Stalling overnight without shavings?

[Weezer]

Life circumstances are such that it’s time to sell the farm. I’m looking for outdoor board for my three horses. I found a great place, but they would require my mini to be turned in at night with their mini. The stalls are fully matted, with just a tiny patch of shavings in the corner - not even enough to lie on. When I asked that the stall be fully bedded, they said yes, but the cost of board would increase significantly. I understand that around here, shavings are really expensive.

Does anyone stall horses overnight with just mats, but no shavings?

[endlessclimb]

No way would I do that, the risk of slipping is way too high.

They wouldn’t be willing to put even a shallow layer over the whole thing?

[sascha]

Nope. Not at all acceptable.

In similar situations (bedded but not sufficiently bedded) I have offered to buy my own bedding and tidy my own stall. That works out better, imo, than paying more board for more bedding. It puts you in control of your extra $$ spent and nobody gets irked that it takes longer to clean a properly bedded stall.

[S1969]

Ugh. Hard to say without knowing all the other options. I know some people who have even straight stalled horses overnight, and they were otherwise doing ok.

I’d rather the horses were just left out overnight - is that an option?

(I use minimal bedding but mainly because 20 years into farm ownership, I find my horses sleeping in their stalls (with Dutch doors to the outside) standing up. They can always go somewhere else, and when I see them lying down it’s outside. Granted, my stalls are not huge, and also because the doors are open, it might be that they prefer not to be lying down inside. But as I typically find them flopped outside in the grass or in the riding arena - I don’t bed heavily - it’s just a waste of bedding for me.)

[clanter]

if they are not fed hay on the ground can you use sand as bedding in the shelter? Fresh shavings have a tendency to blow away even in light breezes.

For the outside guys we have we have placed very decomposed bedding that they will sleep/stand on that is picked for poop.

[Weezer]

I want to stay away from sand because my mini has a history of sand colic and tends to rut around even when there’s no food on the ground.

[Weezer]

This place doesn’t have enough shelter for the mini to stay out, although the mini would prefer to be out. I’m considering asking if I could build a little shelter for the mini so she can stay out in a pen beside the big guys at night. That’s the way I do it at home. That would drop the monthly cost of board, and the shelter would be paid for within a year or so in board savings. There’s one other farm as an option, but I think I’d be doing something similar there.

My horses have free access to the barn and they tend to lie out flat in the deeply bedded stalls all year round. They are all old now and used to a certain standard, so I’ll have to keep the deep shavings going.

[Weezer]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. My instinct was also that no shavings is not a good idea. But it’s hard to tell when I’m being a princess, and what is a reasonable expectation. In some ways I am really looking forward to not doing all the horse care work, but in other ways, it’s hard to give up control.

[GraceLikeRain]

A facility comfortable letting a horse stand in their own waste overnight would be a red flag about other questionable standards of care. If it was the only option I’d ask about bringing in your own bagged shavings.

[trubandloki]

Before I decided this facility was horrible it is probably worth investigating why they think that amount of bedding is OK.

They might have a mini who is tidy and only uses that corner all night long to manure and urinate so that amount of bedding works out fine for them.

It is not something I could do with any of my horses, but I can see how it might work if you had a horse that was tidy.

(I am not saying this has to be OK with the OP. I am just rebutting the theory that they must be horrible horse people.)

[Simkie]

I boarded at a place that didn’t bed stalls for their own horses. Horses weren’t locked in, they did have runs off each stall. Stalls were matted. While it wasn’t something I would really be excited about, it did seem to work for them.

I totally get your hesitation and would feel the same. But nothing horrible happened for those dozen + horses in the few years I was at that barn.

[sascha]

@trubandloki

They might have a mini who is tidy and only uses that corner all night long to manure and urinate so that amount of bedding works out fine for them.

Is that not toilet paper instead of bedding? So the poo gets a nice place to land but the mini has to sleep on bare mats?

[Weezer]

You’re exactly right. They only have two other animals come in at night and when I was in the barn, I saw there was manure on the small patches of shavings in both stalls - so the system works for them. My mini really likes to lie flat out in shavings and I think a matted floor wouldn’t offer the same comfort. This facility looks great, animals seem happy and healthy, care seems exceptional. I think my mare would prefer to be out full time, so I’ll see if they’re open to me bringing in a little shelter for her to be able to stay out.

[trubandloki]

@sascha

@trubandloki

They might have a mini who is tidy and only uses that corner all night long to manure and urinate so that amount of bedding works out fine for them.

Is that not toilet paper instead of bedding? So the poo gets a nice place to land but the mini has to sleep on bare mats?

Yes, I suppose it does. If it wants to lay down at night.

I have two that have access to a bedded stall and a matted over hang and then a dirt paddock at night. Neither choose the stall to sleep in unless the weather is crazy. They seem to want to sleep on the bare mat outside or the dirt outside.

[Alterration]

There was a barn I boarded at years ago that put down a bare minimum of sawdust on mats, only enough to sop up the pee a little. That barn ALWAYS smelled of urine, the horses smelled like it, and I would leave the barn reeking of pee as though I’d been rolling around in the stalls. Now I only smell like that if I’ve been digging out my gelding latrines, and I haven’t washed my jeans in a couple of days (my barn-cleaning jeans aren’t always the laundry first priority).

Many horses will lay wherever, but it wouldn’t be my first preference of a barn. If the rest of the care was stellar and it was the “only thing” and my other options had any big no nos, then I’d board there. Just not my cup of tea in general though despite the mat manufacturers saying that you don’t need as much bedding.

[OTTBs]

I boarded at one barn that used hardly any shavings. The flies were insane in my gelding’s stall.

[SusanO]

The one mare that is a pig in the stall - unless it is in the 20’s (which it rarely is) she has her dutch door open to her pasture. She does not sleep in the stall so I keep the shavings to a minimum, thus discouraging her from peeing in the stall. She can step outside and pee. She will not step outside to poop so I give up on that. Sometimes in the summer when it is hot and the bugs are bad she just pees on the bare mats. EWWW! And mixes it up with her poop. It is incredibly nasty. Now sometimes she pees on her hay and that is nasty and wasteful. I cannot imagine locking a horse in the stall with no bedding. Unless somebody else gets to clean the stall. And then the mats get wet with urine and dry slowly.

[2DogsFarm]

My 3 have free access to stalls from pasture 24/7/365.
Our rollercoaster weather had yesterday in the ,mid-70s, dropping to teens overnight.
Forecast said thunderstorms (adding a Tornado Watch until 10P ), so I bedded stalls heavily, thinking horses would have a warm, dry place to sleep.
Nope.
Today was sunny, but cold with “feels like” temps in the teens & a good breeze.
All 3 - 23yo pony, 21yo horse & 9yo mini) spent last night out - a single pile of manure in one stall this morning.
When I did nightcheck at 9P, all came in from pasture for their bedtime treat.

There have been times when - through various circumstances - my stalls are in dire need of fresh bedding.
Picked down almost to the unmatted base
And I’ll find them wearing what’s left of the bedding in a way that shows they slept in those stalls.

What looks inviting to me, apparently doesn’t to them.
& Vice versa

[sascha]

@SusanO

Sometimes in the summer when it is hot and the bugs are bad she just pees on the bare mats. EWWW! And mixes it up with her poop. It is incredibly nasty. Now sometimes she pees on her hay and that is nasty and wasteful. I cannot imagine locking a horse in the stall with no bedding. Unless somebody else gets to clean the stall. And then the mats get wet with urine and dry slowly.

That is disgusting and entirely your fault, not the horse’s fault. Bed the damned stall already. How would you like to pee on a hard floor and then stand in it all day because it’s your only refuge from summer bugs?

[PaddockWood]

I read not long ago about a research study in Europe where they bedded horses deeply - 6 inches? And the horses slept more deeply and it’s really important they get that deep sleep time. So I’ve gone to really deep bedding and my horses are not stalled but come and go.

I find I hardly use any more bedding because you pull away to find the urine spots.

Just thinking out loud here for anyone interested.