Mucking out a shavings bed?

W

Wizpopagain

Well-Known Member
Joined
31 March 2025
Messages
59
Visit site
How do you do yours? Asking because I hate waste and I always seem to end up throwing out a lot of clean bedding using a shavings fork!
I remember years ago doing a lot of it with rubber gloves to pick up the poo instead of a fork- just the one horse to do so didn’t take too long - saved a lot of wasted bedding too! Anyone else do it this way or have any tips for not wasting beddding?
 
I use a lightweight plastic head wooden handled large ‘snow shovel’ and a smaller flat metal coal/ash hand shovel. Using the smaller shovel corners to flick and pull poops onto the larger shovel to dispose into wheelbarrow. The larger snow shovel easily holds a full horses poop!

Exactly like this shovel….got it from my local agri store:

TRUE TEMPER POLY GRAIN SCOOP SHOVEL D/H – National Agrochemical Distributors Ltd. (NAD Ireland)

www.nad.ie www.nad.ie

And hand shovel like this:

IMG_9729.jpeg



I have a shavings fork but after a couple of go’s with it, realised it was terrible for the job, as the shavings dry-out the poop a bit (especially if buried in a fluffy shavings bed) so when you shake the shavings fork to hopefully shake the shavings off it leaving just the poop, the poop balls would also break apart and fall through the fork teeth onto the bed making more of a mess than before! With outrage at the cost and inefficiency it’s been un-used in a damp corner for years. Occassionally madness strikes me and I have another go, forgetting how it could be so useless, only to be reminded with the first go.
They might work better with sawdust/wood pellets, but the horses do best with a non-dusty shavings topped bed.
 
Rake and poop scoop to remove 💩, shavings fork for wet and to throw clean and dry up banks and remove any poop that falls down banks that's been missed. Sweep up any wet and any mess at front of stable. Re-lay the bed. Hay, water, final sweep and done.
 
Rubber gloves and bucket here! I used to do it this way 20 odd years ago, had a break and back into it the last 5yrs and nobody seems to do it this way now! I much prefer it as you have less wasted shavings/bedding. It also depends on the flake size I think.

I sometimes also use a skip and small rake as above mentioned, thats also quite efficient
 
I use rubber gloves and pick out poo into a trug. Shavings fork, broom and scoop for the wet. In summer this takes 10-15 mins and I can have the poo cleared by the time my horse has finished his breakfast. In winter it takes a bit longer as turnout is shorter.

If I have my friend's horse it's shavings fork all the way - he has elephantine piles of poo.
 
Bobthecob15 said:
Rubber gloves and bucket here! I used to do it this way 20 odd years ago, had a break and back into it the last 5yrs and nobody seems to do it this way now! I much prefer it as you have less wasted shavings/bedding. It also depends on the flake size I think.

I sometimes also use a skip and small rake as above mentioned, thats also quite efficient
Click to expand...
Think we must be of the same era!
 
Fluffypiglet said:
I’m old school too and like gloves for shavings bed. You can get all the little bits up and make it look beautiful… (I miss a shavings bed) 😁
Click to expand...
Yes you can! I use Burlybed miscanthus and it’s very easy to poo pick this way, to be fair the fork also works as the flakes are so small they do fall through…but gloves is quicker for the poo
 
It depends on which of my two horses that I'm mucking out really -

If I'm mucking out Baggs my old lad, I tend to use the bucket and glove method as he is quite clean in his stable.

However, if I'm mucking out Rabbit my youngster, I tend to use the shavings fork and wheelbarrow method. Rabbit is just as clean as Baggs in the stable but his poos are so much bigger, and Rabbit tends to poo in just the one spot, so it means I have a massive pile of poop to pick up in the one spot 🤣

If I had to pick the one method, I'd go with bucket and glove as you can get every last bit out and have your bed looking sparkling for all of 5 minutes before our darlings come in and trash it aha!
 
I am hopeless at mucking out, but when he was on a shavings bed I couldn't get on with an ordinary shavings fork. I ot hold of one of these, madelife very easy, nothing seemed to fall of the sides, no escapee poo's! Sorry thats huge!



1760728479080.png1760728479080.png
 
It totally depends on the horse.
If you’d tried to poo pick Polly’s stable with gloves, you’d have lost the will to live (box walker who mulched everything)

I generally find just using a shavings fork easiest. There’s a technique to it but it’s far faster than anything else in my opinion.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top