It’s rare that I see anyone use shavings here, hardly ever.

[reubenT]

Traction. Whatever gives them the best. I like a floor with drainage so peein is never an issue. The old fashioned wood plank floor works fine, but I like it in real tough wood that’ll never decay. Rough sawn so slipping won’t happen. With hardwood timber and a sawmill I can take my pick of what wood. Black locust is the wood for the job. Which means I also prefer a plain open stock trailer.