Horse been in a week, fed up with mucking out already!

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Bert&Maud

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This is the fourth winter that I have had my current horse. After last winter's relentless cold and snow I promised myself that I would make things easier this year. So, after much research (thank you HHO!) I fitted rubber mats and changed to wood pellet bedding. It's currently taking over 1/2 hour to muck out. He's an idle monkey who doesn't pick his feet up and spends the night wandering from hay pile to door to bucket to manger, meaning that by morning the droppings are in a million little bits strewn throughout his bed. The bed is quite deep because the drainage isn't good so unless the bed is deep the urine goes straight through the joins in the mats and sits in a pool underneath. Any ideas as to how I can make life a little easier? The thought of 3 1/2 hours a week mucking out for the next 5 months is just too depressing!
 
Think yourself lucky you have only one to muck out lol! I do 6 every morning.

Get some straw and have a proper good old fashined bed, you dont get all the niggly bits, and can just empty it all out and top up again. Million times cheaper too!
 
Can't you put his hay pile near the door, that will cut out one journey. Mick is the same though on anthing other than straw. He tries to bury the poo and in shavings he breaks up every bit of poo there is.
 
Is your horse at home? We've found that skipping out at 9:30-10pm makes a real difference with the task in the morning. Also we HAD to change from haylage being on the floor back to traditional haynets - I know it puts them in an unnatural position etc etc (did and equine science degree so well versed on all the cons) but ours seem absolutely fiine with much tidier stables - hence boxes mucked out in 15mins!!
 
put his hay/water at the front of the stable near the door so he doesnt have to travel to look out. be thankful you only have one to muck out i have 15. i average 10 mins per box to muck out, leave ready for the night, hay in. tho my saving grace is automatic waterers! which are cleaned out 2x per week, checked daily. mine are on matts, with full banked shavings beds, mucked out to the floor every day.
 
Why not reverse his turnout? All the horses on my yard are in during the day and out at night rugged up as necessary. Owners who want, stick to this regime pretty much most of the year. It means neds are in for riding, vet, farrier, relief from flies in the summer etc etc etc. And of course we only have 5 or 6 hours to muck out because for the remaining 18 hours, they're out! My 4 neds are on deep litter shavings beds and with a pink, long handled skip + little rake thing like a small garden leaf rake, it takes me 3 minutes to skip out the poo + any spilt haylage and no more than another 10 mins to tidy the deep litter bed, pull clean shavings down from the back, tamp it all down with the back if the shavings fork and sweep the front third of the stable. Maybe another 5 mins to make up a morning feed and top up the haynet/haybar. This means that 4 neds can be done in about an hour -the only drawback is if we have heavy snow again this winter and I have to switch the day/night turnout periods. I've lost the will to live by about Day 2.
 
I soooooooo love NZ winters - horses out year round no mucking out - and where i live - no snow!!!

Never again will I have to muck out boxes when it's been snowing - no more frozen pipes, no more slipping across the yard with frozen feet & soaking legs.......Just thought I'd p*** you all off.

Deep litter is definately the best way, use the wood chip for the base & add a deep straw bed on top - as others have suggested keep haynet at front of box so he's not walking back & forth. Pick up the poos and tidy the bed, add a little straw to put back what you removed. Very labour saving and cheap.

For smelly floors a good layer of garden lime put down under the mats is the best way to control the smell.

Must leave work now to visit my three - it's sunny and there are no clouds in the sky another 3hrs of daylight left to work my horses. Ah! I love New Zealand weather!
 
When mine were in, I found a huge difference if I got there before other owners in the morning. Once horses started getting breakfasts and being turned out, mine would get restless and trash the beds.
Arrive at 6am - easy job. Arrive at 7am - hard labour and more bedding wasted.
Incidently,I prefer the horses to move around in their stables at night for eating and drinking. Goes some way to reducing the likeihood of stiffness and filled legs. Although having them out 24/7 is lovely.
Box_of_Frogs,your system makes much more sense.
 
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