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Finding the right bedding for your horse is vitally important. With an ever-increasing choice of horse bedding for owners, it is difficult to decide which product is best.
Here is our guide to horse bedding options for you:
With its fluffy appearance, shavings are still a firm favourite as horse bedding. There are a variety of types available, from wood flakes to sawdust, all being characteristically absorbent. Prices do vary considerably.
Some shaving products are still by-products from the construction sector, and this means their supply is somewhat inconsistent as well as containing a lot of dust particles. You should also carefully check for any foreign objects before using as horse bedding.
More popular are products made from wood shavings – manufactured from sustainable wood sources and typically produced specifically for animal bedding usage. Uniform in size, weight and quality, this type of shaving product often contains fragrances, antibacterial agents and is vacuum-packed for easy storage and transport.
An excellent bedding choice, soft straw is unfortunately still subject to the inconsistencies of English weather. This means that whilst straw makes for an inviting, comfortable bed for horses, it is not particularly absorbent and is often of widely-varying quality from arable farmers.
Because straw also contains dust, horses with sensitivity to this can find it unsuitable. Straw is also not good for rapid mucking out, with long strand straw taking considerably longer to clear than other types. Wheat straw is a popular straw horse bedding choice, as it is not very palatable for most horses.
Chopped straw provides a more modern straw option. It is soft, warm and contains small fibres which do not knot together. It is also dust-free and usually provided in smaller bags for more convenient transportation to the stables. The supply of chopped straw is relatively consistent, the choices of products are good, and furthermore chopped straw can be coated with antibacterial material to kill odours and bacteria.
The lower price is a key factor in the rising popularity of wood pellets for horse bedding. Wood pellets are commonly used for cat litter, and whilst they may not look particularly inviting, they make an excellent bedding for horses too.
As wood pellets get damp and expand, it also requires a far less amount to complete the stable bedding, and is thus therefore a highly-economical product for horse owners. It decomposes rapidly, making it a good addition for farmland and gardens, as well as creating a smaller muckheap than other horse bedding products.
Super-absorbent and dust-free, hemp is a popular but expensive option. Made from the fibrous part of a hemp plant, it is produced in uniformly-sized shreds. One of the main drawbacks is hemp horse bedding can be difficult to source, as it is snapped up by owners of dust-sensitive horses.
Paper has been used for horse bedding for some time, and the popularity of finely-shredded cardboard is also increasing. Soft and very supportive, these products are very absorbent, and are usually produced from recycled materials.
The main negative point is the mess made around the stable from using paper and cardboard.
Initial set-up costs are higher with this choice of horse bedding, as it requires measuring and fitting before installation. The key factor here is the level of the stable floor – if it is irregular, then wet patches can form requiring more cleaning.
Rubber matting makes an excellent time investment, as with a flat stable floor, rubber matting should only need to be lifted and cleaned a few times every year, giving horse owners more free time to spend with their horses.
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We understand that no two horses are alike - which is why our horse insurance policy can be as individual as your horse.
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