Two gross geldings. Advice needed

[Bays4days]

I have two piglets in my barn and I’ve just about had it with them. I need advice on how to make their stalls neater

Gelding A: 16.2, 7 years old. I have to strip this dummy’s stall daily. It doesn’t matter how much or how little I bed it (with sawdust). He has a little hole slow feeder net , and salt block.

*he doesn’t have ulcers and I’m pretty sure it’s nothing physical
*ive done likits but he devours it within hours.

• in the summer he is on night turnout, so his stall is about 25% better

Gelding B: 3 years old 15.1. His stall is fairly neat, but every morning he is SATURATED in pee. It is so so so gross. If it weren’t cold, I’d be hosing him daily. That’s how bad it is. I have tried tripling the amount of bedding in his pee bed. Doesn’t work.

Any ideas ? Or am I stuck with this forever?
Note: I’ve tried fine and flake shavings with no luck

[Demerara_Stables]

I’d run bloodwork on the one that pees a lot. If that’s normal, I’d take him off mats. I hate mats because the shavings have to absorb all of the urine. I’m not sure if they are at your home or what your budget is, but ideally digging down to start with base rock, then mud grids filled with pea gravel, then coarse sand compacted as much as you can, then shavings has worked great for me for years. The sand does get mixed into the shavings in the beginning and you have to be relentless about keeping the shavings level and every other day raking them back to the level the sand, but over time the sand gets wet/compacted and drains beautifully.

For the older horse, can you add a paddock to his stall? If so, he might learn to go outside. If it isn’t pouring, I feed hay outside because if it’s inside then they want to just stand there and poop while they eat. I’ve successfully potty trained a few this way (they’ll leave their stalls to poop and pee outside).

Of course what you can do all depends on where they live and your budget.

[punchy]

You don’t say if you pick stalls, but picking stalls as often as you can will keep stalls and horses cleaner. I know that sounds obvious, but I’m often surprised by people who clean a stall just once a day. Of course it will be trashed 24 hours later.

Young horses tend to lie down more and not care what they lie in, so your 3-year-old may grow out of sleeping in his pee spot.

I’m not sure why you mention ulcers, are you thinking there is a correlation between being messy and having ulcers? And messy how— Is the horse wrecking his stall by kicking, chewing, stall walking, or just pooping and peeing like horses do? I agree with @Demerara_Stables that you could investigate the young one if he’s peeing an inordinate amount. But otherwise I guess I’m not sure what your question is?

[4horses]

I have stalls and don’t use them. I used electric fencing to make a track system and that is so much better then cleaning stalls everyday. But it doesn’t help with the pee issue, as I have one particular mare who always has pee on her legs or her tail. Always.

I have worked for people that stall every night and their geldings always had pee stains on their belly. Unless you can get 12 by 24 ft stalls, there’s not much you can do to reduce the issue. The stallion and broodmare sized stalls always kept the horses cleaner.

[4horses]

Maybe remove the mats and put down stall skins?

[luvmyhackney]

The first gelding would be on 24/7 turnout.

The second one try pellets in the pee areas. I bed very deep compared to boarding barns and pick 2-3 times a day if in. I’ve never had a pee issue.

[Bays4days]

In the winter my horses are out 7:30-5.
In the summer they are out for 14 hours per day. So when they’re out, the barn is cleaned and prepped for the next feeding.

The baby does not pee an unusual amount; he’s just very good at laying in it.

The other guy just pummels everything to smithereens. I mention ulcers and physical problems because sometimes a change in how they keep their stall can be indicative of a health problem.

I have concrete under my mats. And cannot make a run of the stalls.

The question is….is there a magical bedding formula that could help me out

[Bays4days]

What’s a stall skin?

[Bays4days]

lol I’d love to have him outside all the time but it’s so colddddd

[luvmyhackney]

They do fine in the cold with proper attire and a shed that they rarely use.

Having a stall is a privilege and he doesn’t sound happy in it churning it up, constantly circling.

[Simkie]

Can you give either of these guys a run out, or keep them outside in more space?

Some horses just aren’t great in a stall.

For example, I have a gelding who parties overnight in a box stall. You’re stripping it, or sifting every single scoop of bedding for the teeny pieces of poop he’s worked hard to shred. But give him a run? He doesn’t poop in his stall at all, and won’t even walk through his piles outside. He’ll pee a few times in the middle of the stall. He’s super, if you just give him some space.

[widge]

Here’s an anecdote. My gelding used to pee SO MUCH. Like way more than normal? He also used to chow down on a salt block like it was hay. He’d go through a Himalayan pink salt thing on a rope in a week. So we talked with vet (didn’t actually run any tests) and then switched him to measured loose salt in his grain. Salt consumption went down, water consumption went down to normal, and pee levels went to normal. Guess he just has a salt tooth (me too! I love salt!). Could that have anything to do with your peepee horse?

[4horses]

I believe stall skins are now called stall savers. They are a drainage mesh so the urine drains underneath your stall so good drainage is important for them to work well.

[Pehsness]

Pellets. My gelding pees more then any animal I have ever met (no illness) and I swear he chooses the stall to do it, despite it being an in and out.

I have to use mats, otherwise the damp from the ground ruins bedding prematurely. So now I spread 4-6 bags of pellets and top with shavings. That gets us through 2-4 weeks with just daily cleaning and refreshing the shavings.

Pellets are a god send.

[mmeqcenter]

With the inability to change your stall floors, your only real options are to either turn out 24/7, or bed like eight inches deep, pelleted bedding topped with shavings, and deal with the extra cleaning time.

[Paint_Party]

@Bays4days

I have concrete under my mats.

I wonder if this could be part of the problem. The urine is eventually going to seep between the sections of your mats and if it’s hitting concrete it has nowhere to go. It can’t soak into the earth so it’s essentially being wicked up into the bedding. (At least that’s my theory).

You can try pulling up the mats and spreading lots of kitty litter underneath, being sure to get your mats level again. Then use several bags of the wood pellets on top of the mats, thickest in the preferred pee spot. I like to open the bags of pellets and sprinkle them with the hose until they’re damp. I think it makes them more readily absorbent. Then put your shavings on top of that.

Of course, the best solution is to leave the pee head outside much longer. Get a good turnout rug and he’ll be fine unless it’s storming.

As an afterthought… There is a Paint gelding in the show barn who perpetually lies down in pee. He’s handwashed clean with a rag and some Green Spot Remover, followed by Show Sheen. It helps simplify the grooming.

[Bays4days]

Hmmm he goes through his salt lick very slowly. If I added salt to his diet wouldn’t he pee more?

[Bays4days]

There’s no evidence of circling and he’s very content…but If he’s “unhappy” he will have to deal. If he’s goes out alone by himself he will scream and run

[sascha]

How deep do you bed?

[FjordBCRF]

@widge

Could that have anything to do with your peepee horse?

I had a good chuckle at “peepee horse”

I don’t have any tricks OP, my guy is one of the tidiest horses in the barn.