It's all in
the details.
However, no two horses are alike, and using one horse bedding over another comes down to personal preferences. Nevertheless, Royal Wood Shavings put together a list of horse bedding properties you want—and those you don’t—to guide you in selecting the best horse bedding products for your needs.
Absorbency
Overall, horse bedding absorbency is important to ensure that horses remain dry. Unabsorbed ammonia from urine can accumulate in a stall and irritate horses’ eyes and respiratory tracts. Fine shavings and sawdust will produce a higher absorbency than medium or large wood shavings. The trade-off, however, is that they may have more dust. Also, kiln-dried wood shavings tend to be more absorbent and feature a lower moisture content.
Consistency
When looking for optimal horse bedding suppliers, it is important to evaluate how consistent the product quality and size are. If you prefer medium wood shavings, for example, you do not want to have some bags that mix different sizes of shavings, which will minimize the advantages of medium shavings (minimal dust, beautiful look).
Cushioning
Premium-quality wood shavings made of soft wood offer exceptional cushioning for horses. Typically, medium and large wood shavings will provide superior support for horses’ hooves and cushioning for their joints.
Ease of use
Horse bedding should be easy to use. Wood shavings are very easy to clean, store and transport. Finer wood shavings make it easier to sift manure from clean bedding than larger wood shavings. Horse pellets require additional training to learn how to properly muck out.
Appearance
Some horse owners prefer larger, fluffy wood shavings for their beauty, softness and airy-like appearance. However, above and beyond appearances, make sure that your horse bedding is consistent and high quality, meaning that it is made of first-transformation wood (no glue or varnish residues) and free from wood sticks or other debris.
Availability
Discerning horse owners understandably want quality and consistency from one bag to the next. However, product availability is even more important. The last thing you want is to choose horse bedding that is not readily available all year long in your area or is too costly to deliver.
Good packaging
Horse bedding must come in quality, heat-sealed packaging that is made of durable, waterproof plastic and is properly compressed. If not, the packaging might be ripped, jeopardizing the quality of your horse bedding. Make sure that your horse bedding supplier offers practical sizes for easy storage.
Excess moisture
Horse bedding with excess moisture can lead to the growth of mould spores, bacteria and other environmental pathogens that are harmful for horses.
Excess dust
Too much dust in horse bedding can irritate horses’ respiratory tracts and can be very detrimental to horses and workers with respiratory issues or allergies.
Irregular pieces and debris
Horse bedding should be screened for irregular pieces and debris, which can reduce comfort for horses as well as impact the product’s absorbency and visual appeal.
Poor packaging
Horse bedding should be sold in durable, water-resistant, heat-sealed plastic bags to maintain product quality during transportation and storage. Furthermore, poor compression and flimsy bags can mean that you pay more for horse bedding than what you actually get.
And one final caveat. When choosing the right horse bedding for your needs, it is also important to keep in mind the level of customer service your supplier offers. A lack of follow-ups on orders or being treated like a number is no way to have peace of mind and the confidence you’ll get the right horse bedding product on time.
Royal Wood Shavings pulls out all the stops so that you get the right horse bedding for your needs. We trade the marketing hype for honesty and transparency. Now isn’t that refreshing?
What makes us different