Are Wood Shavings A Good Bedding For Horses?

Wood shavings are considered a popular choice for horse bedding for a reason. The shavings specially produced for animal bedding are usually nice and soft. As well as being highly absorbent: an important quality for stall bedding.

What is the best type of bedding for horses?

Best Type Of Bedding For Your Horse

• Wood Shavings.
• Wood Pellets.
• Wood Chips.
• Sawdust.
• Straw.
• Rice Hulls.
• Stall Mats.
• Paper Shavings. Some people like to use paper shavings as bedding for their horses; they are dust-free and highly absorbent, so this could be a good choice for horses with allergies.

Which is better shavings or straw?

Absorbency- Shavings are much more absorbent than straw. Depending on your stable base, and how often your horse urinates, you should take into consideration how absorbant you need your bedding. It is important to maintain a straw bed free from manure, as ammonia can greatly affect the horse’s lungs.

What shavings are safe for horses?

They are cheap, safe, comfortable, and sufficiently fragranced to mask unwanted odours. Softwood wood shavings you can use for your horses include pine, Douglas fir, and spruce. You should avoid using wood shavings from tree species like black walnut, red maple, and cypress.

What is the best bedding for a messy horse?

Shavings are an absorbency bedding so are the best choice for deep littering systems, for laminitic horses who need a lot of soft support and for horses with respiratory problems as most shavings tend to be dust-free.

What is the cheapest bedding for horses?

Straw is one of the cheapest options available to use as horse bedding, however it does come with some drawbacks: Mould can form if it is harvested or stored improperly. Ingestion can cause impaction problems.

What should I blanket my horse with?

If your horse lives outside, then a turnout-style blanket is a must. Select one that will withstand the rigors of outdoor life, including running, bucking, rolling and playing with other horses. It should be water-resistant or, even better, waterproof.

Which wood shavings should be avoided in horses and what can they cause?

Black walnut shavings are a toxic bedding for horses. The innermost wood of the black walnut causes toxicity after oral or skin contact. Bedding containing as little as 20 percent fresh black walnut shavings made from old or new wood can cause toxicity.

How often should you change your horses shavings?

This could be a wood byproduct (sawdust, shavings, or chips), straw, hay, or paper. Manure plus bedding will have a volume of 2 to 3 cubic feet per day^(2,3,5). Soiled bedding should be removed from stalls daily and replaced with fresh bedding.

How many bags of shavings does a horse need?

Once the stall is converted to Guardian Horse Bedding, you should not have to add additional bedding for about two weeks. Thereafter, a typical horse will require one bag of bedding every 5-7 days.

What happens if a horse eats wood shavings?

But unfortunately, shavings aren’t digestible. Instead, eating them can cause intestinal obstruction and colic. Your veterinarian can help you plan the best diet for your horse or pony. But you may need to switch out shavings for rubber matting while the diet’s restricted.

What shavings cause laminitis in horses?

Laminitis occurs through exposure of horses to black walnut shavings used as bedding in stalls.

What is the best surface for horses?

Sawdust, shavings, and bedding are all better options for indoor horse areas rather than outdoor ones. The benefit of wood products designed as horse bedding is that you know they are safe for keeping horses on and work tremendously well to absorb moisture and neutralize urine odors.

How deep should shavings be in horse stall?

On average, customers apply 6 inches of shavings on the floor of the stalls to ensure a good level of comfort for the horse and an excellent absorption rate. However, if the stalls are equipped with rubber mats, less bedding thinkness is required.

Which is warmer straw or shavings?

There are different practical aspects to each bedding option. Straw bedding provides more warmth and comfort for the horse, especially in the winter months, but it falls short as far as an easy clean up is concerned.

What should be on the floor of a horse shelter?

Horse Stable Flooring Materials and Drainage

• Topsoil.
• Clay.
• Sand.
• Road Base Mix.
• Wood.
• Grid Mats.

How can you tell if a horse is cold?

Common signs of your horse being too cold are:

1. Shivering. Horses, like people, shiver when they’re cold.
2. A tucked tail can also indicate that a horse is trying to warm up. To confirm, spot-check her body temperature.
3. Direct touch is a good way to tell how cold a horse is.

Is it better for a horse blanket to be too big or too small?

A blanket that is too small can restrict movement, cause rubs and be generally uncomfortable for the horse. A blanket that is too loose can increase the risk of getting caught up in straps, allow rain and snow in around the neck area and not stay in place very well causing rubs and chafing.

Do horses need light at night?

So he doesn’t necessarily need it to be dark (sometimes horses get their best sleep stretched out in the middle of a pasture on a bright, warm sunny day!), but he does need to perceive the immediate area as not dangerous.

What are horses lacking when they eat wood?

Horses may chew on wood in their stable, fencing, or trees. Hay and pasture may vary in the content of fiber and it is shown that if horses are not getting enough fiber in your diet they may choose to chew wood.

What is highly toxic to horses?

Weeds: Onions/garlic, ground ivy, milkweed, bracken fern, cocklebur, horsetail, white snakeroot, St. Johns wort, star-of-Bethlehem, sorghum/sudangrass, yellow sweet clover, blue-green algae, bouncing bet, larkspur, mayapple, skunk cabbage. Trees: Black locust, oak (green acorns), horse chestnut, boxwood, holly.