PSU Horse Barns Web Project
Dr. Nancy Diehl, Instructor

HORSE STALL BEDDING

By Katie Sawyer

Stall bedding has many functions.

• It soaks up the urine and moisture from the manure.
• It cushions the horse’s feet and legs.
• It encourages the horse to lie down and rest.

Criteria for determining type of bedding material to use (from the Horse Industry Handbook):

• Availability
• Price
• Absorptive Capacity
• Ease of handling
• Ease of clean-up and disposal
• Non-irritability from dust or other allergenic components
• Texture and size
• Fertility value of the resulting manure
• Unpalatable to the horse

Bedding materials available (from the Horse Industry Handbook

and The Perfect Stall):

• Wood products (shavings, sawdust, chips) – softwood

products preferred; hardwood products (i.e. black walnut) may cause founder.

Pine shavings are desired because they are absorptive. Shavings and sawdust burn much slower than straw in the case of a barn fire and help keep odor down. Dust may be a problem. Wood –based pellets swell when moistened.

• Straw – preferred in foaling stalls because it usually does not have a lot of dust that will irritate the horse’s airways and eyes and larger particle sizes less likely to contaminate reproductive tract; very comfortable and absorbent; requires a lot of labor for cleaning stalls; difficult to dispose of unless in an area with mushroom farmers (mushroom farms use straw with horse manure to grow their mushrooms); highly combustible; forage mites.
• Dried corn stalks – cheap, may be chopped in a flail chopper; horses may eat.
• Ground corncobs – absorbent, cheap (cobs may be free but grinding will cost money.); horses may also eat.
• Chopped hay – horses will eat; forage mites.
• Peat moss – very absorbent, expensive, dusty, some use it for a foundered horse
• Shredded Newspaper – fairly new to the horse industry, more common in dairy operations; no pollen, little dust – usually from fine paper particles. (If stalls are picked daily, the left over bedding just needs to be fluffed.) Weekly cleaning of the stall may not be needed; absorbent; soft.
• Processed heat dry bedding – dusty, oily.
• Sand – great for founder; may cause sand colic.
• Equidry Bedding - made of red clay, looks like cat box filler; durable and absorbent; long term; dust free (any dust is from the barn, horse, etc.); comfortable; cool in summer, warm in winter; non-toxic.

Water Absorption Ability of Bedding Materials

(From the Horse Industry Handbook.)

MATERIAL	Lbs. Of water/100 lbs. Dry Matter
Wood Products
Hardwood Chips	150
Hardwood Sawdust	150
Hardwood Shavings	150
Pinewood Chips	300
Pinewood Sawdust	250
Pinewood Shavings	200
Straw
Barley	210
Oat, Long	280
Oat, Chopped	375
Wheat, Long	220
Wheat, Chopped	295
Other
Corn Stalks, Dried	250
Corn Cobs	210
Hay, Chopped	200
Peat Moss	1000
Shredded Newspaper	400

Common Problems Seen with Bedding:

• Amount used – many people use either too much or not enough.
• Not cleaned frequently enough – may become moist and odor
• Many types appear difficult for newborn foal to stand on.
• Hoof health – may be too drying; some feel they see problems with horses that have been out all night and brought in during the day. That quick change from a moist environment to the dry stall bedding sucks the moisture from the hoof, which can lead to poor hoof health.
• Respiratory problems – horses exposed to dusty bedding for long periods of time can develop respiratory problems such as heaves. A study done by C.A. Jackson et al showed that changing to less dusty bedding will improve lung function in a horse with heaves.

Does the horse really care?

Horses may not be as picky as humans when it comes to the type of bedding used. But in a study conducted by L. Hunter and K.A. Houpt, ponies were studied to see if they preferred bedding over a concrete floor and if they preferred straw over wood shavings. The results showed that the ponies preferred to have bedding. They differed on the type of bedding preferred. (See reference below for the complete results of the study.)

What does Penn State use?

Straw is the sole bedding material used at the Penn State Horse barns. The school’s mushroom farm uses the manure to grow mushrooms. They will only accept manure that has straw in it. Manure with any other bedding material in it will be turned away. Penn State also uses straw because of the breeding program. (See Figure A.)

Figure A - Penn State Horse Barns use straw as the bedding material for their stalls.

References:

• American Youth Horse Council. (1999). Horse Industry Handbook. p330.

• Hayes, Karen E.N., DVM, MS. (2004) The Perfect Stall. Ironhorse Publishing LLC
  Hayden Lake, ID
  
• Hunter, L. and Houpt, K.A. (1989). Bedding material preferences of ponies. J. Anim. Sci. 67:1986-1991.

• Jackson, C.A., Berney, C., Jefcoat, A.M., and Robinson, N.E. (2000). Environment and prednisone interactions in the treatment of recurrent airway obstruction (heaves). Equine vet. J. 32(5): 432-438.

• Woods, P.A., Robinson, N.E., Swanson, M.C., Reed, C.E., Broadstone, R.V., and Derksen, F.J., (1993). Airborne dust and aeroallergen concentration in a horse stable under two different management systems. Equine vet. J. 25 (3): 208-213.

The content of this web page was produced by students in our Advanced Horse Production and Management (AnSc 407, 2004) course at Penn State. This page is not a product of the Equine Science Team. As such, it is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. For recommendations specific to your farm or horse you should consult your equine veterinarian, local horse professional or County Extension Agent.

Where trade names appear, no discrimination is intended, and no endorsement by Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences is implied. Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension Work, Acts of Congress May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U. S. Department of Agriculture and the Pennsylvania Legislature. T. R. Alter, Director of Cooperative Extension, The Pennsylvania State University.

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