Guilty confessions?

[My_old_warmblood]

Here’s mine:
One of my horses has been poorly with a respiratory allergy. It means he has to have an immaculate stable free of every speck of damp, and my other chap is a swamp monster. Doesn’t matter what I do, I end up doing a full clear out each morning.
I was loosing a hell of a lot of bedding, and on days when I’d put a new bag of shavings in with mr swamp I’d feel like crying as I took the whole lot out again the next morning.
now I just put new shavings in with mr allergy as he’s quite clean by nature, and take his bank of shaving reserves into mr Swamps stable when needed. Of course it’s clean and both horses lick each other’s arse anyways so I don’t see the harm. No different from sharing a field shelter, apart from its cleaner. And I don’t have to keep lugging bags about. I’ve cut my waste down to half too.
There’s my guilt, what’s yours?

 

[poiuytrewq]

I think that’s a great idea! I used to do that with two I was looking after, it seemed such a waste putting clean shavings into the one only to take the whole lot out the next day, whilst the clean horse wasn’t getting enough turnover of bedding so although it stayed clean it got dusty. It’s the perfect solution rather than a guilty confession!

 

[Cortez]

I think I'd be deep littering the muck monster TBH. Can't think of anything to confess, sorry ?

 

[Quigleyandme]

Perfect solution. My two are very tidy by nature thank goodness but I have a similar issue. I have internal stables and don’t shut the stable doors. Seamus poos and wees in Milo’s stable and he is a big lad - getting on for 18hh. Milo’s bed is turned over and topped up regularly but Seamus’ bed gets dusty and degraded.

 

[SEL]

I deep litter my disgusting mare. It actually makes it easier to muck out because the base gets very firm and she can't turn it into poo lasagne. Only really vile the day you have to dig it all out (& I have been known to chuck £20 at a child to do it - which is probably the confessional part!!!)

 

[My_old_warmblood]

I think I'd be deep littering the muck monster TBH. Can't think of anything to confess, sorry ?

i can’t deep litter because he is so bad. It’s absolutely sodden by the morning ? I think to be able to deep litter the monster would have to leave some dry ?

 

[My_old_warmblood]

I deep litter my disgusting mare. It actually makes it easier to muck out because the base gets very firm and she can't turn it into poo lasagne. Only really vile the day you have to dig it all out (& I have been known to chuck £20 at a child to do it - which is probably the confessional part!!!)

I might need to steal one of the neighbours’ kids for that ? maybe if I offer them a pony ride on my beloved dobbin… ?

 

[My_old_warmblood]

I think that’s a great idea! I used to do that with two I was looking after, it seemed such a waste putting clean shavings into the one only to take the whole lot out the next day, whilst the clean horse wasn’t getting enough turnover of bedding so although it stayed clean it got dusty. It’s the perfect solution rather than a guilty confession!

I also like to tell myself I’m saving trees ? it’s nice to know I’m not mad!

 

[Equi]

Confession: I haven’t mucked out one of my stables in over a year.

For further context it’s a large stable with a full bed (I used it one night for my big horse before he died and just left it) and my mini mare who’s stable it is only ever poos on the concrete part and wees on the front most part of it just by the drain ? such as clever pony and means I have a perfectly mucked out stable for life that hasn’t cost me a penny since 2021.

 

[poiuytrewq]

I throw poo into the hedge when I’m poo picking too avoid barrow emptying. ?

 

[PurBee]

I have a confession, though there’s no guilt attached! ?

I did an experiment with my horses and put down a patch of shavings in the outdoor hardcore area, to see if they would wee there, instead of using the indoor big bed they lie-down on.
They both share this open-to-the-yard big bed, and so them both peeing in it meant the deep-bed had to be mucked out fully every 6 weeks winter. Each full re-bed is 12 bags pellets/3 bags shavings - to start, then each week add shavings and pellets.
The outdoor pee patch was a way to save on bedding….and it works! They pee there and poop, the rain is almost daily here to wash away and dilute the pee into a nearby grass area and a drain further along- so that area gets fertilised too along the way.
The stable is much cleaner, yet still use it for some pee’s and poops….but most is outside, and im using less bedding, saving the friggin’ planet one pee at a time! ??

 

[honetpot]

I use wood pellets for cat litter, when I had three litter boxes the used, minus the solids goes in the wet bit in the deep litter bed. A good quality bedding holds its weight in water.
When I was a groom we would take out wet shaving, add it to the indoor school then take out the dried shavings from there and add to the beds.
Cows can now be bedded down on dried cow poo.
https://ahdb.org.uk/knowledge-libra...ed-manure-solids-as-a-cattle-bedding-material

 

[Highmileagecob]

i can’t deep litter because he is so bad. It’s absolutely sodden by the morning ? I think to be able to deep litter the monster would have to leave some dry ?

Give wood pellets a try. Buy pellets labelled as cat litter from the bargain store, pour two or three 15l bags over the wee patch, and spray with water to start them swelling. Leave alone now for ten to fourteen days before you disturb the patch again. Then either take out the middle of the wee patch and add another bag, or take them all out and refresh. Unless he is a box walker, this should keep him dryer and save you time and effort - they absorb the urine smell too.

 

[SilverLinings]

When I was a groom we would take out wet shaving, add it to the indoor school then take out the dried shavings from there and add to the beds.
Cows can now be bedded down on dried cow poo.
https://ahdb.org.uk/knowledge-libra...ed-manure-solids-as-a-cattle-bedding-material

Up until the invention of the car and the subsequent decline in the number of working horses straw was expensive as most of those hundreds of thousands of working horses were kept stabled. Yards that had the space (particularly private yards for carriage horses and hunters) would have low-roofed, open sided straw-drying sheds out the back of the stable yard, where the majority of the straw from the stables would be placed after removing the droppings in the morning. The straw would be left spread out on the floor of the drying-shed to dry out during the day, and would be put back into the stalls at night. During the daytime the horses were just left with a small patch of the worst of the bed from the night before to stale on, and that would be thrown on the muck heap before the stall was bedded down for the night.

An excellent way of saving bedding/money, but very time consuming (although labour was relatively cheap then), and the air in the stables must have contained an eye-watering amount of ammonia!

 

[MuddyMonster]

I probably have so much to confess ? I don't put banks in my stable, most days I only power hose the feed and water buckets instead of scrubbing them, I put my wood pellets in dry instead of soaking them .... and thats just the one's that immediately spring to mind!

 

[spotty_pony]

When the horses are in, if the water is clean, I only completely change it every other day rather than everyday - I just top it up on the days in between.

 

[Auslander]

I move bedding around too! I have a couple of really clean ones, one who is a bit grim, and one who is spectacularly filthy, so new bedding goes in the really clean ones, any bedding that is clean, but fails the "perfectly white" test goes into the grim one, and any salvageable bedding from hers goes into the gross one.

 

[poiuytrewq]

I move bedding around too! I have a couple of really clean ones, one who is a bit grim, and one who is spectacularly filthy, so new bedding goes in the really clean ones, any bedding that is clean, but fails the "perfectly white" test goes into the grim one, and any salvageable bedding from hers goes into the gross one.

It’s terribly planet friendly of us surely!

 

[Boulty]

I don't do proper banks, I deep litter with hemp (just take wet out once a week) & if the water hasn't got hay etc in it I tend to top it up & only empty it every couple of days & any leftover hay from nets goes on the floor of the stable to be eaten rather than on the muckheap ...

 

[Melody Grey]

Confession: I haven’t mucked out one of my stables in over a year.

For further context it’s a large stable with a full bed (I used it one night for my big horse before he died and just left it) and my mini mare who’s stable it is only ever poos on the concrete part and wees on the front most part of it just by the drain ? such as clever pony and means I have a perfectly mucked out stable for life that hasn’t cost me a penny since 2021.

Way to go. Can you breed from her? Something about 15hh pls?

 

[jkitten]

I deep litter my disgusting mare. It actually makes it easier to muck out because the base gets very firm and she can't turn it into poo lasagne. Only really vile the day you have to dig it all out (& I have been known to chuck £20 at a child to do it - which is probably the confessional part!!!)

Just wanted to thank you for introducing that particular mental image to my brain, which now may never be clean again.

 

[Auslander]

I collect all the uneaten hay and floor scrapings and give it to one of my mares. who eats every last bit. We call it her "kebab hay", because we reckon shes the kind of girl who'd eat kebabs out of the bin after a big night out.

 

[Caol Ila]

I collect all the uneaten hay and floor scrapings and give it to one of my mares. who eats every last bit. We call it her "kebab hay", because we reckon shes the kind of girl who'd eat kebabs out of the bin after a big night out.

Gosh, my little ex-feral thinks hay that's been sitting in his stable since the previous night is beneath him. I leave him with a pile of hay in the evening. He gets turned out in the morning. If there's a wee flake of hay left, you'd figure he would eat it when brought in. You'd think his standards would be low, but they are not. He wants fresh hay, dammit, even if it came from the same bloody bale.

 

[Trinket12]

I collect all the uneaten hay and floor scrapings and give it to one of my mares. who eats every last bit. We call it her "kebab hay", because we reckon shes the kind of girl who'd eat kebabs out of the bin after a big night out.

This is Sugar, I swear she was a Labrador in a previous life!

 

[DabDab]

Gosh, my little ex-feral thinks hay that's been sitting in his stable since the previous night is beneath him. I leave him with a pile of hay in the evening. He gets turned out in the morning. If there's a wee flake of hay left, you'd figure he would eat it when brought in. You'd think his standards would be low, but they are not. He wants fresh hay, dammit, even if it came from the same bloody bale.

My feral bred native is the same. She will simply go on hunger strike if you don't feed her fresh (or even if the fresh hay is not to her liking)
My life-long pampered PRE x hann on the other hand is an equine dustbin and gets the girls' leftovers, plus everything off the hay barn floor or that is dropped on the yard.

 

[Auslander]

Gosh, my little ex-feral thinks hay that's been sitting in his stable since the previous night is beneath him. I leave him with a pile of hay in the evening. He gets turned out in the morning. If there's a wee flake of hay left, you'd figure he would eat it when brought in. You'd think his standards would be low, but they are not. He wants fresh hay, dammit, even if it came from the same bloody bale.

My gremlins are like that. I thought they would be useful for clearing up stuff the proper horses wouldn't eat - but they are the most likely to turn their noses up at stuff that the dustbin mare (who is quite a smart little TB) gets really excited about.

 

[ycbm]

My feral bred native is the same. She will simply go on hunger strike if you don't feed her fresh (or even if the fresh hay is not to her liking)
My life-long pampered PRE x hann on the other hand is an equine dustbin and gets the girls' leftovers, plus everything off the hay barn floor or that is dropped on the yard.

The only year I've ever not had wasted haylage was the year I had my PRE. Anything not eaten went into her pen and disappeared. This year it's back to piles of leftovers that the other two can't possibly eat, thank you.

My guilty secret is I've given up poo picking the barn and I'm just kicking it all around, because the guy who's buying our place is going to strip back to the floor anyway.

 

[My_old_warmblood]

Confession: I haven’t mucked out one of my stables in over a year.

For further context it’s a large stable with a full bed (I used it one night for my big horse before he died and just left it) and my mini mare who’s stable it is only ever poos on the concrete part and wees on the front most part of it just by the drain ? such as clever pony and means I have a perfectly mucked out stable for life that hasn’t cost me a penny since 2021.

I’m sorry about your lad Your mini mare sounds perfect!

 

[My_old_warmblood]

I don't do proper banks, I deep litter with hemp (just take wet out once a week) & if the water hasn't got hay etc in it I tend to top it up & only empty it every couple of days & any leftover hay from nets goes on the floor of the stable to be eaten rather than on the muckheap ...

I don’t care for real banks, and same with the water! We haven’t got running water, so any old stable water I use for soaking hay, washing them etc.

 

[My_old_warmblood]

I collect all the uneaten hay and floor scrapings and give it to one of my mares. who eats every last bit. We call it her "kebab hay", because we reckon shes the kind of girl who'd eat kebabs out of the bin after a big night out.

My rescue/ feral thing eats anything. If I drop hay on the yard he’ll kick the hell out of his door until I give it to him. I’ve watched him eat hay out of a bush before after it blew in there ?