Why good stable bedding is essential in winter

Now that the weather has turned much colder and most of us have some some snow, more and more horses are being brought into stables overnight. Like people, all horses are different, and some are happy and healthy outside most of the time, others feel the cold and are better cared for in stables.
Horses spending more time in stables and shelters need a comfortable environment, and the management of horse bedding is a key part of that.
Here are some tips we’ve picked up from our customers:

Keeping horses comfortable

Using sufficient bedding is important for your horse’s comfort when standing, lying down and moving around the stable. It also helps to reduce the likelihood of your horse slipping. Conditions like capped elbow can be caused when horses’ elbows aren’t sufficiently cushioned when they lie down and get up. This can lead to inflammation and swelling.

Minimise dust and dirt levels

Keeping dust levels as low as possible will reduce the risk of respiratory problems, so choosing dust-free bedding which is easy to maintain – i.e. to muck out and remove waste, makes things comfortable for horses and easier for their owners to manage.

Provide forage

Horses need adequate supplies of hay or haylage to satisfy their natural inclination to forage and you may wish to supplement that with specific feeds to help maintain your horse’s condition.

Because horses naturally tend to graze all day, they may have a tendency to eat their bedding if the alternatives available aren’t attractive to them! Horses eating too much bedding can suffer blockages in their digestive system, leading to severe colic. Heavenly Bedding is specially treated so that horses don’t want to eat it. That’s good for their digestion and also means that the bedding is left alone to do its job.

Pay attention to hooves and feet

Conditions such as laminitis can affect a lot of horses and there can be various reasons for this. Our farrier customers have found that using a deep bed with high-quality bedding, such as our Heavenly Blend, can help sufferers by providing better foot support to limit movement of the pedal bone, which reduces the pain.

Our equine bedding is suitable for horses, ponies and also donkeys. Our own group of 7 donkeys are now making use of their shelter – made comfortable with Heavenly Bedding, which they love!

Blog by Peter Sheppard 30/11/21