How do you muck out?

Kellys Heroes

Kellys Heroes

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I was pondering the other day whilst mucking out (isn't mucking out a typical time to get you thinking!) how everyone has different styles...how do you do yours? (a la Creme Egg advert!)

In Kelly's stable (generally quite messy) I move all the visible poos into the barrow, then start to throw clean straw to the left of the stable - I then move all the bankings, find any hidden poos and get the wettest stuff from underneath and throw that in the barrow. Any straw from the top of the bankings (clean) goes to the front of the stable, then I sweep up, barrow the swept stuff then clear up outside the stable. Old straw back down, banked and brushed, then new straw on top.

In Pebbles (cleaner), I clear the visible poos and start to move the clean straw - but to 3 sides of the stable. The bankings don't get moved in Pebbles' stable, the poos just go in the barrow along with any wet patches. Middle is swept and barrow'd. The old straw becomes part of the bankings then new straw fills the empty space in the centre.

How do you poo-pick yours? :D
K x
 
I have to sweep all the front bit first, so there is a clear divide between bed and front of stable.
Weird OCD, I just can't muck out if there is mess everywhere! :o

Mine are normally on deep litter.
 
Im on comfy bed.I do that too...I sweep all the loose from the front back to the bed line.
Then take out haynet n water,pik up poo level out,redo banks.then sweep front again! Then do haynet n water...takes about 15-20 mins
 
Cobrastyle said:
I have to sweep all the front bit first, so there is a clear divide between bed and front of stable.
Weird OCD, I just can't muck out if there is mess everywhere! :o

Mine are normally on deep litter.
Click to expand...
Me too! But mainly because if I miss the barrow then I don't have to sift out poo from clean bedding again :)

1) sweep bed back from front of stable
2) pick up obvious poos
3) throw bedding up the walls to take out any more poos
4) level and flatten wet layer (deep littered horse)
5) pull banks down into middle of the box
6) redo banks then level and flatten middle of the bed
7) sweep front of bed back

Et voila!
IMAG0357.jpg
This is his summer bed as he's in during the day, when he's in at night he has banks on all 3 sides and bed is almost to the door.
 
Cobrastyle said:
I have to sweep all the front bit first, so there is a clear divide between bed and front of stable.
Weird OCD, I just can't muck out if there is mess everywhere! :o

Mine are normally on deep litter.
Click to expand...

How funny - I do exactly the same thing. Have to "tidy" the front first.

So . . . I pick up the obvious surface poos first (Kal is good at burying them) with a shavings fork - yes he's bedded on straw but it's really short chop straw and falls through the fork nicely. Then I start chucking up the base, but not all the way down to the bottom to find all the hidden poos - turning the banks - using a straw fork. When I've found all the poos (and I generally know where they are b/c he "goes" in the same places all the time) I start on the wet patches. He has two and sometimes they join up so if they're separate I just remove all the clean straw from the top of them and chuck up onto the banks and dig out the biggest one . . . sweep then sprinkle the matting with Bedzone and leave to air and then backfill with what's been chucked up. If he's had a particularly wet night and they've joined up, I dig them both up, sprinkle matting with Bedzone, etc.

I make banks out of the existing straw - only on two sides - back wall and right-hand wall b/c he doesn't lie down against the other two - and then top up the base with a good amount of clean straw. Sweep down all the corners, tops of the rubber mattings on the wall, the rug rail (yes, I'm a tad anal) to remove tossed up straw/dust, etc., and then a proper sweep up outside and along the "gully" just inside his stable.

The result is a bed that is pretty much a foot deep with banks measuring about two foot high.

P

P.S. Oh, and it never smells of wee until I disturb his wet patches - and once it's swept, aired and has had the Bedzone treatment and topped up with clean straw it smells fresh and sweet again - it's just me who stinks ;)

P.P.S. And I always start at the door (which is in the righthand corner of his stable) and work round it in an anti-clockwise direction . . . always.
 
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Mine are on soil floors with only a scattering of straw. Stalls are only ever used for emergencies, foaling, or standing in for Vet/Farrier etc visits.

Mucking out involves skipping out into a bucket, latex gloves are my friends, I buy them by the 100.
Wet gets taken out, an armful or two of fresh straw and Bob's your Uncle, doors swept back. That's it. I don't do banks, or deep beds.

:D Everyone I know is absolutely horrified that I just bung on gloves and flip dung into a bucket, Canadians prefer to faff about with a brush/shovel/fork and a muck rake - why:confused: It takes 10 times longer and still leaves bits. Same with pooh picking, what's with the brush and dustpan job? Quad, trailer, bucket and gloves - if I absolutely have to do it that is ;)
 
Oh if it's just a skip-a-poo-out-at-end-of-visit I just scoop it onto a shavings fork and flip it onto the muck heap!
I always start bang in the middle of the stable and work towards the wall, then to the left, then to the right.
Very odd!!!
And I find it funny how I can muck out two horses on straw bed, totally different! I always have to remove the waters, sweep round and refill them then replace them AFTER the bed is back down :)
K x

P.S Can't have nets over water either!!!!!
 
well every month there is a bill that goes out and it means I never see a poo :D

Seriously though, when I do muck pout (rarely these days) I do pretty much the same as the first one, poo's out, clean straw to the left and pull out the wet. However I turn the banks.
 
KellysHeroes said:
Oh if it's just a skip-a-poo-out-at-end-of-visit I just scoop it onto a shavings fork and flip it onto the muck heap!
I always start bang in the middle of the stable and work towards the wall, then to the left, then to the right.
Very odd!!!
And I find it funny how I can muck out two horses on straw bed, totally different! I always have to remove the waters, sweep round and refill them then replace them AFTER the bed is back down :)
K x

P.S Can't have nets over water either!!!!!
Click to expand...

I can't have nets over water either . . . that's just wrong. And I never remove his water bucket until I've finished his bed otherwise the tyre it sits in ends up filling up with straw - dirty or clean - and that drives me bonkers.

Mad isn't it?

P
 
Feed buckets out
Gloves on and hand pick out all droppings
Then fork all clean bedding (cardboard) to one wall (changes daily)
Sweep floor clean to remove tiny bits of bedding and dust
Either put bed back or leave up for the day, depends on evening plans
Haynets out and chucked in bottom of barrow
Water buckets out, scrubbed, refilled and put back
Skips into barrow, go to muck heap
Then round to hay barn to fill nets
Nets hung up outside stables to be put in last thing when I leave at night

30and minutes max and I am obsessive about very clean, dust free, tidy boxes!
 
2 of mine are on wood pellets , and the third one is such a dirty bugger hes on rubber mats with a tiny bit of pellets for his wee in his wee ing place.

The 2 on full beds are poos lifted out with a shavings fork, then rake whole bed, sides to middle and fluff up mixing the dry in, then sweep the front, and in the big stable the side as well. Add a new bag or 2 once a week,

The dirty whotsit on rubber, its literally sweep the whole lot out into the corridor, then put it in barrow with a shovel, (i swear he has a party every night, there isnt a whole poo in there, its all broken up). If it very bad then hose the whole thing down and sweep again. Then another half bag of pellets in his wee place ready for him to trash it that night. He takes longer than the other two together.
 
Our girls are opposite each other so the 'aisle' in between is our responsibility - this HAS to be wet before I sweep it, I just find it so much easier! And for some reason I'll do it before I start the stables, then in between the two stables then again at the end! :confused: hooves must be picked outside before the first sweep :)
Buckets are scrubbed every few days, and 2 haynets HAVE to be tied together left outside each stable with a feed for that night and next morning.
K x
 
I'm so glad I'm not alone on the sweeping thing! Everyone at my old yard used to think I was mad!

I also cannot have haynets over water, or over the bed. Hay in the bed is a huuuuuuuge no-no! :eek:
 
KellysHeroes said:
I was pondering the other day whilst mucking out (isn't mucking out a typical time to get you thinking!) how everyone has different styles...how do you do yours? (a la Creme Egg advert!)



In Pebbles (cleaner), I clear the visible poos and start to move the clean straw - but to 3 sides of the stable. The bankings don't get moved in Pebbles' stable, the poos just go in the barrow along with any wet patches. Middle is swept and barrow'd. The old straw becomes part of the bankings then new straw fills the empty space in the centre.

How do you poo-pick yours? :D
K x
Click to expand...
Ditto to that, exactly that. I love straw as bedding, prob as it's what i'm used to. My sister is always banging on at how great shavings are, so tried them, thought there was more, rather than less work in mucking them out, so back to the old relaible!!!
 
Ron gets poo removed (it's in two piles...) then worst of the wet taken out, banks taken to top up the bed, then more pellets put down on the banks.

Tom gets about the cacky bits taken out of where-ever he's flung it, then the bed topped up and put back together! :)
 
Dolly is on shavings.

I remove obvious poos to the doorway. Most of the floor of the bed gets thrown onto the bankings, leaving just any wet, which gets dug up and put to the door.

Bankings get thrown up, more poos removed. The bankings redone and surplus bankings shavings become the new floor.

Then 1/3 to 1/2 a bag of shavings down, levelled, and done.

All poos and wet are barrowed away, and then I sweep, sweep, sweep!!!!

And wrap the lead rope. Because daughter has serious OCD about her lead ropes not being wrapped!!!!

If I do a good job (and probably have a chat during the muck out at some point) it'll take me 1/2 hour. BEST 1/2 hour of my "working" day!!!! Chills me right out after a nasty day in my office - generally I deal with less ***** in Dolly's stable than I do in my "day job"!!!!

:D
 
My boy is on shavings so I just lift the poo (he's a good boy and rarely buries it or tramps it around) and the lift the wet since he helpfully always pees in the same place and then tidy the banks and level them off. I only pull the banks down about once a week as pony is special and gets cast (or at least he would if it wasn't for his roller) so I try to keep the banks as solid as possible. Then everything gets neatly swept back and every speck of dirt outside the stable must be lifted too :D
 
Mine are on shavings.
I remove haynets and water buckets.
Put on rubber glove and pick up all the poo.
I then throw all the clean bedding up the sides of the stable until just the wet patches are left. These get swept up and removed.
Floor is then swept before pulling bedding back down.
Throw some bedding around the sides of the stable to make banks.
Fresh bedding added as needed - usually around 1 bale per week.
Front of stable is swept back to front of bed. Water buckets filled and put in followed by haynets.
Finally I sweep up outside the stable.
Takes me on average 20 mins per stable :)
 
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At speed! Buckets out, then whole droppings from the top, then go through bed from right to left, throwing dirty into barrow, clean onto banks. On straw so use long handled fork. Then use shavings fork to scrape bits together before sweeping floor spotless. Takes about 8 mins, including refilling waters, feeds, sweeping up, emptying barrow, putting hay in, & putting a few leaves of straw down on the banks. Then put bed down in the evening, have to do perfectly level banks & even bed cos I'm anal like that, takes 2 mins.
 
I take out the visible poo and then if throw the shavings up at the back wall and tackle the wet if I'm doing a full muck out or if I'm just skipping out, i'll flatten the bed out.
I then sweep the front of the stable into the bed.
I then do haynets and water last.
 
Oooo I am a fellow fanatical sweeper :o mine is on wood pellets and she is very clean :D

Mare out she has a tendency to nibble my bum if I try mucking out around her :confused:
Bed swept back
6/7 Poo's out with fynalite fork
Clean Bedding scraped back around 1 wee then wet removed.
Bedding turned over, mixed in
If I need any extra bought down from banks which are always squared / levelled off.
Quick sweep back and crap / scraps of hay to door, remove with dust pan and brush and voila!!
Area to front of stable always swept before I leave yard :D always come back to yard and someone hasn't picked there horses feet and the bits are always over my nicely swept area, so sweeping re commences :rolleyes:
 
Mine's on rubber matting with a square of straw (big enough to lie on) but he still spreads it everywhere. I fork up all the dry straw and pile it into a corner at the front then sweep up all the rest (wet straw and poo) to put in barrow. Then a chuck a bucket of water on the bit where the straw was (as horse pees on it all night) and sweep it down the back drains. If it smells really bad then I add a little bit of cheapo own brand apple shampoo in the water first ;) I hate mine being on semi-box rest, hate mucking out! Got a new horse coming next week who will need to be stabled whilst 'taught' to be turned out too!
 
I just throw the poo's in the barrow, chuck all the clean straw to the back, turn the emiddle bit of the bed over, throw all the wet stuff in the barrow, pull the bed down sort of flat and a quick sweep at the front. Takes about 5 mins and its probabaly not pretty to watch! I turn over the banks once a week and sweep the rubber mats too.
 
My two boys have different habits, but are both very easy to muck out. One poos in the same place virtually all the time (back wall, to the right) and pees just alongside. Unless he's had a disco, it takes me about 10 minutes to muck him out, even with my obsessive sweeping and ridiculous attention to detail. I always remove all the wet daily.

My small boy is neat too, and by virtue of the fact that he was once on prolonged x-tied box rest due to a fracture, he tends to poo mainly right in front of the door and off the bed entirely! Just the occasional one sneaks on, which happens to be in the same place as he pees anyway.

Like other posters, I can't abide hay over water or bed, and I actually enjoy sweeping up outside the stables too. I can almost say I love mucking out ... :o
 
My mare gets wood pellets and then straw on top, as i think it looks comfy :D

So, haynet(s) out, water bucket out, take obvious poo out, start taking all the dry straw to the front of the stable, tidy up the wood pellets and then put the straw back down with banks and then add new straw to the middle :D
 
Half bed, rubber at the front.

Fling all droppings onto rubber at front, lift worst of wet out, level bed, level banks.

Sweep the front, shovel in barrow, fill waters whilst filling hayners, turnout and take wheelbarrow to muck heap simultaneously. 12 mins start to finish usually, including changing rugs.
 
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