Muck out once a day

abbijay

abbijay

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So my beloved horse is on part livery and in the winter goes out for about 3 1/2 hours daily. I have always gone down once a day in the evening after work to muck out. I'd love to go down twice but work/family/etc just makes it impossible. It never really bothered me as the stable gets a good clean daily (I know some part liveries on my yard do morning muck outs and an afternoon skip out but it just isn't going to happen for me).
I have a new sharer on at the moment and she visits him at lunchtime on her day. This means his stable is cleaned by 1.30pm on a Tuesday but then has to wait until 8pm on Wednesday for his next muck out with only 3 1/2 hours out in between. I'm well aware it's not the ideal situation but like everything it's a compromise.
I do feel both a bit cheesed off that it's such a long time between muck outs for him and that I end up with almost a day and a half of mucking out while she gets just over half a day to clear up.
Mince pies and winter spice Ribena for anyone with constructive thoughts!
 
When you say part livery, what does the yard do? It doesn't sound like they're mucking out at all? I'd expect them to do at least one end of the day for a part livery, although this means different things to different people. If it's not included, could you pay for a muck out in the morning?
 
annagain said:
When you say part livery, what does the yard do? It doesn't sound like they're mucking out at all? I'd expect them to do at least one end of the day for a part livery, although this means different things to different people. If it's not included, could you pay for a muck out in the morning?
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Sorry - Northern part livery doesn't include muck outs!
At £5 a muck out (with a young family) I can't really justify doing that every week that she comes.
 
Agree with the above, can you pay someone to at least skip out the droppings on Wednesday morning? I suppose if he is in a huge stable with a deep litter bed and he is a tidy horse it might not be too bad, but otherwise I should imagine the bed is minging by Wednesday evening.
 
Why not ask your sharer to pay for a muck/skip out either in the evening, or the following morning, assuming the service is offered? Or can your sharer muck out later than lunchtime?
 
Could you put your sharer's weekly price up by £5/week and use that to pay for yard to skip or muck out? That really is a long time to stand in a dirty stable and would make me feel uneasy :\
 
abbijay said:
Sorry - Northern part livery doesn't include muck outs!
At £5 a muck out (with a young family) I can't really justify doing that every week that she comes.
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It does in Yorkshire! What's actually included in your part livery service, OP?
 
annagain said:
When you say part livery, what does the yard do? It doesn't sound like they're mucking out at all? I'd expect them to do at least one end of the day for a part livery, although this means different things to different people. If it's not included, could you pay for a muck out in the morning?
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I'm afraid I would have said the same. I would hate for my horses to be in for that length of time without at least a quick skip out... when they are in I visit 2 or 3 times a day and tidy their beds. Is it £5 just to take the droppings out or for a full muck out? I find mine stay quite tidy if the poo is skipped out frequently, even if they are stuck in.
 
Peter7917 said:
Just one muck out isn't the end of the world :)
I only do one and nag is out similar amounts of time.
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depends on the horse then, my 2 would be absolutely vile going from lunchtime to 8pm the following day. Presumably someone is popping in hay, feeds and water in that time?
 
abbijay said:
I do feel both a bit cheesed off that it's such a long time between muck outs for him and that I end up with almost a day and a half of mucking out while she gets just over half a day to clear up.
Mince pies and winter spice Ribena for anyone with constructive thoughts!
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What arrangement did you make at the start of the share? Did you specify that she should muck out in the evening? If not then it's reasonable for the sharer to arrange her own day just as you arrange your day. If you did specify an evening muck out then you could have a chat with her. It reads like you think she is doing this deliberately so that she gets an easier time of mucking out than you do.
 
As long as he's well fed, watered etc and gets a good clean out on wednesday evening I wouldn't be losing sleep over it. If your sharer could muck out a little later than lunchtime that would be ideal but at the end of the day the difference between 1pm and 6pm is only five hours and probably one or two droppings. Don't beat yourself up, you seem to be a very concerned and caring owner and especially if he is deep littered he will survive perfectly happily.
 
Arzada said:
What arrangement did you make at the start of the share? Did you specify that she should muck out in the evening? If not then it's reasonable for the sharer to arrange her own day just as you arrange your day. If you did specify an evening muck out then you could have a chat with her. It reads like you think she is doing this deliberately so that she gets an easier time of mucking out than you do.
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Didn't mean it to come across like that, it's just that I feel guilty when I get there on a Wednesday and his stable is grotty so it takes me an extra 10 minutes to muck out. And no, I didn't specify a time of day that he must be mucked out - hopefully it'll get later as the daylight creeps back in.
 
Well it's not the end of the world in welfare terms but could I cope ,no I could cope with that .
We muckout am
Skip out all day
I remove wet skip out and tidy the beds early evening and skip out once but usually twice over the evening before I go to bed .
 
It isn't the end of the world and the horse will survive, but I do think it would be good practise to make arrangements for a horse to be fully mucked out one side of the day and skipped out the other if stabled for 20hours a day
 
milliepops said:
depends on the horse then, my 2 would be absolutely vile going from lunchtime to 8pm the following day. Presumably someone is popping in hay, feeds and water in that time?
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Mine has an enormous straw bed. He seems to bury muck so it always appears clean when you look in. He has a manger full of hay and a massive hay net full of hay. He is never without food. He only gets one small bucket of chaff with his balancer each day. His water buckets are never even less than half full.

He is normally out longer 7am-5pm but there are occasions he comes in early and his stable is never mank even after a long period.
 
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Mine was on full livery and came in at 1pm during Winter. I would always skip out in eve when I went to ride. Mine would be disgusting if only mucked out once a day with 3 1/2 hours turn out!
 
TRCequestrian said:
As long as he's well fed, watered etc and gets a good clean out on wednesday evening I wouldn't be losing sleep over it. If your sharer could muck out a little later than lunchtime that would be ideal but at the end of the day the difference between 1pm and 6pm is only five hours and probably one or two droppings. Don't beat yourself up, you seem to be a very concerned and caring owner and especially if he is deep littered he will survive perfectly happily.
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I think the OP said the horse goes from lunchtime one day to 8pm the following day.

Why does your sharer muck out at lunchtime, do they leave then? So, three options, ask sharer if they can come/muck out later; find a new sharer who will muck out in the evening; cough up the dosh for the yard to muck out.
 
Is your sharer paying you to ride and muck out your horse?
If that's the arrangement and you are satisfied with her abilities, then it really isn't the sharers problem but yours.
 
It will be fine - horse will survive!

You might just have to put a bit extra bedding and expect mucking out will take longer, but it will be fine! :)
 
Mine just get mucked out once a day, regardless of time and have never had a problem. Some days I'll go up at 11am and they'll get mucked out at 4pm the next day. Never had any issues!
 
Would not worry me that much. I'm a big bed type so my horses days of full livery (yo is not a good proper mucker out just lifts the poo - for £4 a day I don't question this in the slightest!!) he's a bit more dirty the next day but he does only get done once a day. He is however put from 7:30am - 4:30 so slightly different..

But yeah I wouldn't be loosing sleep as long as there is enough bed to not be standing in amonia. I can't tolerate a bed of half a bale of shavings cause "horse doesn't lie down anyway"

I wonder why..
 
As said I don't expect it will be detrimental to the horse particularly, other than thrush maybe?
If it were my horse I think the amount of extra bedding I'd need would pay for the yard staff to muck it out though (my horse is pretty dirty!)
 
I've only ever mucked out once a day, even on days like this when pony is in all day. I've never gone up twice to muck out a stable, perhaps popped up to put in hay and water if needed but never a full muck out twice a day.

I deep litter on shavings so only poo picking most days anyway. Dry top layer gets lifted twice a month and wet gets redistributed every so often or trimmed down. He's never on wet and bed always looks clean.
 
abbijay said:
No definitely part: horse is fed and hayed up as required, turned out and brought in, rugs changed, etc. I muck out, groom and ride.
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I would always have called that part-livery too - perhaps it is our location, as I'm Cheshire/ Derbyshire border? However, for a lot of people on here I think what you've described would be assisted DIY.
 
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