Mucking out - is there an art to it???

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LouLou3

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I was so amazed by the help I got yesterday re: feed that I thought I'd ask you all for some more help today...someone does my boy for me in the mornings - but they only feed him and turn him out...then they bring him back in in the evenings about 4 and I get to his stable about 7 to sort him out.

By this time he has wrecked his bedding...

He's on shavings at the moment but I am swapping to eco bedding next week so hopefully that will be a bit more economical and a bit cleaner but at the moment I seem to be doing a full muck out every evening...

Can anyone recommend a good routine for mucking out please?
 
If I understand correctly your horse is not mucked out in the morning, he is just turned out and the brought back in the dirty stable in the evening. When you get there at 7 you muck him out. Is that right?

If it is, I am afraid I don't know any tips for making this easier. You will need to muck out fully at least once a day, which you seem to be doing at 7. Unfortunately you may find that by then he has trashed his bed.

Mine are chucked out first thing and I muck them out soon after. I find the stables are quite clean if the horses are turned out as soon as possible. They come in at 2 to be ridden, they are skipped out at around 5 when we're finished riding and they are fed, and then they are skipped out again at 10 when I do final checks and feeds.

You can try deep litter. Personally I am not a fan because of the horrible amonia smell and it is a lot of work to finally clear out the bed, but it may make your life easier in the winter.
 
I think even a clean horses stable would be wrecked in this situation.

My horse goes out late morning most days, after exercise. However, I fully muck out first. He is also brought in pm, and I have to skip out again after the morning stand in etc. I couldn't manage my stable at all if I left it until the evening only.

So my only advice to you would be, go and do your horse am and pm.


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I am a big fan of rubber matting with shavings - you use fewer shavings because of the matting which speeds things up considerably.

Where I used to volunteer, they used to use rubber matting and shavings - I would do a muck out in the morning, removing droppings and soiled shavings. The old shavings that weren't soiled were swept to the back of the stable to form a small bank, and then after the horse had been worked a fairly light sprinkling of shavings went over the rest of the floor to absorb urine. This seemed to work quite well and was not too labour intensive, and fairly speedy.

Personally I am not keen on deep litter, but each to their own - there are many people not keen on rubber matting as well. However this is my preferred method, and is how I plan to keep my horse when I eventually get one
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I am a big fan of rubber matting with shavings - you use fewer shavings because of the matting which speeds things up considerably.

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I have rubber matting - but unfortunately don't seem to use any fewer bales per week.......
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I think your problem could lie in what your horse has to eat between coming in and your getting there at 7pm. If he is able to stand and eat he is less likely to walk around the box and mix all the muck in.
I am a bit concerned by the people who sound as if they muck out while the horse is in the stable (maybe I've misunderstood?) as that is an accident waiting to happen. In your case I would ask the person who brings him in to put plenty of hay in for him. You could leave a haynet ready, although I would ask her to take the hay out, 'cos I hate them. Then when you get there you could take him out of the box and give him his feed, muck out while he is out of the box and then give him the rest of his ad lib hay. I find that if you have plenty of bedding down the bed is easier to manage. The trouble with horse ownership is that so much of it is trial and error because every horse is different. You just have to experiment until you find what works for you, bearing in mind that so long as the horse is happy and healthy, the most important thing you have to do is go to work and be able to do your job properly because that is the only way you can afford to keep him. Other people's routines will not necessarily work for you.
 
if they're mucked out first thing(ours are on shavings and in all the time in winter) and regularly skipped out there shouldn't be a problem, but thats just how we do things here.(i hate seeing dollops of droppings in the boxes, usually just after they've been done!)
 
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I am a bit concerned by the people who sound as if they muck out while the horse is in the stable (maybe I've misunderstood?) as that is an accident waiting to happen.

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My horse is not in any danger of damaging himself with my rubber gloves, nor my rubber skip bucket. Fear not!!!!
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The trouble with horse ownership is that so much of it is trial and error because every horse is different. You just have to experiment until you find what works for you, bearing in mind that so long as the horse is happy and healthy, the most important thing you have to do is go to work and be able to do your job properly because that is the only way you can afford to keep him. Other people's routines will not necessarily work for you.

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Very true and very sensible
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I wouldn't advocate mucking out with a horse in the box either, apart from anything else they get in the way
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Sally, the place I volunteered at was a fairly cash-strapped city farm, so when I say a light sprinkling of shavings, I mean a really light sprinkling
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I've skipped out with horses in the stable for 10 years and never had a problem. I use a bucket on wheels sort of thing I can pull with one hand and is easy to get out of the way, but the horses quickly learn to move out of my space, as they should do all the time!
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thanks guys I've just spoken to the person who helps me out and reshuffled things a bit so they will muck out in the mornings - I can then poo pick when I arrive and hopefully that will help to keep him a bit cleaner - I've also asked them to make sure he has his hay net when they get him in in the evenings - hopefully that will help the situation x
 
the only art to it is that the more frequently you do it, the cleaner the stable will be and the more bedding you'll save (because they won't mix clean and dirty stuff)!
some horses are clean, some are filthy. not much you can do about that.
if your lad is only mucked out when you get there in the evenings, then i don't think there's much you can do, other than see if you can pay a few pounds a day to have the stable skipped out (or mucked out fully) after they've turned him out, so that he comes back into a relatively clean stable.
 
Yep I've accepted I was seriously deluded by thinking there was anything I could do to make things easier and still do him in the evenings...if I could do him in the mornings I would but its impossible with work but hopefully now things should be easier. Bit worried I'm not paying the person who is helping me enough though - they do their own horse at the same time so not making a special visit and they will muck him out - feed him (which will already be prepared in his bucket) and then turn him out - 4 days a week we've arranged £25 squids - is that enough do you think?
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I am a big fan of rubber matting with shavings - you use fewer shavings because of the matting which speeds things up considerably.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have rubber matting - but unfortunately don't seem to use any fewer bales per week.......
frown.gif


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I must admit I am finding the same. Still using 2 - 3 bales a week
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QR, I always muck out around my horse. Done the same with every horse I have ever owned and have absolutely never had a problem or accident. Apart from Star finding it hysterical to pull/knock things over if I take my eyes off her, just attention seeking stuff though
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Not sure that I would trust somebody else's horse so much though.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I am a big fan of rubber matting with shavings - you use fewer shavings because of the matting which speeds things up considerably.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have rubber matting - but unfortunately don't seem to use any fewer bales per week.......
frown.gif


.

[/ QUOTE ]

I must admit I am finding the same. Still using 2 - 3 bales a week
frown.gif


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Ditto. I'ts bankruppting me.....

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I know it is 8squids/day for full mucking out (as an additional serivce booked on an ad-hoc basis) where share horsey is in a relatively expensive area so 25/4 days could be about right.

I think the mucking out with horse in stable probably depends a lot on horse & tools used. There is NO WAY I could turn my back on share horsey for even a second without him wanting to join in. Picking riding crops & curry combs up in his mouth is fine but he could be (potentially fatally!) injured by, say, a straw fork so I'd *never* put one down for a second in a stable with him. Skipping out with a rubber bucket & gloves/shovel only I'm more relaxed about. :-)
 
I dont see the problem with mucking out whilst horse is in the stable - provided the stable is big enough and the person is sensible.

I have done it for years - how on earth could you cope with a horse on box rest otherwise?

As for mucking out once a day, it really does depend on when you muck out, when the horse is turned out and brought in. If I go in the morning I turn out and muck out straight away to leave mats to air and dry. If I am going in the evening, they will come in around 6ish and then I will muck out at 8pm. It is no more worse than mucking out in the morning, except that the mats wont have more than an hour or so to air and dry (they do dry quickly though - 34 mm EVA mats).

One of my horses is absolutely filthy and he is relatively easy to muck out - you just take everything in the middle out. There is no point try to sift through, he has mashed it all in together. He is a lot cleaner on straw though, so you might try experimenting with different bedding.

Like others have said, I cant stand deep littering but if you were to deep litter, there are loads of bedding that would be more suitable than shavings, such as acquamax, aubiose etc etc that you could look into.
 
Yeah I agree with you all you need to be sensible and I do tie him up with a haynet if I muck him out when he's in there - its a huge stable and he's happy plus he's a steady old boy so he really isn't fussed but I agree with everyone you have to know your horse - even if he weren't tied up he would still be SOoooo uninterested in what was happening around him! He eats straw so I have him on shavings...and defo wouldn't want to deep litter.
 
I have the same routine. Mine are turned out in the morning for me and bought in about 4. If they stay in, they are skipped out about 9.30 in the morning.

I get up the yard about 8 in the winter as I like to eat first or I have no energy in the cold weather. It is not a problem as they are given their ball and hay when they come in so are happy eating during this time.

I have found the best solution is rubber mats and LWP. The poo sits on top. I can do both beds in less than 15 minutes, including waters and going to the muck heap and I am sure a faster person would do it in 10.

My two do a huge amount of poo as they are fairly large - 15.1 cob and 16.2 clydessdale, and on ad lib hay and fibre diet.

I take out the wet twice a week and at the weekend add more bedding.

This may be your only answer - a bedding that sits firmly in place so poo does not get buried. My beds are about 4" deep and over the back half of the stable which gets round the dirty rugs and wet stables which can happen with mats.
 
ive got 2 small boys (both 11hh) that share a stable & small yard area nights, turned out all day.
they have full matted stable & i use paper bedding. only a thin covering over back third of the stable & it works fantastic for me.
i am only using about one bale of paper a week, i skip out mornings using rubber gloves once the boys are turned out & get bed ready for the eve, only takes about 10 mins a day & they have a really nice clean bed.
 
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