When Fiona heard that she was the lucky winner of a fully installed ComfortStall flooring system for her stable she could not believe her luck, “I cried at work when I found out, I was over the moon”, Fiona told us yesterday when we visited her and her two horses at their yard in Wiltshire. The prize of Haygain’s orthopaedic, sealed flooring system came at a perfect time for Fiona and her gorgeous horse Bow who is suffering with ringbone arthritis and has been on box rest for a few months already. “She wasn’t sure what to do when she first went into the stable with the new floor, but she soon got used to it and now the girls at the yard often send me pictures of her laying flat out enjoying a snooze”

Fiona also has a Haygain HG 600 hay steamer that she purchased originally for her other horse, 4-year-old Rain. Rain was a ‘buy one get one free’ surprise for Fiona as she had no idea Bow was in foal and Rain was born when Fiona was on holiday!! When Fiona brought Rain back to the yard in February last year she noticed that something was making Rain very itchy and she was coughing. Fiona did some research and decided to try steaming her hay as well as switching her from straw bedding to shavings. “Steaming her hay made such a massive difference, she is not itchy at all anymore and there is no coughing at all”.

Of course Bow could not be left out and now she also has steamed hay. “Bow is the fussiest mare you could meet when it comes to hay, she will go on hunger strike if she does not like a bale of hay or if it is dusty which can be worrying as I don’t want her dropping weight! The Haygain steamer has been brilliant for this, Bow now calls to me from across the yard when she smells the steamed hay and she finishes up every last scrap which is great”. Other livery clients on the yard told us that Bow will turn her nose up at any hay that has not been steamed now, we can’t blame her :)  Another noticeable change for Bow is that she no longer dunks her hay in the water bucket, “she always used to make such a mess in the stable by dunking the hay but now it is steamed she doesn’t need to”. Steaming hay increases the water content by up to 3 times so it is no wonder Bow no longer feels the need to dunk it.

The ComfortStall flooring has been down for around a month now and Fiona has noticed huge changes in Bow, “her legs used to fill terribly and I was so worried because of her arthritis but she has to be on box rest so I was stuck really, now since being on the flooring her legs do not fill at all which is incredible, she comes out of her stable each morning and just looks so well rested and content, she is so happy in there which puts my mind at ease”. Bow’s arthritis is improving with the combination of treatment from the vet and the new flooring and Fiona hopes she will be back in work very soon. Having the ComfortStall has also saved Fiona money on bedding, “I don’t need half as much bedding for Bow now as the comfort comes from the floor, she just has enough to soak up the mess and it is so much easier to muck out”. Fiona hopes to save and get a ComfortStall floor for Rain next as she is feeling a little left out what with mum having a new fancy floor :) 

Thanks to Fiona for letting us visit, we will have regular updates on Rain and Bow and hope to see Fiona back on board soon!

To find out more about the benefits of ComfortStall click here.