Double bed for my boy?

I used to do this with foals. Shavings on the bottom, straw on the top. It was much warmer for them (I lived in New Hampshire at the time, and spring foals often dealt with cold weather), and it kept their noses out of the shavings so they didn't breathe it in.

It's hell to clean. At first it seems easy enough, but it gets all mixed together and as time goes by it gets harder and harder. They walk in it, they play in it, and so on. Unless the horse for some reasons needs extra warmth, like a foal or a sick horse, I don't do it.

It's also expensive and you have to keep both straw and shavings on hand. Inconvenient.

A similar method that provides extra warmth is deep litter bedding. You use just shavings (or shavings and straw, though i recommend against that) but start with a deeper pile. Every morning, remove the worst of the poop without disturbing the wet spots and without raking it up. Then put more shavings on top of it. This results in a nice, deep bed that packs down so the horse doesn't roil it up much. The pee sinks to the bottom; the layers on top keep the horse dry. It works real well unless the horse is a digger! It does not smell at all, and the horse is on clean stuff at the top. In the winter, the heat of composting from below keeps the horse toasty warm.

Many people think this sounds awful, but in really cold climates, where the pee freezes solid to the floor before you can get to it, it's the only way to go. I like it, in any cold winter area. It's less work in the cold for me every morning, warmer for me and the horse, and the horse is as dry and healthy as any other because he's on a top layer as clean as a regularly bedded stall.

Of course, spring clean out and stripping is not fun.... :D

I'm glad you've found something that works well for you!

this is exactly what i do in winter!

i make a layer of shavings on the bottom (usually one bale but sometimes two) then lots of straw on top. i then make my bankings and when i go to muck out, i take out the droppings out and add fresh straw on top. every couple of weeks (usually every month or less if the bed is a real mess) i put all the clean straw to one side, take all the wet straw (usually not much, patches) and take all the shavings out. then i repeat.

i find it the best way for my horse. yes, the shavings smell horribly of ammonia when you take them out, but only when you take them out. otherwise you can't smell wee at all. my horse can be a very messy and tends to keep his back end still and sort of spin to go from one end of the stable where his net is, to the other where the door is to poke his head out and chat to his friends. by deep littering with shavings and straw, the bed is thick and springy, so it's comfortable, but after the first couple of days he doesn't go through to the concrete and his bed stays slightly tidier.

also, i find it way cheaper in the long run. i find that most of the time i only use one bale of straw a week at most (unless i am just starting my bed after summer) and then only a bag or two of shavings every 3-4 weeks. rather than taking everything out, as some people at my yard do, and spending loads of money as they use maybe 5 bales of straw a week.

then again, i'm a money saving brit with a horse that makes a mess. others might not agree but i find it works really well, and if done right, there is no smell and looks new.

I have not heard of it, but I like the sound of it, cheaper than pure shavings, as long as your horse is not greedy and eats all the straw - one of the reasons why I had my horse on shavings (and I was allergic to straw!).

Years ago the horse farm I worked at used shavings on the bottom and straw on the top. I believe the theory was that the pee spots would stay contained making for using less bedding in the long run. Also the horses would be more comfortable when laying down.

Not being used to that way of bedding, it was a pain to try and save bedding in those stalls with horses who tended to move around. You know the kind I mean, the ones you swear a blender had been in the stall. My boss of course made cleaning those stalls look sooo easy. NOT (lol)

My horses hay gets mixed in with his shavings, but its getting warmer so I would only benefit from this in the winter.

I shred my weekend paper and mix that in with the shavings to make them go further.