Horse bedding

The choice and use of the bedding is as important as the choice of a good saddle. Our horse bedding protects the horse, more than any other horse bedding.

Each horse owner has his own preferences: some people prefer a certain bedding because of the smell of the cedar sawdust, while others choose to use straw, and others prefer peat, which has a great absorption capacity although a fervent ecologist would not be very pleased by this choice.

The specialists from the Equine Research Center in Ontario, Canada, have carefully analyzed five different types of bedding. The most relevant characteristic subject to study was the absorption of humidity, as it has a fundamental role in preventing mold forming and ammonia binding which irritate the air passages, provoking serious air passages diseases. A good bedding is free of particles and contains very little or no dust, as this can cause problems for the air passages. It is also important that the bedding, mixed with manure, can easily be cleaned, considering, if the bedding is thick and heavy, it tends to stick, making the cleaning operations all the more difficult.

Paper has the best characteristic relating to humidity absorption, providing the best protection for horses against ammonia, which, besides having an unpleasant smell, is also a health risk. Paper bedding is also very advantageous in dealing with mold, but only if the bedding is always discarded with the manure. However, nobody associates breeding horses with paper bedding, as the capacity of paper to absorb water adds additional weight to the bedding.

As the weight of paper increases by 900% when wet, the changing of the bedding would turn into a very difficult task. In contrast with this type of bedding, the rest of them are lighter, although their humidity absorption capacity does not come close to that of paper. The weight of hemp fibers increases by 400%, that of peat by 300% and that of sawdust by 250%. This is the reason why the majority of people use sawdust as animal bedding.

If we only analyzed the issue of the mold, its presence and its quantity, nobody would choose straw any longer, because they represent the perfect environment for its development. The largest quantity of mold appears in hay or straw during the binding of bales. It extends further if the straw is stored in humid places. Inexperienced people think they can evaluate the humidity of bales according to their smell. This is completely useless, because, as far as straw is concerned, one thing is for sure: they contain mold spores.

Horses or cattle may eat their hay or straw bedding as if it were a dessert, but this shall not be considered a tragedy if the quantity that was consumed is not extremely large. However, this may become a problem if the animal systematically eats half of its bedding, because water consumption will consequently increase as well. Digestion problems may ensue, as horses also have their limits.

Bedding made of wood residues, combined with our state of the art technology, has the advantage of paper (in it absorption capacity), of sawdust (in its weight) and does not have the disadvantage of straw as mold does not develop in it. Finally, this product is free of dust and bacteria, and thus is the best animal bedding possible.

The packaging makes it easy to transport, as it comes in bags of 20 kg on pallets of 30 bags.