Horse bedding question?

Not a good idea to mix all that bedding at all. Not because of the waste, but what if your horse has an allergic reaction? It's better to have one culprit rather than several so you can better assess your horse and remove what is being toxic to your his system.

I prefer sand in my horses stalls on top of their stall mats. It's easy to clean, prevents clumping in hooves, and relatively cheap and easy to find. If I had to go with one of the ones you listed however I would say that pelleted bedding is the better choice. It's absorbent, easy to clean, and has very little dust that would cause respiratory issues.

There are advantages and disadvantages to different sorts of bedding but as others say, mixing them is a very bad idea.

Straw is the traditional and most natural. Basically three types.

Wheat is the most common. Not so good if the horse eats it as it can cause impaction colic. They will eat a bit but that is OK it is when they eat a lot it can be a problem

Oat which they will eat and not do them any harm if it is clean (as in not dusty which is should be anyway)

Barley. Terrible as it has awns which stick to you and anything else!

Wood shavings which in the UK can be very expensive.

Wood pellets - as above but they absorb more.

Hemp and flax are very similar to shavings.

Peat moss is horrible, dirty, dusty and very expensive.

Shredded paper is hard to muck out, it is messy when left in a heap as it blows everywhere. Takes ages to rot down and the best way to get rid of it is to burn which means taking it well away from the stable area and will smoulder for weeks.

I personally prefer wood shavings. They are great because they're very absorbent, cheap, and easy to clean up. The only problem with shavings if you have a horse with severe allergies, it may trigger them... unless the horse has bad allergies though it's not a problem.

I do not like straw, it's hard to clean and some horses will eat it, which is bad.

Don't use any hay, the horse might eat the dirty bedding.

Peat moss is OK but expensive, same with flax, wood pellets and hemp.

Shredded paper gets soggy too easily.

I don't know why you'd want to mix them but I assume it'd be fine, although it would be VERY hard to clean properly if you had a mix of straw and the other finer stuff. Just stick with one, don't bother to mix them.

I think it would be a cleaning nightmare to mix all those beddings together. I'm not familiar with hemp or flax as bedding, but I wouldn't mix the straw or peat moss with anything else. I think it would be okay to mix the smaller items, such as shavings, pellets, and shredded paper. I'll sometimes dump my shredder paper into one of the stalls (with shavings) and it works out okay.

mixing probably isn't the best idea - as i think you (or your friend) would just waste money

I have never heard of flax as bedding - and as such I am not completely sure of the exact substance you are asking about, but I have only seen flax used as a supplement - and even that can be bad because it can go sour in a relatively short amount of time. Given my (relatively small) knowledge on the subject I would NOT suggest it.

I would suggest wood shavings. Straw is good if it's cheap around you, but I HATE cleaning stalls bedded with straw - I find it unnecessarily difficult.

If it is cheap around you (and the horse won't eat it) pine -needles I believe, not like shavings - is supposedly a good choice as well

I don't like straw bedding. It's hard to clean up, it doesn't absorb much, and a lot of horses will eat it which can cause colic if it gets impacted in the bowel. Straw is good for pregnant mares who are about to foal, but other than that I don't like it as a bedding. I have never noticed it to be significantly warmer than any other bedding, and if heat were a problem I'd just blanket the horse. I prefer woodchips- they are easy to clean up and they are softer than straw. Horses don't try to eat them and they don't make a huge mess. The only problem is that some horses are sensitive to the dust and it gives them allergy trouble. If your horse isn't allergic, wood chips are best. Pine is good, but any wood will be ok. I don't like newspaper because it gets soggy too easily, plus the black newsprint will sometimes rub off on the horse's coat and make it dirty. I like those little capsules (not sure what they're called?) a lot, too, but they are more expensive than shavings and do basically the same thing. The only thing I don't like about them is that they have to be wet to expand. I would never bed a horse in sand... I can't imagine cleaning that up! Would probably be ok other than the fact that it would be hard to haul sand into the stall and you might throw your back out cleaning it up!

I love using regular wood shavings. Straw is hard to clean, pellets smell horrible, shredded paper would be expensive, and not economical, hemp.. what if the barn lites on fire? The firemen wouldnt be able to function :), Peat moss.. eh, i just dont like it, flax isnt something I would use, its just not really useful, and hay is expensive and the horse would try to eat its own pee.

You can't go through life spending time trying to figure stuff like this out just to appease a horse that doesn't know the difference in bedding nor care how little or much money comes out of your wallet to appease him. Wood shavings is good and can be mixed with the sand if an outside stall or simply dumped in the inside stall area. You would probably need 2-3 bags of it at first and gage after that but all that mixing process just isn't necessary or you would see prepared mixes of it for horse beddings in feed stores.

What I do is put down a layer of wood pellets (get wood stove pellets, same thing but WAY cheaper) and then over top put a layer of wood shavings, it works very well, easier to clean up, lasts longer and smells less.

I find just plain shavings are best. It clumps with mess, and so is easy to clean out.

Why pay for, and mix so many different beddings?

Shavings OR straw is best.