[domsmith]

How should i bed out the stable for my 3 little shetland girls? i have been messing with shavings, but we seem to be getting through it at an alarming rate.
i could get straw if needed or what do other people do?

also one of them has a bit of the squits, she has very runny poo! is it the move and change of food, she was wormed just as she left her last home.

any views and ideas will be read with thanks 

dominic

[lachlanandmarcus]

I would either use straw if you can get it cheap and they dont stuff themselves to the point of getting colic, or wood pellets (which make a lovely foresty floor bed and are about the most economical bedding). Shavings are awful.....stick to everything.

[Small Farmer]

We use Mayo mats and a small amount of Rapport.  Makes mucking out a short job

[Rosemary]

I used rubber matting and a skim of Hemcore to soak up any wet when Smokey was in livery. It was great. Now they're out all the time so it's not an issue - if they're burning calories to keep warm, they aren't laying them down as fat 

[HelenVF]

I use easibed and just poo pick each day. Tend to put down anything from 2-4 bales a week and then do a big muck out every now and then.

Helen

[Small Farmer]

We used to keep the horses at livery where the straw was free - or at least included in the price.  Some owners, the ones with only one horse usually, did magnificent straw beds that would have won a groom prizes.  We, however bought mats and could generally muck out three horses in the time taken to produce the straw artwork.


Now we have the boys at home it's easy to skip out several times a day.  It takes a couple of minutes with either a deep litter bed or mats.  OHs big retired hunter is not a creature of habit when it comes to poo.  Anywhere and now is his motto, then he walks it around the stable, so skipping out frequently is a big time saver with him. 


As an aside last winter's much heap of horse poo and Rapport produced beautiful compost very quickly and with very good texture.  I doubt we could actually cope with straw.

[sabrina]

I use straw, one it is cheap £5 for a big round bale and the farmer takes away my muck heap once a year so I don't have to worry about what to do with it. He would not take shavings. 

[Sylvia]

Have you put your Shetlands on lush grass? If so that might account for the squits!

[domsmith]

Have you put your Shetlands on lush grass? If so that might account for the squits!

Its not what i would call lush grass, its long dead grass, but diet must be the problem.

dom

[jinglejoys]

As one who mucks out 25+ racehorses for a living I'd suggest sticking to shavings.You shouldn't be using that much...how do you muck out?Straw is very time consuming and I'd be worried about weight problems and as for wood pellets!!!!!!!!...well if they are the things my boss was given to try out,YuKK!!! They were like working on wet beach sand and the wet bits looked just as disgusting a brown colour as the "clean" bedding so it was difficult to see where it was and getting it off the floor was like getting wet sand off the sea shore!

[lachlanandmarcus]

An expert mucker outer might cope with shavings but I wouldnt put mine back on them even if they were given to me free- so I guess its horses for courses! I love not having shavings stuck to everything, having to sift the lumps to spread them, the nasty wet patches and them blowing everywhere!
Wood pellets wont look pristine and white-clean but the wet is quite obvious and they are such a nicer more natural forest floor type bed for the horse to lie on, rather than an anthropomorphic ' nice deep cosy' bed which is only needed for laminitics. My 17 hander when on shavings would get scrapes as he got up as the shavings just moved they were so light, they didnt give him any support.
I do agree that straw can be a pain too - mine would eat too much of it and I find it wet and messy and too big a muck heap. But muck heap is another reason for not using shavings, they take ages to rot down and rob nitrogen while they are doing it, so its a long time until they are suitable for spreading. Whereas wood pellets and hemp can be spread in weeks and make fabulous compost.

[Small Farmer]

!00% agree with that

[HelenVF]

Can't say I've ever noticed easibed looking like wet sand.  Being a total newby to owning a pony (nearly 2 years), I obviously haven't got a great deal of experience but she certainly appreciates the bedding that we use, and I appreciate the easyness of mucking her out.

Helen

[jinglejoys]

Why do you sift the lumps to spread them?!
I just take out the worst then wip round the edge about a fork width from the wall and work inwards throwing it up against the walls so any more lump roll down the bank to the bottom.Any wet patches on the way also get put in the barrow.Then I wip round the edge picking up the lumps on my fork,flatten the bank tops and smooth the bed...takes less than 10minutes.I agree that the wind can be a problem if you are working on a bed near the window but if its that bad close the window.
   My mules live out all year round so that solves the problem at home and if Spanish mules can do it I'm sure shetlands can

[lachlanandmarcus]

I dont have to do any throwing of anything against the wall - the poo is all in the mounds where it was done as is the wee patch as the bed is much more weighty and stable so it can just be removed and the top up hemp and pellets both just pour out of the sack :-))
Agree with you about Shetlands living out tho, cant see why that would be beneficial - altho I would make one exception -  in our area of NE Scotland it can be necessary for horses to come in part of every day to get off grass completely for part of the day due to the very high risk of grass sickness in our soil. Not sure if it is the same on the West Coast, my understanding was that the acute risk was mainly in NE Scotland. Even then a couple of hours in the morning would suffice.