Wondering how deep you keep your pellets? Either with or without mats. We still have some bagged shavings which we’re using in one stall and have started using the pellets in the other two stalls. If I dig deep in the gelding’s stall, I can hit water as we’re on floodplain (hopefully, it’s water as it doesn’t smell like urine). Because of that I want to use mats.
Thoughts? Thanks in advance!
I have mats keep bedding about 4-6 inches of fluffed pellets.
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4-6 inches of fluffed pellets, edges swept on mats in 12x12 stalls.
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Great! We have a few inches and will definitely add more. Thanks so much!
My horses are out more than in, so bedding is not that deep.
I use 2-3 (40#) bags of pellets per 12X12 stall.
End result maybe 3"?
No mats, pellets are soaked - 2gal bucket poured into bag & let sit 5-10min - & spread directly on top tamped screening floors.
No hock sores, no ammonia smell & they do go flat out from time to time, as evidenced by bedhead manes & pellet dust on sides
I pick manure out daily & scoop out saturated pee spots as needed.
When bedding looks thin I add a bag or 2 every week or so.
Recently added a 4" “sill” to the Dutch doors at the back of stalls where they exit & this has cut down the amount of bedding dragged out.
Refresh bedding more often in Winter when they tend to come in more, less often now when they even sleep outside, coming in for grain meals 2X daily & cookie treats @ 10P barncheck.
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I also do about 4-6 inches with bedding pulled back from edges. The gelding gets a pile in the middle, since he pees in the middle and walks a lot. The pile is probably 12" deep when he walks into the stall but in a limited area and he quickly disperses. The messiest mare who loves to pee on the edge of the stall has maybe 4" over everything but 18" from the edge.
With no mats, I needed less bedding. Otherwise it was absorb some moisture from the base. Not enough to be wet and need removal, but enough to wind up REALLY heavy. Maybe it was also some of the base mixing in? It sucked! :lol:
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4-6 inches of fluffed pellets, edges swept on mats in 12x12 stalls.
Very similar amounts and upkeep done at our place, except we do have mats, and water the fresh pellets (out of the bag) with a hose, instead of in the bag with a bucket.
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I use the bucket method too. We have a mare with Cushings and she pees a lot. I’m thinking of adding a mat in that area (just one). Right now, I put a lot of pellets there. I also don’t soak all the pellets as I’m hoping they’ll absorb more urine that way. Thanks for all the response. I’ve only been using pellets a short time and it’s unbelievable how much quickly I can clean the stalls and I’m only taking out what needs to be taken out and not a bunch of good shavings! Thanks again!
How do you all keep your pellets from getting dusty? I wet them and love them at the start but they get dry and dusty, and I live in a humid place. Do you keep wetting them?
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@Jarpur I used to use the hose to mist the pellets after dumping, but found the bucket method means I don’t have to stand there while the pellets get sufficiently misted to start breaking down.
Just 2 stalls - 3 if the mini is In his own - but my time can be better spent puttering around, mixing feed, sweeping, etc while the bags soak.
I also dump dry pellets on the favored pee spots & rake wetted pellets shallowly over them.
@suzyq I haven’t found any brands available locally to be dusty if they are wet before spreading them.
I know you are in NZ, maybe the wood used there tends to break down finer 
Here pellets are largely pine.
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we use pine pellets here in north Texas, with 15% humidity it is just kind of hard to keep wet so I use a mixture of pellets and medium pine shaving …mix rate deeps upon horse but does not exceed 50/50 bedded to about 4 inches on mats
I have none on 100% pellet
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For some reason, I haven’t found the pellets to be dusty. I don’t totally soak the pellets prior to spreading them in the stall. We have one horse that seems to have allergies and he’s on flakes right now. The vet said to wet his hay at night and lightly mist the stall at night. It seems to work. I’m interested to see what happens when we use up our stored flakes and put him on pellets. Hopefully, it still works. I also do the same thing as @2DogsFarm as I’ll put whole unsoaked pellets in the heavy pee spots and then a little soaked pellets on top.
We don’t totally soak the pellets, either. I remember when we first began using them (many years ago), directions suggested wetting the pellets to the point that kneeling on them would slightly dampen the knees of jeans. I actually tried that test a time or two, then decided it was a) ridiculous and b) too wet for our circumstances.
When we soak the pellets, we dump the entire bag just inside the lip of the stall, in a confined heap, spray it briefly with a strongish stream of water, (fireman’s type nozzle on the hose) then move on to the next stall and do the same. Then come back and re-wet the first pile, etc.; there’s no need to move a heavy, wet bag of pellets and we don’t have to tote buckets of water, but other methods could work, too. By the (short) time chores are done, the pellets are ready to be spread. Some pieces are fluffier than others, but that’s okay.
Also, we tend to keep the fresh pellets in certain areas – for instance, where the horse likes to lie down – while the older ones are consigned to the usual wet spot. Bedding is kept away from under the feeders and the waterers, and away from the corner where our neat freak horse likes to poop, so as not to waste it.
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I am on mats, and relatively new to using pellets. I board in a 24x24 half-covered stall. My horse is indoors 24/7, except for exercise – no turnout unless I supervise. So 100% of his pee is in the stall, in the pellets (he won’t pee on the hard ground, which I actually prefer – hating those stinky mucky areas)
I have always done “deep litter” shavings and raked new shavings over pee spots during week and then scoop out all the pee on the weekends, replacing with one bag. But at my new barn, the breeze carries away the shavings, so I tried pellets.
Nice to use, but they got too dusty for me, and unlike shavings, they packed wet into his feet which I didn’t like. So someone suggested Cedarest vs shavings – that was dusty also, didn’t pack into his feet as much, but gave me a tickle-cough, so I opted for pellets with shavings mixed in and it seems to be working for now.
Do folks using pellets really take out the pee spots every day? That might be my next experiment, but I think I’d be adding two replacement bags weekly. Also, do you think that watering the pellets first causes less dust than leaving them intact in the pee spots and just covering with used bedding?
I had no luck with pellets. My horses are only in the barn 6 hours a day, and they got moldy if I kept them damp, and dusty if I let them dry out. I was not able to find a happy medium. And with the issues regarding pine, I switched to Sani-Care. Much less dust.
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I must be feeling argumentative this morning 
I don’t pour water into the bag then move it to a stall.
Instead I put the dry bag upright, against a wall in the stall to be done, slit the top open & pour in the bucket.
I considered using the hose to soak the pellets, but that still meant me standing there until the bucketsworth of water was in the bag. With just 2 buckets to tote it works for me, YMMV 
I tried setting a bag just outside a stall & soaking overnight & WOWZA! that bag at least doubled in weight! :ambivalence:
So we’re on the same page re: that.
FWIW: I also save myself some toting by putting the bags on my handcart to transfer to the stalls.
I can move 3 bags at a time all by my OldLady Self.
When I used the hose on dry pellets I spread them out, then misted for a couple minutes until the top layer was wet, moved to the next stall then repeated on 1st stall, etc. as you described.
So let us agree pellets are Da Bomb for stalls, last long, less waste, soak up pee & compost in an eyeblink 
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Yeah, the pee comes out every day. Leaving the pee in leads to a wet, STINKY stall. Gross. Gag.
I add water/don’t add water depending on how humid it is. It’s 85% humidity today…I don’t need more water in the stall. My stalls are also open and empty during the day, which I think helps with the dust–the breeze comes through and does move along the very small dusty particles. Have only found the stalls a little dusty if I need to close the aisle and back dutch door during the day.
I’ve also found bedding a little deeper = less bedding coming out every day. Not really sure why, but if the bed is more in the 3" range, I might need 2 bags a week, but if kept in the 4+" range, I only need one bag a week (or less, depending on the horse.)
As an aside, I use pellets for the chickens, but want it to be 100% sawdust. It is AMAZING how much water it takes to get a bag of pellets all the way broken down :eek:
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I have been using pellets for years. When I “refresh” the stall, I get rid or all the saturated pellets. Whatever is relatively dry gets raked to the sides. Then I put down 6 bags of pellets which I cover with the old “dry” bedding (big stalls 12’ by 15’). Just the pellets, no water. So the kids have a lot of bedding. I don’t remove old bedding until it is saturated.
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Simkie, I agree that bedding deeper actually uses less pellets! I think it prevents it from spreading horizontally and thus remains more contained? I dunno. But the same principle works for cat litter – too little and it’s a mess!
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