Housing and management of horses in Nordic and Baltic …



Housing and management of horses in Nordic and Baltic climate

NJF seminar nr. 437, 6.-7. June 2011, Iceland

18. Bedding choices for horses – an overview

Markku Saastamoinen

Agrifood Research Finland, Animal Production Research, Equines, Opistontie 10 a 1, FI32100 Ypäjä, Finland

Abstract

Choose of the bedding material is important especially in the Northern climate conditions, because

the horses are kept most part of the day and year indoors during their life. Especially, the effect of

the bedding material on the quality of the stable air is of great importance. Based on their

properties, it seems that peat and straw pellets are the most suitable beddings for horse stables. Also

pelleted newspaper seems to have a good potential as a bedding material.

Introduction

Stalls of the horses are bedded to absorb urine, moisture and gases and to increase the comfort,

health and wellbeing of the horses. Good bedding creates a layer of insulation between the horse

and cold floor, pads the hard surface, prevents bruised knees, elbows, hocks and hips, and keeps the

horse clean. It is also easy to handle and have good properties to be re-used e.g. in farming and

horticulture. There are also stall mats available, but they are usually used together with beddings

because of binding the urine. It has also been reported, that horses prefer bedding for lying down

(Hunter and Houpt, 1991).

Today there are several materials used for bedding of the boxes in horse stables. Factors to be

considered when selecting bedding are its availability, cost, cleanness (free from dust and foreign

material), its effect on stable air quality, and consequently, on the health of horses and people

working in the stables. An issue having an increasing importance is the influence of the manure on

environment, which means that the amount of manure is minimal and that it can be easily used as a

fertilizer or in soil improvement, or even source of energy. It is also important how easy the

bedding material can be handled in the stable, influenced e.g. by how it is packed.

Choose of the bedding material is important especially in the Northern climate conditions, which

forces us to keep the horses indoors during large part of the year. Especially, the quality of the

stable air is of great importance. Training and racing in cold conditions exposes vulnerable

respiratory system to health problems even more. Sever chronic respiratory disorders may occur,

when horses are kept indoors, and on the other hand, respiratory problems are rare, when horses are

outside all the year around (Derksen, 1991; Holcombe et al., 2001; Särkijärvi et al., 2004). The

decreased respiratory health results in poor athletic performance and some clinical signs, as chronic

couching and purulent nasal discharge. Causes of chronic airway disease and such symptoms

usually involve exposure to excessive concentrations of e.g. airborne dusts, moulds, bacteria and

endotoxins originating from beddings and feeds (e.g. Berndt et al., 2010). Also, the inhalation of

some gases of the stable air, such as ammonia may initiate the airway obstruction (Derksen, 1991).

The most common bedding materials in the Nordic countries are wood shavings, saw dust, straw

and peat. There are also many other materials, including processed (pelleted) wooden materials as

well as (pelleted, chopped) straw from different plants. In addition, shredded or cut paper and some

plant materials (by-products) are used – many of them are imported from other European countries.

Also woodchips are used as a bedding material. Each of them has their special properties, including

advantages and disadvantages, as well

Effect on stable air quality

According to several studies, the bedding material has considerable effect on stable dust, ammonia,

bacteria and endotoxin concentrations in the horse stalls (e.g. Woods et al., 1993; Tanner et al.,

1998a; Airaksinen et al., 2001; Särkijärvi et al., 2004; Fleming et al., 2008a and 2008b). Wooden

materials are reported to have inferior fluid and ammonia binding capacity compared to peat, but

those are considered to be less dusty (Särkijärvi et al., 2004). The ammonium levels in the boxes

where wood shavings were used were considerably higher (1,5-7 ppm) compared to those stalls

where peat was used. In the latter boxes, the ammonia concentrations were non-existent or very low

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