Types of Bedding for Horses | Picking the Right Stall Base

The main types of horse bedding are straw, wood shavings, sawdust, wood pellets, paper, peat moss, hemp, and flax. The best choice balances absorbency, dust level, cost, and your horse’s specific health needs.

Choosing bedding for a horse stall comes down to matching a few key traits with your horse and your routine. You want something that handles urine well, keeps dust low, and doesn’t tempt a hungry horse to snack. The options differ more than you might expect, from the traditional straw bale to highly absorbent wood pellets that arrive as compressed sawdust.

How Do Straw and Wood Bedding Compare?

Straw is the most traditional choice, and the British Horse Society lists wheat, barley, and oat as the three main types. It’s affordable and composts well, but it’s also palatable to some horses. If your horse eats his bedding, you may want a less tasty option.

Wood shavings are one of the most common beddings in equine settings. According to the University of Massachusetts, shavings and sawdust are widely used, but sawdust is more absorbent. The trade-off is that sawdust tends to be dustier and may bother horses with respiratory problems. Wood pellets are compressed shavings that need water to expand; they’re highly absorbent and economical per use, but the initial setup is time-consuming. A major warning applies to all wood products: shavings not intended for horses can be dangerous to consume, and black walnut shavings are toxic to horses.

What Are the Lower-Dust, Plant-Based Options?

Hemp is gaining traction because it’s nearly dust-free, absorbent, comfortable, and compostable, per the British Horse Society. The catch for US owners is cost—hemp bedding must be imported, which drives up the price. Flax is another plant option made from chopped flax stems, also listed by the BHS.

Paper and cardboard bedding is typically low-dust and non-palatable, which solves the eating problem. It is less absorbent than wood or plant fibers, so you may go through more of it. Peat moss is highly absorbent and relatively dust-free according to UMass, but it must be kept dry in storage. Regional choices exist too: peanut hulls and rice hulls are used in some areas, though peanut hulls carry a risk of aflatoxin, which is toxic if a horse ingests it.

How Much Bedding Do You Need and What Does It Cost?

Most horses do lie down to sleep, so the bedding layer needs to provide both cushion and absorption. Rubber mats are not a bedding type themselves, but they make an excellent underlayer that reduces how much bedding you need overall while giving the stall a softer base.

Here’s a quick look at typical starting amounts and weekly top-ups from equine care guidance:

You can see why cost is rarely about the price per bale alone. Pellet bedding looks similar to shavings in the stall after it expands, but it starts out much denser. For reference, loose straw weighs about 2.5 lb per cubic foot, while straw pellets weigh 22 lb per cubic foot.

Which Bedding Should You Choose?

The main selection factors are availability, cost, dust level, foreign material, palatability, absorbency, odor control, storage, and how it works with your stall’s flooring. Start with your horse’s respiratory health and eating habits, then filter by what’s available locally.

For a horse with breathing issues, low-dust options like hemp, paper, or flax are the safest bet. For a horse that eats everything, paper or hemp are non-palatable and won’t be snacked on. For an equine on a budget, shavings and straw are the most affordable but come with the trade-offs above.

If you’re ready to compare specific products and brands that fit these criteria, read our guide to the best bedding for horse stalls for tested roundups based on absorbency, dust, and value. Whichever material you pick, keep it dry in storage and skip anything dusty for horses with respiratory problems.