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  Discussion on Is bedding in stalls really necessary?
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Member:
purdue77

Posted on Sunday, Feb 7, 2010 - 11:02 pm:

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 we have their water trough in the barn. We have Stall Skins installed in the stalls,over dirt and the rest of the barn is dirt. We first tried the pine 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. 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.

Sandy
Member:
npo33901

Posted on Monday, Feb 8, 2010 - 4:27 am:

Hello Sandy - welcome to the great Club.

I have two horses and two stalls. BUT I am using only one stall ( concrete floor). With wood shavings . The door is open to the outside small paddock and covered area . They can go in and out as they please . If the weather is good, I rope off the entrance to the stall during the day . I have heap of pine needles outside and they go to do their business there - yes, horses don't like the splash on their legs .
Inside of the stalls, Some people put little shavings on the bottom an cover with straw - urine is absorbed in the savings .
I have no experience with rubber mats.

Water is kept in large buckets if they don't have excess to natural spring . You than have an idea how much they drink .

The other stall is closed - for emergency always clean .

And do you know about 'SLOW FEEDER ". ?

Enjoy the work and pleasures your horses give you .
Member:
ajudson1

Posted on Monday, Feb 8, 2010 - 7:30 am:

Hi Sandy,

Welcome!

I never use bedding and have 4, 12 x 1 4 stalls. 2 are left open most of the time. Right now they are shut because they spent too much time pooping in them, and it's a frozen mess.

If a horse needs to be kept locked in for an extended period of time, I do give extra hay so it can used as bedding. I refuse to buy anything just for bedding though, unless I have a foal due, or a very sick horse. Haven't had a foal in 16 years, never had a very sick horse, knock on wood.

If you provide bedding, they will use it for a toilet. Or with more than one horse, I swear they mark their territory in the stalls, my 2 mares especially seem to have to pee if the stalls are left open.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Feb 8, 2010 - 8:00 am:

Hello Sandy,
No bedding is fine but you may find controlling the urine smells difficult if the horses have free access to the stalls. Hydrated lime (different than agricultural lime) is the usual treatment but usually this is put down, the horses not allowed access to it till it has become thoroughly moistened and then covered with bedding. Hydrated lime is irritating if it gets on the skin or is inhaled. There are less caustic alternatives nowadays but am uncertain how they may work in a situation without bedding.
DrO
Member:
kpaint

Posted on Monday, Feb 8, 2010 - 8:09 am:

Welcome Sandy!

I am a "pleasure horse" owner and not in the horse industry, so my experience is from that perspective.

My horses' environment is like yours--they each have a 12 x 12 stall and can come and go as they please to a small drylot of the stalls.

I have tried the no bedding approach with little success. I have peagravel in the geldings' stalls. They will urinate in the stalls if the gravel is deep enough so the splash is minimal so I keep the gravel pretty shallow in there. The drylot is #12 stone (very small angular stone) and some areas are deeper so they tend to urinate there also. They are a hardier breed than my QH/Paint mare and will lie down anywhere and appear to be comfortable and do not scrape, rub, or cut themselves. If I use bedding, it is 1/2 bale of straw in each stall. They eat most of it overnight so there is little to clean up. I use the straw more in the rainy/snowy weather to soak up the moisture they drag in on their feet. They almost always poop outside. I think I've only cleaned up a half dozen piles in two years.

The mare's stall has been an ongoing process... She is much more thin skinned and sensitive. She has rubber mats over the the flooring and #12 stone--it's nice and flat. I tried no bedding and she scrapped the skin off in several places when she gets up and down. She will almost always poop and urinate in her stall even though she has many places in the dry lot where the splash is less and she is free to go to the drylot at any time. I like straw the best as it keeps the horses cleaner I think than other bedding. They lie down more on the straw than other bedding. It is more voluminous to dispose of but that's not a problem for me with my situation.

I second the notion that mare's go in the stall!

I clean the stalls daily and sometimes 2x a day in the warmer months. Fans are a must. I sweep the rubber mats and use fly spray to treat the floor also in the warmer months. The air movement in the barn is good so I do not have trouble with odor. I also have the $30 each automatic fly spray boxes on the back wall of each stall mounted 12' high--bought at TSC or Rural King. I use these in the warmer months.

I don't see a way around using bedding for some horses.
Member:
ajudson1

Posted on Monday, Feb 8, 2010 - 8:50 am:

I forgot to add what my flooring is: I have some nylon tight woven covering on top of pea gravel which is over deep sand. The covering is a paper mill salvage product that comes off of the huge paper machines. It will drain when new, but like any drainage material it gets clogged and unless I keep useing a pressure washer on it, it don't drain.

I don't lock my horses in except for cold wet windy weather, and I don't pay much attention to who lays down. I think the mares might lay down, the one makes her stall a total wet mess as she is very nervous and paces all night. The other one is neat and might lay down too.

Both geldings will try to hold it all night, pee wise, if locked in. I've found that leaving both of their doors open they prefer to share a stall, and use one to eat in, and the other for the bathroom if it's stormy outside!

So much depends on your situation, your ability to be there with the horses, and each horses "potty" habits. I swear my mares come into use the stalls for a toilet, and then the geldings follow suit!

I should set up a camera...I would love to know who is really the "most pooping horse" lol! Maybe it is one mare who does it all in the stalls when left open. She is the Queen after all.
Member:
kpaint

Posted on Monday, Feb 8, 2010 - 10:47 am:

Oh, and I forgot to add the fans and all the fly spray and protection is due to the Diva Mare's sensitivity to bites...she swells up like bubble wrap. Before she was here, the geldings rarely needed a fan. The flies just didn't seem to bother them as much. This is why I call her Diva mare. So perhaps yoru situation will not require fans in the warmer months?
Member:
dsibley

Posted on Monday, Feb 8, 2010 - 10:51 am:

I used finely ground limestone, which when compressed become pretty hard but still permeable. I put thick rubber mats over that, and use very fine pine shavings. There is a brand that I found that is extremely fine, no dust and absorbs very well. One mare is pretty nervous at night in her stall (I don't have runs off the stalls) and makes a wet mess of things. I just started using pine pellets for bedding. What a difference!
Member:
kpaint

Posted on Monday, Feb 8, 2010 - 10:54 am:

dieliz, how much of the pine pellets do you use for bedding and do you remove the wet stuff daily?
Member:
stek

Posted on Monday, Feb 8, 2010 - 11:12 am:

Sandy, I haven't used them but I believe stall skins are designed to be covered by bedding. You might contact the manufacturer to see if they can stand up to direct hoof contact.

I have done rubber matted stalls left open to the paddock with no bedding in the stalls and the horses preferred to pee outside. But the minute I'd put bedding in they would come inside to do it.
Member:
cgby1

Posted on Monday, Feb 8, 2010 - 3:58 pm:

Hi Sandy,
I have stall skins and they are tough! I leave them bare all summer or with the thin-skinned horse just a thin layer of shavings. However mine are laid over a 8" deep base of 3/4 inch rock, then landscape fabric and then a 2" layer of sand. I used a vibrating plate to flatten down the rock before adding the landscape fabric. The sand adds cush and you could add the lime or sweet PDZ to the sand before you lay the stall skins. I do use a thin layer of the pine pellets during the rain to soak up the extra moisture but I do not add water to them. My horses are also barefoot.

Cynthia
Member:
dsibley

Posted on Tuesday, Feb 9, 2010 - 7:45 am:

Vicki, I put three bags in the stall for the pig. I mean, the mare that will only urinate inside then she's a stall-walker. Her owner just bought her and she came to me with a bad case of thrush in one foot, so we need to try to keep her as dry as possible. She would totally trash the pine bedding every night, so I switched to the pine. Yesterday was the first morning that the princess had a dry bed. Yes, I pick up the wet stuff daily. In her case, it seems as though the pine absorbs better and doesn't transfer the moisture to the surrounding dry stuff.
In other stalls where they urinate in a predictable spot, I use about 1/4 bag. It seems to save on the other bedding and keep things a little dryer. I'd still have a puddle under the shavings in a couple of stalls and doing this seems to help a lot.
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