How should I do this?

Question

At the barn where I ride, there are people who muck out the stalls every week. I don't think this is enough and my horse's stall gates pretty dirty after 3 or 4 days. I clean parts of my horse's stall, but here isn't any fresh bedding available except for those days that the stalls get cleaned. They do provide hay for any use, so I have been using that as bedding. Is there something else I should use, or is the hay alright?

Answer 1

You should suggest to the barn manager that the stalls NEED to be cleaned out daily instead being mucked out 1 a week. If nothing happens with the cleaning issue then you could always just do it yourself. And make sure you say to the manager that the horses could get thrush, which would lead to more problems! 5 minutes picking a stall is better than hours of mucking!

Answer 2

Hay is fine as a bedding, but at twice the price of Straw it is a waste.

Shavings are in my opinion best, but irrigardless of the bedding type, those horses need to be mucked out EVERY DAY!!!

If you are paying this barn for livery with a stall they should be ensuring there is ample bedding for all to use.

Even if you are mucking out every day you only need to replace some bedding every other day or so if you are careful.

Good luck!

Answer 3

You should be appreciative that you even have people that clean your stall.

Buy your own shavings and clean the stall yourself. Never use hay for that. It's really expensive now!

Answer 4

hopefully you mean straw. hay is what they eat and at $5 a bale (where i live) i wouldnt be using it as bedding.  bag of shavings is cheaper, and better for them. i only use straw if my mare is about to foal. the dust from shavings will irritate a new born really your supposed to pick through there stall at least every other day. it makes it easier at the end of the week to strip it.

Answer 5

I would try to use whatever bedding they are currently using..maybe you could get in on volume pricing if you purchase from the owner or the owner's dealer.  The reason for using what they use may or may not matter...We take our manure to a composting farm and what is used as bedding is an issue (our horses have a run-in so we don't use bedding, but I know they won't take certain types of shavings that don't compost well).  The other issue is whether they even have enough space to store additional bedding material??  You might have to keep it at your home and transport it.

It is the subject of controversy as to whether hay can be used as bedding.  Many people (including myself) feed hay free choice 24/7 .  Some of it ends up functioning as bedding, especially if it's a late cutting and is stalkier like straw (the horses let us know they don't like it by defecating on it).  I've never had a horse colic or get sick from the hay they kick around, lie on, etc., but we clean up any manure or wet hay every day, sometimes twice a day.  Both ends of the run-in are covered in hay half of the time. But with shortages, it is wasteful to deliberately use it that way. I'd talk to the stable owner to try to find a compromise. He may object to having an increased amount of bedding to dispose of.

Answer 6

It is okay to use hay as a "last resort" bedding. Shavings are probably the best, but it's debatable. I have used hay as bedding. It doesn't cause any problems, but it can be seen as a waste of good hay. You could go out and buy some bedding, if you really wanted to.

Answer 7

we had that problem once, where they wouldnt let us have more shavings then they put in once a week.

our solution: bought 1-2 bales of shavings and put em in ourselves once a week as well.

the barn we were at they cleaned the stalls everyother day tho. and i'd pick out the stall after riding.

Answer 8

hay is fine.. i do that sometime since woodchips are getting expensive.. at first my horse eats a little of it ( i got scared the she would bloat or hurt her self ) but they don't eat it all. which surprised me..so hay/straw works great... thats a bummer that your stall gets so messy... im glad that you clean some of it yourself.. i wish i could be more helpful but all i can say is that hay works great... so good luck to you

EDIT-- i read the answer above me.. and you don't want to waste good hay... so heres what i do.. i sweep up around my horses stall and around the barn.. theres always a little hay everywhere.. so i sweep that up to my horses stall and through it in.

Answer 9

hay is not a good bedding. It has no absorbency whatsoever. Also, horses will eat it, if its nasty enough that they don't want to eat it, its probably not safe to have near them. Not to mention, its expensive.

Shavings are nice, but expensive. If you're going to spend the money, I would recommend that you try a pelletized bedding, such as Woody Pet. There are many different brands ( I love McCrumb) to choose from, but they are all basically the same.

Get 6 bags or so, toss them in your stall, add a little water if you want (I don't). Add a new bag once a week or so.

I hope your horse doesn't spend a lot of time in that stall - cleaning once a week is not enough! All that wetness and ammonia is very bad for their health.

Answer 10

U should pick ur horses stall every day. at the barn i ride at, ( its more of a private barn. they dont advertise or anything.) they pick the stalls every day and strip the stalls every 30 days. straw is ok to use but some horses eat it and it could make them sick. u should never ever use hay for bedding!!!! horses might eat it and colic and hay is way to expensive to be wasting. if u pick the stalls every day that will keep the stall cleaner until its time to strip it. wood shavings is the best bedding to use. if u pick the stalls every day and strip them every 30 days u will not have to use as much bedding. go and buy some wood shavings. so when u strip the stall after 30 days u can use ur own stuff. about 2-3 bags should take care of it. if u pick every day and shake the shavings out before u dump the pile in the wheel barrow u will still have a lot of shavings in there.

Answer 11

I really think you should talk to your barn baout this... at my barn we clean our stalls everyday. Explain to them that horses get worms from living in that condition and they can get thrush too. Make SURE they know that, that's terrible living and beleive me im not blaming it on you i know you're trying to do the right thing. In the mean time i wouldn't use hay because you're horse will try eating it try to buy bags of bedding. Best wishes! i hope all goes well!