Now that I have a horse with COPD wood shavings in a stall seem kinda crazy

[Gayla]

Not just for my horse's stall but all stalls. I know straw is heavy and gross but what else is out there? Wood shavings have twice sent me to the doctor with a sinus infection after getting a load and moving it around. I now wear a mask if I have to fool around with a lot of shavings (my horse has lived outside since I have had her but now she is going to have to move her summer months indoors due to grass allergies. So shavings have not been part of our lives but will soon make a reappearance...or some other type of bedding) but years and years in a stall with wood shavings seems like a recipe for allergies. What are you using that is not wood shavings or straw. If you do use straw how do you like it?

[CarolinaGirl]

I'm pretty sure one of the larger barns around here uses shredded newspaper... which is probably ok as long as you don't have a grey or some other light colored horse lol. Not really sure where one would gets large amounts of this though.

[Gayla]

Palomino :lol::lol::lol:

[DebbieB]

Woody Pet is much less dusty than regular shavings. I let the urine dissolve the pellets in the stall and then just take out the wet/dissolved spots.

[aaussie_gal]

My COPD gelding does fine with wood shavings on top of stall mats. My friend just uses stall mats. Depending on where you live, paper pellets are available and I believe very good for COPD horses.

Have several friends whose horses' allergies became worse with Woody Pet.

They say that peat moss is good for COPD horses, but depending on the humidity where you live, you may need to keep it dampened down.

Straw can cause problems for COPD horses.

You can shred paper, light cardboard or newspaper for bedding. Several friends bring me shredding from their workplace (make sure no staples!).

My horse has been well-maintained for over ten years on wet hay ... his hay goes into an 18-gal rubber tub w/ rope handles (WalMart) and I fill it with water ... he picks the hay out as he wants it. Hay he doesn't eat immediately is still wet for a later munchie session. Water is dumped each time he gets new hay. The rope handles let you drag it out of the stall for dumping. Be sure to remove the scraps ... when they dry out, the trigger allergens can be inhaled again.

My gelding's allergies worsen with pollen, and he's on Ani-Hist at those times. AniHist is much more palatable than Tri-Hist ... I never could get enough of that into him to make a difference.

Hope you can figure something out that works for you and your horse.

Tarn in OK

[Vicki1061]

Have had great luck with Peat Moss - used it for horses with allergies. It's got some drawbacks - its not pretty, its pretty much dirt, which makes cleaning urine hard (It's hard to find the wet spots), And it's expensive. However it is a bedding that they are not allergic to - and I would take it over straw any day. We mixed it with a little shavings to help keep it cleaner. Good Luck!

[Lieslot]

I'm having to keep my COPD horse on Streufex. The dust particles are very heavy and don't stay airborne very long, unlike the dust from woodshavings.

[Dune]

RICE HULLS:yes:

[nextyear]

Not sure of the name but they make pelleted straw that comes in 50lb. bags,when you wet it down it breaks apart and makes for nice soft bedding that is easy to clean.

[Buffyblue]

I've heard the pelleted straw is good, but very expensive. Regular straw is a definite no-no, and Woody Pet gets extremely dusty as it breaks down! Regular shavings over rubber mats sounds like the best solution to me.

[TBMaggie]

I use wood shavings in my alergy-prone horse's stall ---I water the shavings down slightly with a watering can. It's just enough moisture to keep whatever dust there is, down.

The above, along with wetting down hay, not sweeping the aisle when he's in his stall, and making sure he's got lots of fresh air/ventillation have kept him pretty healthy.

[RegentLion]

We have access to "sawdust" from a hardwood sawmill. So we end up with hardwood maple "shavings" that are sized somewhere between actual shavings and sawdust. It isn't really fine but is easy to pick through and it can be free or cheap in bulk.

The thing about it that may work in your situation is that since it is NOT kiln dried (green) it is also not dusty until it has been in the stall untouched for a long time. It is really not a bit dusty. The downside is that it isn't also as absorbant as a "dried" bedding so you may have to do more taking out of wet and adding of new than you're used to, but if you're over rubber mats it shouldn't be a problem.

I do about a wheelbarrow load of shavings per stall and that is enough over mats. I also use it to deep bed and those stalls can get a little dusty as the turnover of shavings is not as quick as the shallow-bedded stalls.

I think the only thing you must be careful about is the species of tree the shavings are from.

[Leather]

There's a bedding made from dried corn cobs, but it's only in limited areas:

http://www.bestcob.com/HorseBedding.html