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Discussion on No bedding in shelter?
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Member:
paardex
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Posted on Friday, Aug 3, 2007 - 4:37 am:
Hi All,
Could I have your opinion on the following: My horses have walk in stables with a floor of concrete[its made uneven so it does not glide much]. Normally I bed thickly with good quality straw of which they eat when they feel like it.
During summer they use the boxes as shelter against the flies.
I noticed lots of 'flyshelters' with friends without any bedding at all. They explained to me that the horses pee outside if there is only concrete and so less odour and less flies in the stables.
They told me to leave the boxes empty or with just a little bit of hay or straw in a corner to eat during fly season to keep them 'flyless' as possible.
What do you think about this? I've never put horses in a stable without a thick bedding for fear they would glide and hurt themselves going in or out but they know one another very well and are all calm and friendly together[sometimes I find three in one box instead of taking each a box]
Thanks in advance for the advice.
Jos
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Friday, Aug 3, 2007 - 11:58 am:
Jos,
I never use bedding. Granted, it's not concrete floors I deal with. Concrete is hard on them I think..just standing on it. I would suggest rubber mats. I worked in a factory many years ago and standing on a rubber mat made a world of difference vs standing on concrete.
If you can get some old big conveyor belts that would work and be cheaper than buying stall mats. I use the belts on the aisle so the horses don't slip going across it, which 2 of them do to get to their stalls.
My 4 horses stand in one stall though 2 are open for them 24/7. It's a 14 x 14 stall and other than some scrapes they are fine with the arrangement.
If you spend money for mats and don't buy the straw maybe you would come out the same at the end of the year?
My mares both pee in the stalls, the geldings will go outside to pee. And I agree they will be more apt to pee if there is some hay in the stall vs nothing.
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Member:
leslie1
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Posted on Friday, Aug 3, 2007 - 3:42 pm:
I know from working at a place with concrete floors that after about 1 hour of standing on them my legs hurt soooo bad.
I agree with angie that mats are the way to go. If they pee it will still create the "back splash" effect of the concrete, and that might make them want to pee outside.
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Member:
juliem
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Posted on Friday, Aug 3, 2007 - 6:42 pm:
Jos, I have stalls with rubber mats. I only put bedding in there if they are confined inside. The geldings never pee inside without bedding and the mares only do it once or twice before they find a soft spot outside (I provide some sand outside). They of course don't lie down without bedding, but they usually nap outside anyway unless confined, in which case they have bedding. They are fed on the mats which I sweep first. No pooping and no peeing inside. Keeps the flies way down and the whole barn much nicer. The mats have a smooth surface and I suppose if it was wet it could be slippery, but they haven't had a problem yet. If your horses have shoes and the cement is smooth and not textured, I'd be a bit worried about sliding.
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Member:
maggienm
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Posted on Friday, Aug 3, 2007 - 8:19 pm:
We built a barn in the corner of the corral, so of course it has the same floor as the corral.
Someone really gave me @?#$% because I didn't have straw in their stall for them to lay on. They are free to come and go in the stalls, if they lay down in the stall it is the same as if they lay down in the corral, which they do, her concern was it wasn't nice of me.
Concrete would be different tho, laying on cement could cause abrasions and as said it is hard on the legs.
I didn't consider the pee angle, maybe thats why some horses wait until the hay is fed so they can pee on it and avoid splash?
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Member:
suzym
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Posted on Friday, Aug 3, 2007 - 8:31 pm:
I agree that concrete is way too hard and abrasive to use alone. As others suggested, rubber mats would probably be the best bet.
I have rubber mats in my stalls, and they are wonderful! I do still use bedding - shavings - but not nearly as much as I used to before we installed the mats. Neither of my horses is confined to the stall, but my mare prefers to lie down on shavings rather than outside. So does my gelding if it's buggy or wet.
They DO pee inside sometimes, especially the mare, but they don't put EVERY one inside! 
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Member:
leilani
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Posted on Saturday, Aug 4, 2007 - 1:24 am:
Great thread. I have a run-in shed that comfortably holds 4 horses. It has a cinder floor with access to a water trough right outside.
The 2 geldings and my younger mare have no problem sharing the shed. If my older mare shows up they need to leave .
Tonight we got at least 2 inches of water and the only one in the shed was the young gelding. The other 3 were huddled under an 'Ohia tree. Horses...
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Member:
paardex
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Posted on Saturday, Aug 4, 2007 - 2:58 am:
Thanks All, your advice supported my idea concrete alone is much to hard to stand on comfortably.
As over here the straw is really inexpensive[10 euro for 300kg] I think I will go on bedding deeply and cleaning each day.
I suppose it is not much more work then cleaning rubber mats who are [very] expensive over here.
Anyway I am overweight like my horses so cleaning the stables is good for me!
Jos
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Member:
imogen
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Posted on Saturday, Aug 4, 2007 - 4:33 pm:
A friend of mine who has rubber mats in her stables recently stopped using anything but nominal bedding (this is for horses that are in 16-20 hours a day). She says it is working out fine. She had to stop using shavings because it became difficult to dispose of them, but she says the horses don't appear to mind at all.
I would personally be concerned about one of her horses who is a very dirty and clumsy animal - plenty of poo and an ability to injure/abrade himself on anything.
I'll stick with straw but I think if you have horses that are happy with it, work away...
Imogen
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New Member:
purdue77
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Posted on Sunday, Feb 7, 2010 - 1:07 am:
We are relative newcomers to keeping horses, so we have tried several different methods to keep the flies and odor down in the stalls (we have two 12x12 stalls and two horses). The horses are free to come and go as they wish, and in the barn we have the water trough. We have Stall Skins installed in the stalls, and the rest of the barn is dirt with rubber mats in the main part of the barn (they don't cover it all since we just have four). We first tried the pellets, didn't like them, then tried wood shavings (sawdust), and now we are using lots of straw. It is terrible! They poop and pee more in their stalls than anywhere else, and it is really difficult to clean the stalls once a week, let alone once a day. What do you think of just getting rid of all of the bedding and just keeping the stalls really clean every day? The horses are barefoot, my concern is that they would destroy the Stall Skins if there was no bedding on top of them. I am not happy with the current situation. Thanks for any advice.
After reading my post, I wonder if we could maybe place one or two rubber mats in each stall, just for comfort.
Sandy
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Sunday, Feb 7, 2010 - 8:17 am:
Hello Sandy,
I believe we can help you with your question but let me get you started off right.
You will get more responses if you start your own discussion rather than post at the bottom on another member's discussion. Each discussion is "owned" by the original poster and all replies in that discussion should either directly or indirectly address the concerns of the original poster.
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