10/30/2026
Does bedding depth affect rest? The answer is yes
When horses are stalled, especially when they are stalled for an injury, we often want to ensure that they will get adequate rest. Many factors affect how much horses lay down to rest and many of those factors are things that are difficult for us to control. Bedding depth is a factor that we can control, however bedding is expensive. It is tjherefore good to evaluate if deeper bedding does in fact encourage horses to lay down.
Researchers Suomala et al published a research study where they evaluated the affect of bedding depth on the rest of horses stabled overnight.
They evaluated two bedding depths - 5cm and 15cm - They used peat bedding so results may be different on shavings which are more commonly used in the US.
A cross over design was used meaning the same horses were evaluated bedded in 5cm and 15cm to control for individual horse variation
Healthy riding horses were used, so results may be different for horses that are injured or on stall rest.
What they found:
Horses actually spent very little time laying down overnight
Increasing the bedding depth almost doubled the amount of time the horses spent laying down - From a mean of 35 min to a mean of 70 min
Increasing bedding depth increased the amount of time horses spent in sternal recumbency but did not affect the amount of time horses spent in lateral recumbency (laying flat out)
While this is only one study, it does provide some evidence that increasing bedding depth does help extend the amount of time a horse lays down and rests.
Here is the link to the article
https://www-sciencedirect-com.proxy.mul.missouri.edu/science/article/pii/S016815912600287X
