Stall bedding & a disgusting gelding

[luvmyhackney]

@tazycat

They come in around 12pm go out at 8 pm stalls get cleaned when they go out for the night. Scoop shovel works great for scooping up pee. Both are geldings depends on where they pee on if they stand in it. They lay down in stalls just as much as any horse does in deep bedding. Their filthy but they lay where they pee and poop. Hose them off every day.

I get what your saying and currently board at a place with a similar setup for the stalls in the main barn. I buy my own shavings and maintain my own stall on a small barn on the back of the main barn. Plus, my pony only comes in when its 90 or above. But those stalls are absolutely disgusting and when the horses come out they stink and fly’s swarm all over them. Its a nice barn except for this one issue I have and its close enough to my house I deal with it. My pony lays down more than they do, and is cleaner on a daily basis. My hay also doesn’t get wasted.

When they clean the stalls, they basically shovel everything and actually use more shavings than I do once I got it additionally built up. I only add a bag a week max and they go through 2-3 bags a week easily per stall. Then they have to wait for the mat to dry before adding fresh shavings.

[tazycat]

Because they only lay down once and they pee at least 2 or 3 more times while in. Some days they don’t lay down.Never a hock sore on either horse. My barn doesn’t stink like pee,stall aren’t disgusting ether.

[S1969]

@tazycat

Because they only lay down once and they pee at least 2 or 3 more times while in. Some days they don’t lay down.Never a hock sore on either horse. My barn doesn’t stink like pee,stall aren’t disgusting ether.

They have probably learned to pee before they come in, if they can.

My gelding won’t pee on bare mats or even hardpacked stone dust because he doesn’t want to splash himself. He’ll either go in the deeper bedding, or go outside into the grass, or, if no alternative, will pee on a flake of hay.

I don’t feel the need to bed deeply throughout the entire stall because my horses go in and out of them as they please and choose other places to lie down. They tend to prefer to be out in the paddock at night, and don’t come in (although they can, and sometimes do). But when I’ve had to stall overnight, I do always provide ample bedding so that they can lie down as they wish, and can choose not to lie in a puddle of urine. Because they usually won’t, even if they want to. Some will, and others will stand all night and deprive themselves of quality sleep.

[MissAriel]

@trubandloki

I put pellet bedding (dry, not pre-wet) in the center (where he pees) under the other bedding (use whatever you like, straw, shavings, sawdust). When it comes time to clean you just scrape off the dry bedding from on top and pick out the soaked bedding from underneath. Toss in some more pellets and recover with the dry bedding.

I personally do not put lots of pellets underneath. In my case I find that a 3qt scoop or two works perfectly.

This is almost exactly what I do. It’s pretty quick since he always pees in the same spot. There is a bit of a depression there and that helps keep it localized and not spreading. It would be much harder if he peed in multiple spots.

[SorrelGelding1]

Does the pellets cause a lot of hay wastage? Should I worry about him eating the bedding??? I’m telling you, he is a dork. I’ve watched him rip all the hay out of his hay bag paw it then eat it.

[S1969]

@SorrelGelding1

Does the pellets cause a lot of hay wastage? Should I worry about him eating the bedding??? I’m telling you, he is a dork. I’ve watched him rip all the hay out of his hay bag paw it then eat it.

Pellets don’t “cause” hay waste, but any horse with a lot of hay in their stall for a long time might walk around and churn it into the bedding. It’s hard for any of us to know if that would be a problem. It wouldn’t cause any more hay waste than shavings, for example.

I think a lot of horses sample a pellet or two, then realize it’s just dehydrated sawdust and don’t bother again.

[JB]

The only real trouble I’ve had with pellets as “food” was when I was using the pelleted straw :rolleyes: For that one horse, I’d just move the broken down bedding out of the way, put down new pellets (the straw ones didn’t get watered to break up, they were soft enough) and pulled the old bedding back on top, and no more eating. He’d take a GIANT mouthful and chew while they were falling out of his mouth :rolleyes:

[tazycat]

Woodstove pellets works just as good as pelleted horse bedding. Woodstove pellets are a lot cheaper because it doesn’t have horse on the bag. I don’t use pelleted bedding to dusty, or any bagged bedding…i buy mine by the pickup load. I get better quality shavings in bulk then any of the bagged stuff is.

[Magicboy]

Isn’t it fascinating how we all solve these problems a bit differently? My horses live outside 24/7 but come in for grooming and tacking up…then they pee in the wood shavings!

[Angela_Freda]

@tazycat

Woodstove pellets works just as good as pelleted horse bedding. Woodstove pellets are a lot cheaper because it doesn’t have horse on the bag. I don’t use pelleted bedding to dusty, or any bagged bedding…i buy mine by the pickup load. I get better quality shavings in bulk then any of the bagged stuff is.

I would worry that heat pellets might contain wood from trees poisonous to horses, ie red maples and whatnot.

[JB]

Red maple wouldn’t be a concern, but black walnut sure would be, and there’s never any guarantee a batch one gets doesn’t have any in it, unless maybe you only get truckloads from a plant which only does softwood trees.

[tazycat]

@Angela Freda

I would worry that heat pellets might contain wood from trees poisonous to horses, ie red maples and whatnot.

Woodstove pellets here are oak, pine or aspen so no poisonous woods. I know barns that use the wood stove pellets and no issues. Those barns use very little bedding also no deep bedded stalls.

[Simkie]

@Angela Freda

I would worry that heat pellets might contain wood from trees poisonous to horses, ie red maples and whatnot.

You can get softwood wood stove pellets. I’ve found they’re just as expensive as the horse ones, though.

The hardwood pellets are often cheaper, but do carry the risk of walnut in there…certainly not something I would try for a couple buck a bag difference.

Curious that Tazy is now saying she has horses in every day since it wasn’t that long ago she said they were out all the time and she would go days without seeing them at all :rolleyes: Take whatever she says with a enormous grain of salt.

[Angela_Freda]

@tazycat

Woodstove pellets here are oak, pine or aspen so no poisonous woods. I know barns that use the wood stove pellets and no issues. Those barns use very little bedding also no deep bedded stalls.

I don’t think it actually takes much.

And from what I looked at online, the pellets are made from the sawdust byproduct of many industries, so the wood sources/type would be variable and unreliably clean of potentially dangerous woods, per my research.
That barns haven’t had a problem does not necessarily mean there’s no danger, it may only mean that they may be incredibly lucky.

After spending agonizing, expensive days trying to figure out what was wrong with my horse Melly, if I had known there was NO chance he was poisoned, we would have had a huge thing we could cross of the list of potentials.
Not to mention saved me a boatload of money.
Alas the BO had cherries on property, so we could not eliminate that possibility.

I like to reduce potential for my horses, perpetual seekers of disaster, to find disaster.
It is a chance I personally would never, ever take again.

[tazycat]

@Angela Freda

I don’t think it actually takes much.

And from what I looked at online, the pellets are made from the sawdust byproduct of many industries, so the wood sources/type would be variable and unreliably clean of potentially dangerous woods, per my research.
That barns haven’t had a problem does not necessarily mean there’s no danger, it may only mean that they may be incredibly lucky.

After spending agonizing, expensive days trying to figure out what was wrong with my horse Melly, if I had known there was NO chance he was poisoned, we would have had a huge thing we could cross of the list of potentials.
Not to mention saved me a boatload of money.
Alas the BO had cherries on property, so we could not eliminate that possibility.

I like to reduce potential for my horses, perpetual seekers of disaster, to find disaster.
It is a chance I personally would never, ever take again.

I don’t use the wood stove pellets was just saying i know people who do. I get my bedding in bulk wood shavings. My horses are out on cloudy days bugs are bareable those days. For most part mine live out 24/7 but not this year horse flies & deer flies are horrible. Three sided shed is no protection bugs just follow them in shed,they were running and racing around pasture to get away from bugs. We are surrounded by swamps that are full from lots of rain so far this year.

Angela Freda, your inbox is full i tried to PM you.

[Angela_Freda]

Tazy, like many others, since the new board my PM box is not clean-out-able.
There is always the lil green conversation bubble next to my name if there’s something to share that you can not post on the board.

[JB]

@Angela Freda you may be able to tag a moderator to empty your inbox, if you don’t need to save any of them.

[buck22]

I use peat moss and I’m extremely happy with it.

3 horses live out 24/7 with a large run in. All 3 go indoors to escape the elements/flies several times a day, and sometimes lay down for a snooze. Constant in/out traffic all day. All three are very good water drinkers and routinely make lakes. The newest addition to the herd prefers to potty indoors … sigh.

Peat moss is inexpensive where I am, about $16 for 3cu ft bale. 2 bales is a 6 month supply for me.

Run in is fully matted. I sweep the mats completely clean and if needed, let it dry a day. I spread both bales of peat moss down in the back corner of the run in, roughly a 12x8 area, appx 5" thick layer that I taper down at the edges.

Peat moss looks and smells like dirt and is exceedingly dusty if allowed to dry. After spreading, I thoroughly water – think 3 or 4 “passing rain shower” applications over the course of 2 hours or so. After fully wetted, I take clean, DRY, uneaten hay (I collect what is left over from the day previous and keep it for this purpose, and for covering compost piles to cut down on fly activity), and spread it over the top of the peat moss bed.

The peat moss is spongy and soft like a mattress. The hay on top knits together with hoof activity and creates a layer - rather like a quilt - that doesn’t shift, track or move much at all, and keeps dust to a minimum. The horses don’t bother with the hay as it’s something they already aren’t interested in. They can lay on it and not have their coats come in contact with the peat.

When they pee, the pee filters down through the hay layer and is absorbed by the peat. The hay layer dries quickly. The peat neutralizes any smell. The entire shed is clean and sanitary smelling and dry to the touch/hoof/coat.

The peat is so insanely absorbent, 3 horses can use the stall a couple times a day for weeks on end before there is any sign of wetness. When there is a sign of wetness, I peel back the hay layer, remove the wet spot with a shovel, and then rake in some fresh peat from the edges to refill the hole.

Then, the soiled peat is tossed directly onto a poor section of the paddock for a near-instant soil improvement.

I used sawdust for years, but battled dust almost daily, watched it get tracked around and create mud where none was previously and went through about 3 bales a week in removing wet spots. I tried straw, but one knucklehead decided to eat it. I tried pelleted bedding but that too became dusty from the in/out of mud caked hooves and also got tracked around.

I even tried shavings over peat, but the shavings got churned in and it became a dusty disaster. A layer of a long fibrous material like hay or straw knits. Just whatever you do, make a mattress with it and then leave it alone to do its job. Do not attempt to try to “muck” it daily with a rake or tend to it above occasional watering. Trying to treat peat like shavings or pellets will bring you to tears.

The ONLY drawback I have is that it’s a pain to pick manure piles from the hay layer, balls want to shift down below the hay, or the fork wants to drag the entire quilt up. This wasn’t much of an issue until the recent addition who likes to leave 4 or 5 piles for me every day.

But for pee, peat can’t be beat. I can’t imagine ever using anything else.

[tazycat]

@Angela Freda don’t have green icon showing by names. Not that I can’t post it here I choose not to. Not worth the trouble and grief I’ll get for posting it.

[SorrelGelding1]

@buck22

I use peat moss and I’m extremely happy with it.

3 horses live out 24/7 with a large run in. All 3 go indoors to escape the elements/flies several times a day, and sometimes lay down for a snooze. Constant in/out traffic all day. All three are very good water drinkers and routinely make lakes. The newest addition to the herd prefers to potty indoors … sigh.

Peat moss is inexpensive where I am, about $16 for 3cu ft bale. 2 bales is a 6 month supply for me.

Run in is fully matted. I sweep the mats completely clean and if needed, let it dry a day. I spread both bales of peat moss down in the back corner of the run in, roughly a 12x8 area, appx 5" thick layer that I taper down at the edges.

Peat moss looks and smells like dirt and is exceedingly dusty if allowed to dry. After spreading, I thoroughly water – think 3 or 4 “passing rain shower” applications over the course of 2 hours or so. After fully wetted, I take clean, DRY, uneaten hay (I collect what is left over from the day previous and keep it for this purpose, and for covering compost piles to cut down on fly activity), and spread it over the top of the peat moss bed.

The peat moss is spongy and soft like a mattress. The hay on top knits together with hoof activity and creates a layer - rather like a quilt - that doesn’t shift, track or move much at all, and keeps dust to a minimum. The horses don’t bother with the hay as it’s something they already aren’t interested in. They can lay on it and not have their coats come in contact with the peat.

When they pee, the pee filters down through the hay layer and is absorbed by the peat. The hay layer dries quickly. The peat neutralizes any smell. The entire shed is clean and sanitary smelling and dry to the touch/hoof/coat.

The peat is so insanely absorbent, 3 horses can use the stall a couple times a day for weeks on end before there is any sign of wetness. When there is a sign of wetness, I peel back the hay layer, remove the wet spot with a shovel, and then rake in some fresh peat from the edges to refill the hole.

Then, the soiled peat is tossed directly onto a poor section of the paddock for a near-instant soil improvement.

I used sawdust for years, but battled dust almost daily, watched it get tracked around and create mud where none was previously and went through about 3 bales a week in removing wet spots. I tried straw, but one knucklehead decided to eat it. I tried pelleted bedding but that too became dusty from the in/out of mud caked hooves and also got tracked around.

I even tried shavings over peat, but the shavings got churned in and it became a dusty disaster. A layer of a long fibrous material like hay or straw knits. Just whatever you do, make a mattress with it and then leave it alone to do its job. Do not attempt to try to “muck” it daily with a rake or tend to it above occasional watering. Trying to treat peat like shavings or pellets will bring you to tears.

The ONLY drawback I have is that it’s a pain to pick manure piles from the hay layer, balls want to shift down below the hay, or the fork wants to drag the entire quilt up. This wasn’t much of an issue until the recent addition who likes to leave 4 or 5 piles for me every day.

But for pee, peat can’t be beat. I can’t imagine ever using anything else.

Where do you buy your peat moss from?