Horse Care > by Price

Advantages: Extremly absorbent, Dust free, Easy to mange, Reduces waste
Disadvantages: takes some getting use to, does not look as clean as woodchips.

...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 ...
...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 ... Read review

Advantages: rapid soaking-ready in 10 mins! low sugar, high fibre!
Disadvantages: none that i have found so far

Since one of my horses cam down with laminitis this summer i have had to re-think there feeding. Before i had always used the traditional beet pulps that were molassed and required soaking for 24 hours before it can be fed to horses, but since this is a molassed feed it isnt suitable for my laminatic horse. Speedibeet is an unmolassed beet pulp which is 95% sugar free and is ready in 10 minutes if soaked with cold water or 5 minutes if soaked in ...
...suitable for horses or ponies prone to laminitis. The product is presented as flakes of beet pulp unlike the pellets that are the traditional beet pulp, you soak them in a ration of 1:5 ie if you use 250 grams of speedibeet flakes you need to add 1.25 litres of water, which means they need more water added than pellets which require soak as a ratio of 1:3. I was a bit unsure how my fussy eating pony would take to it as he loves his mollassed beet ... Read review

Advantages: Results
Disadvantages: Not cheap

...a really good product. Blue chip is a feed balancer (unsurprisingly, given the name!), that you feed alongside your horse or pony's usual feed ration. It is full of all the viatmins and minerals that they need for optimum health. It also offers a yeast culture that supports the action of the hind gut and so should help digestion. It comes in a small pellet form and is really palatable to the horse. I have never known any horse to refuse it. It ...
...a mug full once daily. Blue Chip produce a measuring cup. There is also a "diet" version which is great for those with or prone to laminitis as it delivers nutrients without calories. This is really important with animals that have to be on a restricted diet or with small appetites Blue Chip feed balancer can be used to put condition (substance, not fat) on, or to maintain those in work. It is great for any animal faced with some degree of stress ... Read review

Advantages: Much quicker to muck out, cheaper in long term.
Disadvantages: Expensive initial outlay.

I have two horses, one of my stables is rubber matted, the other isn`t. My mare was very messy, mucking out would be time consuming and I would spend a lot on bedding. I tried a variety of different beddings. Straw was really messy. Shavings were much better but they worked out very expensive. I tried different types of chopped straw. I tried one called medibed which was quite expensive and I had to order it. When it was first put down it looked ...
...afew weeks (obviously being mucked out every day) it was not as nice and it took a while to muck out. When some other people in our DIY livery yard decided to have rubber matting, I thought I would too. It cost us about £200 each at the time from memory but we have had them for 10 years. I cannot remember how long the guarantee was for. My friend had the same recently and it was £400, I was shocked at the increase but it was a long time ago. The ... Read review

Advantages: Drastically reduces time to tidy manes and tails, painless.
Disadvantages: None.

...A pulled tail looks smart but is high maintenance as when the hairs grow they can resemble a loo brush and it is difficult to remove them when they are too short. The smart tails mane and tail thinner makes a smart tail without much effort or discomfort for the horse. What is it? * * * * * * * * The smart tails mane and tail thinner is a sturdy wooden handled tool with a metal head to it which are the blades. It is made from Scandanavian Steel ...
...* Using the Smart Tails mane and tail thinner really couldn`t be any simpler. I will only briefly describe how to use on the mane seeing the tail is the focus of this review. For the mane, brush it to the wrong side and then take the smart mane and tail thinner and use it as you would an ordinary comb. Comb the mane over to the correct side to check the thickness. It removes the hair really quickly so don`t be tempted to do it too much in one go. ... Read review