Creating Stall Bedding For Your Horse

By Tisha Greer


There are few creatures on earth more beautiful than a horse. They have been a boon to man since the beginning of time. These magnificent creatures need to be cared for on a regular basis if they are to maintain good health. One of those needs is the installation of proper stall bedding for their safety and comfort.

Stable flooring should be kept as natural as possible to ensure the health and well being of the animal. A good deal of their time is spent with them standing and their stall should keep them warm and dry and prevent the cold or any dampness from seeping through and causing injury to the hooves. The same material should provide the owner with ease of clean up to keep this laborious chore as easy as possible.

One of the best choices you can make is any material that provides absorbency. This will reduce the odor from the animals urine and feces. When of good quality, this material will be required in smaller amounts than others making clean up quick and easy.

Sawdust has been used but has become one of the least favored elements. Horses will inhale this dust and leave them with respiratory problems. Wood chips or shavings are a much better choice. It provides the absorbency you need making clean up much easier to do.

Another option is the use of straw. Although it is not as popular as it once was, straw provides a soft bedding for your horse. The ability it has to decompose makes it an ideal product for composting. It is one of the most inexpensive of choices but if cost is a factor shredded cardboard and paper can also be used.

Large breeding farms with numerous horses will invest in rubber matting. It is a durable material that is placed over a flat surface inside the stall. The drainage system below allows for the ultimate ease in clean up and provides comfort and warmth. Some straw can be added when desired but very little of it is required. Advantages are plentiful and include warmth, safety, and cleanliness. There are no holes to fill and is much less work to maintain.

Breeding farms will have use of one or more foaling stalls. Some of the same options already mentioned will work nicely but the basis of the floor should be level and made up of a product that is environmentally sound. Limestone and clay would be two excellent choices. Special foaling mats can be purchased for this use but the ground below has to be completely flat to keep the mare and the foal from unintended injury.

Stall bedding has to be cleaned daily despite the one you choose to use for your horses. Small farms will not find cleaning out wood shavings or straw every day all that difficult. Yet, your large ones will often opt for bedding that is easier to and quicker to maintain like the rubber type. It can be hosed down and sanitizes in a very short period of time.




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