When you’re deciding what type of bedding to use for your horses, the most important factor is how your horse’s health will be affected. There are several different types of bedding for horse stalls, but let’s focus on straw bedding. Is it the healthiest material for your horse? Well, it depends on the individual horse you’re using it for.
Straw is the most traditional bedding material, but traditional doesn’t always mean it’s the best. Of course, you need to take cost, labor, and other factors into consideration, but what does the science say? Straw can be practically dust-free, but straw can actually cause allergic reactions in horses. For horses that have respiratory problems, straw can exacerbate those issues.
The other issue with straw is that the horse thinks it’s edible. Horses that aren’t so picky in their diet could end up eating a significant amount of straw. This can end up causing dental and gastrointestinal issues.
Finally, straw isn’t an absorbable material. This is an issue for you, as the horse’s owner. They’ll be spending a good amount of time on the bedding you choose, and you’ll want to have an easy clean-up. Straw does not provide that.
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