anyone else got a disgusting horse?! if so how do you cope!

[madhector]

my tb has to be one of the messiest horses i know, can cope with that, his stable always looks discusting in the mornings, and takes ages to muck out, thought putting him on rubber matting would help, he now has half a bed of shavings on top of the mats to pee on, but he refuses to do so, instead he pees on his hay! or straight onto the rubber mats so that it drains into his hay, its horrible! how do i train him to pee on the shavings? that bit of the stable is always lovely and clean, the other half is discusting! anybody any ideas?

 

[Blizzard]

Can you put his hay where his shavings are ie swap them around?

Is it that he wants to pee on his hay or he likes to pee in that spot?

 

[halo320]

lol! i have a mare who wont poo without shoving her bum up againt the wall and sitting back! every morning of a show, without fail, i have to wash her backend and legs again. she makes such a mess of her tail and the tail flaps of her rugs are a no go area! shes such a tramp

 

[Gentle_Warrior]

Mine is at grass and when the gound is really hard and dry he will wee on his hay !!!!!! Just because he does not want it splashing up his legs !!! Wierd one ?

 

[celia]

Have you tried him on straw? Most of the messy horses I've known have been easier on a deep straw bed - wet drains through to the bottom so they're not standing/lying in it all the time! Also, it's similar to hay (consistency etc) - he might prefer that to wet on?? Alternatively you could either use nets or a haybar type thing to keep his hay off the floor?

 

[madhector]

i dont think he prefers peeing on the hay, its just that he seems to go where ever he happens to be standing at the time!, mostly its on the mats, and it splashes everywhere, so i end up washing his legs every day, had him on straw and was impossible, as so messy, thought mats would be easier, and is def easier to muck out, but not very nice place to stand all day as so smelly, i wonder why i bother putting the shavings in at all! he has hay in a net, but pulls it all out to eat it for some strange reason, so ends up on the floor, which is soaking wet due to him peeing!

 

[celia]

Ah ok. Don't know what to suggest then, sorry. He does sound pretty disgusting!

 

[lucysnapshot]

My tb is disgusting! he's on straw and i just take 3/4 of the bed out! i just separate the big bits of clean straw...dont bother sifting through! He drives me round the twist! i dont think i could have him on shavings

 

[WelshRareBit]

hang him up by his toes of an evening...that will sort him.
xx

 

[madhector]

went out to skip out, and decided to try switching hay and shavings round, he imediatly went and peeed on the shavings! success! will see what sort of state is in in the morning...

 

[0ldmare]

Mine is the cleanest horse in history. She poops in one place only and NEVER treads or lies in it (She is far too much of a lady). Mucking out takes 10 minutes max unless I am taking out the wet! (Smirks happily). Unfortunately its the only thing she is good at, otherwise shes adorable but exceptionally average. Still cant have everything...

 

[madhector]

[ QUOTE ]
Mine is the cleanest horse in history. She poops in one place only and NEVER treads or lies in it (She is far too much of a lady). Mucking out takes 10 minutes max unless I am taking out the wet! (Smirks happily). Unfortunately its the only thing she is good at, otherwise shes adorable but exceptionally average. Still cant have everything...

[/ QUOTE ]
so unfair, fancy a swap? just for a few weeks?!

 

[aran]

Aran is also a disgusting tb. i have to 'manage' his stable. We had to work out which areas were best for what which meant a lot of moving things around and not the most conventional lay out but now he's sooo much cleaner and i don't even fill the wheel barrow now. he has a deep straw corner and his water and hay areas are diagonally from each other (other wise he self soaks his hay and feed!). It took some time but i'm sooo glad i've managed to find a design which suits

 

[PapaFrita]

PF lived out all the time when I had her in the UK and when I had to stable her here, I was gobsmacked at what a mucky madam she is!! I HAVE to say though, that she HAS improved and the best way I've found to manage it is to use more shavings (still not a huge amount by UK standards) and allow a 'wet' base whilst keeping the top dry (Fabian is really good at mucking out like this)

 

[madhector]

tried leaving the wet in once and just putting new shavings on top, was very nasty mess in morning

think he dug it all up, then mixed all the new stuff into it, and then lay down, wasnt very nice

 

[PapaFrita]

OH! Diggers and buriers are AWFUL I had a mare who I swear used to hide her poos as deep as possible!

 

[xxcharlottexx]

I used to have a TB mare on loan, who was unbelievely mucky
she had rubber mats and about 4 slices of straw in.
i suppose in one way she was easier to muck out as you just used to take all the bed out except a vey mini pile in the corner where she couldnt quite reach to poo, wee or trample it round!

If its texture perhaps try straw instead of shavings.

as aran said, try and make it so whether hes eating hay of drinking water, try and make it so his back end is in the same place!

 

[madhector]

[ QUOTE ]
OH! Diggers and buriers are AWFUL I had a mare who I swear used to hide her poos as deep as possible!

[/ QUOTE ]
he used to bury his when he had straw, i used to go in in the morning and think it looked really clean with not a poo in site, till i started mucking out, then i would find layer after layer all nicely squashed together

 

[Blizzard]

[ QUOTE ]
went out to skip out, and decided to try switching hay and shavings round, he imediatly went and peeed on the shavings! success! will see what sort of state is in in the morning...

[/ QUOTE ]

Yey I was hoping that would work! Had a similar thing myself before so thought it would be woth a try!

 

[madhector]

fingers crossed will be lovely and clean in the morning, thanks for the idea, now i just have to work out a way of keeping his hay in one place...

 

[Allykat]

My TB is a serial masher

He drags his feet through his bed and poo's where he stands. He does have a particular peeing spot though. My yard tend to keep the wet in which subsequently all got churned up and mashed in with poo. Result = Brown soggy bed. I take the worse of the wet patch out 2-3 times a week and thankfully he is now on a much drier bed. I waste my energy sweeping it all back in to a "neat" looking bed though as it is soon kicked to the door!

 

[dressagespain]

OMG, I have THREE revolting little critters, they are all on rubber mats and am at wits end, I have got to the point that they have to be swept out with very large stiff brush every day and disinfected as well.

 

[filly190]

When you have a dirty one, I dont think a lot can be done. I have tried everything, even reversing the bed and it does not make much difference. I tried a bigger stable to see if that helped and it did'nt.

My horse that is mucky tends to walk around quite a lot, so I tried hanging treats etc etc. The only thing that keeps her entertained is a nice big lick-it. Unfortunately she can get through one in a night so its rather too expensive to keep her bed tidy though!

 

[dressagespain]

Filly, i think you are right, we have to just grin and bear it I guess and live in hope that they one day may get fed up of sleeping in poo and wee all the time.

I don't hold out much hope though

 

[harrihjc]

my gelding is disgusting, he digs and buries and mashes everything up regardless of whether he is kept on shavings or straw, and was far worse on rubber matting. Every morning all his bed is stacked up at the back and i usually get 3 heaped wheelbarrows each morning! I just grit my teeth and bear it!

 

[cheeryplatypus]

my boy managed to poo in two water buckets last night! disgusting mess to clean up this morning, think the windy weather upset him

 

[galaxy]

My boy is disgusting too. He is on rubber matting and His hay used to get trashed, but I like to feed off the floor, but didn't want to fork out for a haybar so I feed him his hay out of a large bucket which has 2 rope handles which I have attached to the wall.

 

[madhector]

wasnt lovely and clean this morning

but wasnt at least was dry as he managed to hit the shavings

think you guys are right, there is no changing messy horses, it is the way they are

 

[Lady_Bug]

I too have a messy mare. She's on straw and from friend's comments I don't think shavings would be any good for her as she does tend to kick and churn up her bed. I tried the deep littering and just took the poo out and straighted the bed up each day. However after nearly breaking my back mucking all the wet out yesterday, I'm just going to have to settle for using more straw and mucking out the normal way!

 

[Twiglet]

I have a messy gelding - only way to keep him resembling clean is rubber mats, soaked hay (heavier, stops it being spread around as much?!), and leaving the bed up to air ALL day. Plus up to 3 bales of woodchips a week, ouch.