In the 3 winters I've had Legacy I have tried a variation of types of bedding. Most of them have worked well in the beginning and then have just majorly fallen down hill as I thought that plan and type of bedding was working. During the time she's been at the current livery yard she's been in 4 different stables. In these stables her stress levels have been different in each one, this has contributed to how messy each stable has been. Pretty much each variation has included shavings at some point and it even went to the point of trying out different types of shavings. 

All of the stables she's been in have had rubber matting in, so this has been a major help when it comes to putting down a bed for her. When I first had her she was on shavings, in a average stable size she would just poo where she was standing when eating her hay, the only problem with this would be that when she would walk around the stable, the poo would be walked into the shavings. 

Apart from this the main dilemma I've always had with her beddings is that she's very wet, this at times could be to the point there would be a slight puddle in the middle of the shavings if there wasn't a thick enough layer down. 

The bedding variations she's had are:

- Shavings with thick banks and thin bed layer

- Plenty of shavings all around, thick banks and bed layer

- Shavings banks with Megazorb in the middle

- Shavings banks with shavings and wood pellets mixed in

- Wood Pellet banks and bed

- Straw banks and shavings bed

- Shavings banks with straw bed
- We've also tried deep littering her on shavings

Before trying her out on what she's on now she was going through a bale of shavings a day if you were mucking her out properly she was that wet, so I knew I had to find a better alternative for her. She now has Straw all over for banks and bed with a sprinkle of shavings underneath in the middle. This seems to be working well for the time being, and she will probably be on this until she goes out for the summer which I'm hoping will be within the next few weeks if the weather sorts itself out. The shavings layer beneath the straw is enough to soak up the wee from the bedding to make it not so soggy or have wee running through the stable. 

She also seems to be very much less stressed while she's in this stable, she is now next door to Cloudy who she is very close with as their never separated now, being in both summer & winter fields together. He has really seemed to calm her down and it's really helped cut down on her separation anxiety. She still has a few stubborn moments trying to get her into the stable on her own, but with a little persuasion she's much more better and willing to be on her own. 

Here is a quick before & after picture of Legacy's stable. 

Meet Cloudy...

In September 2015 my mum bought her own horse called Cloudy, he is an American Paint X Thoroughbred. He's 18 this year and is an ex eventer. He hasn't been out eventing for a while now as we've had him a year and a half and his past owner had him a couple of years. Since retiring from eventing he has just been a happy hacker with his past owner and pretty much my mum. She takes him in the school on occasions and a bit more often throughout the summer when the roads are busy.

We're not sure on any of his eventing history, but we've seen some pictures his past owner had of him doing it. For the age of him he is still very much active and if you compared him to the way Legacy works you make think their ages were the other way around. He is ridden most days as my mum works in the mornings she gets the afternoons to ride so he is quite fit. There's a popular quick hacking route that the yard do, typically it takes 20 minutes there and back, it takes Cloudy 10 minutes he has such a big stride and is forward going he leaves everyone behind.

Myself and him have such a love hate relationship, he is definitely a one person horse. Lets just say we more tolerate each other. In the beginning we got along well. There were moments where he would misbehave for me but we got over that. There was a time he gave me a black eye, I've written about it in my Naf hedgy treats review. We were doing great riding together and I was even getting back into jumping on him, as he was such a confidence booster when it comes to jumping. If you aren't 100% sure on what you're doing he's great, he does it all for you. Until one day just before christmas the year we got him I was jumping him and he took off and bunny hopped until I was off, I went straight into the puddle. I was ready to finish jumping for the day after that but I got back onto to trot a 20 circle to keep my confidence on him and he did the same again but also jumping over the pole on the floor. Which was unexpected for me. Turns out when we got the back man out after that his withers was out of place and the jumping and work was causing him pain. Since that day I've lost my confidence on him and haven't ridden him without being on the lunge since. As it was even when not in pain he did like to play up for me a little anyway. My aim this year along with getting Legacy working well is to get back on Cloudy and to get back schooling him and listening to me, and maybe we'll leave the jumping as an aim for next year.