Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Extremly absorbent, Dust free, Easy to mange, Reduces waste |
| Disadvantages: |
takes some getting use to, does not look as clean as woodchips . |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
I am sure that every horse owner knows that the main problem they have to tackle is getting rid of their horse manure. This is always a problem and is normally expensive and time consuming.
I first heard about this horse bedding at a horse show in Hickstead. It was the usual story, the new horse bedding to save time, money and waste. I was not sure whether to believe this or not as all the new types of bedding pose these qualities.
I had recently tried many different types of bedding including straw, woodchips, and flax however I was unable to find one that actually reduced waste and was still nice for the
horse to sleep on.
So I had stuck to woodchips which has a lot of waste and was quite expensive as I was putting a bale in every 2-3 days. As you can imagine, my horse is very messy!
About two months ago I decided to try Aquamax to see if it really did what it said. The initial bed was quite expensive as I needed about 15 bags to make a nice thick bed. This may vary depending on whether you have rubber matting or not. The same company makes Aquamats so I am sure they would advise that you have matting underneath although it is not really needed.
Each bag is about the size of a feed bag. This makes them much easier to move and store than bales of straw or woodchips. You can also store them outside as the bags are waterproof.
The bedding comes in a pelleted form which gives it the absorbency. When you make the initial bed, you have to tip out the bags into the stable and spray the pellets with the hose pipe. Although this may seem like a strange idea, the bed is so absorbent you can spray it for a couple of minutes and it will be dry 10 minutes later. This then creates a nice soft bed for the horse. Beware, this can take some time to get it right, I found myself spraying the bed again and again until it the pellets had reduced into a soft fine woodchip. There are detailed instructions on how much water to put on the bed. As long as you follow them carefully you will be fine.
Once the bed was done, it looked like a very fine bed of woodchips. It is advisable to leave some pellets for additional absorbency. Although the bed is very fine, it is not dusty. My horse is very sensitive to dust and I did not see her coughing at all.
The bed is definitely much easier to muck out as it is much drier. The only problem I found with this is it dries the droppings and they tend to fall apart when mucking out. There is also less wet and therefore a lot less waste. The only waste that I have taken out are the droppings and the very wet part of the bed. The mucking out takes some getting used to as you have to mix in bedding that is not very wet and allow it to dry.
The company suggests that you will only need to use 1-2 bags per week. I have found that I need to use one bag every three days to keep the bed manageable. I have also found that the bed dries very quickly with the warmer weather. If you leave the stable door open while your horse is out, it will dry and be much easier to manage and last much longer.
Overall I would recommend using this bedding if you need to reduce waste. I do not think that it is any cheaper than woodchips and it certainly does not look as nice. The Aquamax bedding does lose it colour very quickly and it may look dirty. However it is dry to touch and easy to work with. This product is biodegradable and it does not smell in the stable even though it absorbs more moisture than most bedding.
If you like your horse to be on woodchips where you can put a bale in and it looks like a new bed, this probably is not the right bedding. However if you want to save on waste, it is worth considering.
