Mucking out - what do you think - how many stables per day?

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Summer pudding

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How many stables is it reasonable to ask staff to muck out per day? Smart, clean well run yard...but horses are not turned out in bad weather. Yard staff have other duties too, i.e putting horses on walker, lunging etc. Working day 8:00 - to 5:00 with lunch break..What do you think?
 
I currently work on a yard that has 13 horses. 8 of which are currently in at night and also in in bad weather sometimes a couple are in if riding etc. Later on in the year another 2 will come in. At the moment I'm mucking out those 8 stables, as well as taking them out to feilds and bringing back in, as well as making feeds up, tidying up the yard and anything else i'm asked to do, when the other two come in I will be expected to muck those out too. I work from 8am-6/7pm. I can have a break whenever I want as long as it's not when owners are on yard.
 
If the owners are paying for their horses to be mucked out/skipped out, then they should be mucked out/skipped out as needed, imo. Especially when stood in. Skipping out should be done several times each day, depending on horse's needs, mucking out fully/making up beds depends on system I suppose - whether deep littering, etc. Certainly no horse should be left standing in a dirty box though :)
 
I guess it depends on the workers, plus other things like how far it is to the muck heap, nearest tap etc. Used to take me a couple of hours to do 8 stables, longer if the horses were in them but everything was very conveniently set up there. Also depends on what else the people have to do
 
When i worked on a yard there were 15 stables plus two pens with 2 and 3 horses in them.
I was often left alone so had to muck out all, hay, water and get haynets ready for the evening and lunge a couple before lunch time.
 
I would say 10-15 mins a stable, and it will depend how many go in the walker. It takes about 15 mins to change over a full 5 horse walker with new horses. I would also say that your hours are pretty short if you have a big yard. I am currently working 7-5/5:30 with 2 of us and 15 horses.
 
We work 8-5ish, there are 2-4 of us doing 21 stables, however the walk to the fields can be up to 20mins and the yard is very spread out. We also teach from 9am and have to get get horses in and ready for that. I guess on average I normally muck out 6 stables plus my own a morning and 2 at night as some are out at night still.
 
I'd work on the basis of 12 horses if the job is just mucking out, sweeping & turn out (or walker in lieu in bad weather )

Add in grooming, lunging, riding, tack cleaning - or particularly excessive standards, and this number would reduce accordingly.

I used to work on a pro yard with immaculate standards. I had 6 horses, of which I would ride 2, tack up / wash off the other 4 for rider and each horse would also walker/treadmill each day. They were hot clothed daily, tack cleaned, and the yard swept non stop! That would keep me busy 7.30 - 6!!
 
Giving a general time for mucking out is impossible. It depends on so many things.
Some people's interpretation of mucking out is literally just that. Others consider it includes washing buckets, refilling water, making up haynets, stacking muck heap etc etc.
Does it include feeding, rug changing,turning out etc.
Also depends on bed. Rubber mats with a sprinkle of shavings, deep litter poo picking and straighten up, straw bed having a full lift, stacked at edge, floor swept and put back down after airing for several hours, and loads of other types.
Size and quality of barrow, distance and terrain to muck heap, owners preference to muck heap maintenance.
House proud horse or dirty pig.

The differences are enormous, as I say, impossible to estimate a time scale. Anything from 5 mins to half an hour per stable/horse.
 
I've worked on yards where I've had 30 horses to muck out, water, hay in a day on my own. But standards were not very high, with that sort of number you cannot keep up high standards through an entire winter, you get too run down. Most people can manage a huge yard on a short term basis, it is managing it over an prolonged period that causes problems as there is no time to catch up after an emergency, or pop out to feed store for something or have a slightly slow day as you are under the weather or anything like that.

IMHO I would say if staff were expected to muck out, skip out, hay, water, lunge and keep facilities nice, around 6 to 8 horses each would be reasonable. But that would also allow for odd days of reduced staff numbers for holiday and sickness where others picked up a heavier load.
 
When I worked on a yard I had at least 8 horses to muck out (and they were all filthy pigs!), sweeping, waters, haynets and feeds. On top of that; riding, teaching, grooming/tacking up for lessons, turn out & bring in, skipping out and helping the other workers finish off their horses if a busy day. Some days it would be 10-15 horses, if not more.

That was an 8-5.30 day, usually.
 
I used to work 8 till 12.30 and do 9 muck outs thats water and hay nets for each horse some turnouts and sweep the yard, another yard we used to do 5 muck outs but they were full livery so skip out mid morning and pm if they are in, but the fields were quite far so used to take ages to turn out and bring in. I must admit I struggled with doing 9 in a morning and often went over my time doing 5 or 6 was about the right amount I think if they are to be done properly.
 
I used to work in a yard where there were 48 stables between 3. Including feeding, turnout, catching, sweeping yard etc. It was hard work but very doable.
I used to muck out my 9 at home after work. That was harder when you factor in dark, hunger and tiredness. I would think 12 is a fine number to muck out if its your day job. Including the usual turnout, feed, hay, etc.

As someone else mentioned it depends in the individual horses. I had one super clean mare that I could muck out perfectly in 3 minutes. She poo'd and wee'd neatly in one tiny corner and never disturbed the banks or bed. Another horse was so manky it could take 30 minutes to make the stable look reasonable. If I had ten of those i'd be crying
 
I used to work at a riding school which didnt teach in the week only weekends, my job was to take care of the horses mon- fri i worked 8-6 had anything from 4 -12 horses who lived in with just 1-2 hours turn out in a small side paddock plus another 15-20 living out plus i had at least 2 to exercise daily and clean used tack, all horses in had to be groomed daily. I was expected to keep the yard spotless at all times and wash away any stains. the ponies i was to big for had to be fetched in and groomed and a young girl used to execise them.

Alongside this i had to meet customers who came to by the eggs form the yard and feed and take care of the chickens. I also took calls for his lorry business lol. kept me very busy ! :)

After this i ran a full livery yard with 24 full liveries and had two satff under me ;)
 
There are a lot of factors. You could muck out loads if they are on a sprinkle of shavings and rubber mats, or half beds, but if a horse has a decent bed or banks, and you scrub buckets etc then it would take longer.

In general, on a yard where horses have decent beds, and you are also doing haynets, changing rugs, turning out/putting on a walker, sweeping yards and other jobs such as riding or teaching, then six horses is about rignt. If there are a few of you, all of you are only mucking out and doing nets/waters and sweeping, but no other jobs, then yes, more would be fine (but what a boring job!). Those people who are doing well over 12 horses a day and riding too etc, are not in the best jobs IMO!
 
On average allow perhaps a set time per bed, with a lot of horses it will average out, so maybe 15 mins per stable for a reasonable standard plus making sure the horses have hay and water?

It sounds like the kind of yard where it would be easier to continually skip out (check every hour with a barrow for poos) and get them before they get scattered, rather than doing a big clearup twice a day.

Not sure if this works in a groom's world, but I think if you expect people to muck out endlessly with no variety you will have a high staff turnover, so perhaps do rotations of tasks to keep it a touch more interesting. So one person does hay and water while the other mucks out for an hour, then swap... and vary it more with the grooming, turning out etc. OK none of it is fabulously interesting, but better than endlessly dealing with poo.
 
When I cover at my yard I have 11 stables to do (quite a few of the horses are in a lot so they're a bit grotty). Everything is quite spaced out but I generally don't have that many to the turn out and bringing in. I usually have a mountain of haynets to fill as well. I can't do it (and sweep the large cobbled yard) in less than 2.5-3 hours and make a decent job of it. It all depends on what you need to do. Does it include adding bedding, trips to the muck heap, washing buckets etc?
 
Embo said:
When I worked on a yard I had at least 8 horses to muck out (and they were all filthy pigs!), sweeping, waters, haynets and feeds. On top of that; riding, teaching, grooming/tacking up for lessons, turn out & bring in, skipping out and helping the other workers finish off their horses if a busy day. Some days it would be 10-15 horses, if not more.

That was an 8-5.30 day, usually.
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This what I used to do also. I often started at 7am before the others so I could get mine done too (thankfully quick and easy!).
 
My boss likes the staff to spend around 20 mins per stable, although obviously a tidy pony will be quicker to do that a big messy horse. That time is to include putting some clean bedding in every day, cleaning the water drinker, scrubbing the feed manger and removing any cobwebs from the walls.
 
I had 13 boxes to do plus hay and water .. Plus sweep very large concrete area ..plus sweep walker and empty school skip buckets ..all in 2 hours ..for £15 per day ..and to be honest I struggled .. And making people work that hard .. People burn out .. I did it for 5 months .. Never called in sick and always early never ever late .. I worked so hard and was never even offered a coffee !! I'm not at all work shy but I just found it to hard to fit in that time frame and work to a good standard ! I needed an extra 1/2 hour really but they wouldn't pay me for it :(
 
When I used to work at a livery yard, if be expected to full muck out around 5/6 horses in the morning - that included washing water buckets, doing haynets etc as well then the afternoon was spent making haynets, poo picking, grooming, brushing yard etc. everything was done to a very high standard there though and all horses had full deep beds that needed to be spotless and the yard and horses were immaculate.

When I worked at a riding school who were always incredibly understaffed, one record day when no staff or helpers turned up we had to sort about 45 horses between 2 of us so I mucked out around 23 stables that day (as best I could in the time I had) as well as tacking/untacking in between lessons and turning out/bringing in... hence why I do not work with horses anymore... Didn't get one thanks that day!!
 
I'm currently mucking out 9 on average each day. Nightmare! Messy things, in 22 hours mainly. What really slows me down is emptying the wheelbarrow - miles away, up a hill too. Carrying 2 or 3 water buckets for their water mangers per stable from one tap isn't easy either. I do that, often feed 4 separate paddocks, catch in another 4, change rugs and either put 4 or 5 on the walker or ride and lead one lot for about 45 mins, all done in 3 hours. (sometimes I run over by a fraction) I feel I'm not slow, and sweat buckets rushing around.

Trouble is, I'm now not enjoying it as my boss is never very happy with what I do and my efforts. Kinda feel what it the point of trying. Sure others out there are much more thankful. So, on that note, I'm finishing at Christmas, which is sad as I really DID love the job.
 
Fools Motto said:
I'm currently mucking out 9 on average each day. Nightmare! Messy things, in 22 hours mainly. What really slows me down is emptying the wheelbarrow - miles away, up a hill too. Carrying 2 or 3 water buckets for their water mangers per stable from one tap isn't easy either. I do that, often feed 4 separate paddocks, catch in another 4, change rugs and either put 4 or 5 on the walker or ride and lead one lot for about 45 mins, all done in 3 hours. (sometimes I run over by a fraction) I feel I'm not slow, and sweat buckets rushing around.

Trouble is, I'm now not enjoying it as my boss is never very happy with what I do and my efforts. Kinda feel what it the point of trying. Sure others out there are much more thankful. So, on that note, I'm finishing at Christmas, which is sad as I really DID love the job.
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Blimey. That is good going. Your employers sound pretty ungrateful.

I currently do 8 horses that are in 21 hours a day. I wouldn't want to do more. I skip all of them out, feed and muck out and turn out the first two before I have breakfast. Have a quick cup of tea and breakfast before doing the next four in around one and a half hours. Then finally the last two when they go out in the afternoon. I generally keep skipping out all of the horses all day as and when I'm on the yard and topping up haylage. The muck heap is around 200 yards away, so the barrows take me nearly as long as the mucking out probably.

I'm not sure I want to be doing this any more. Not now my own two are out of action. It's all work and no play.
 
It depends on your stables, the dirtiness of the horses and what you are bedded on. In my last horrendous job, I was expected to do 20 full straw boxes with some of those horses on box rest, three lots on the walker, turning out with took half an hour minimum between 2 of us in 3 hours, with the yard blown and everything away at the end of that. It rarely happened and was soul destroying as if we wanted to get it done (they were full muck out every day) you had to cut corners, I was told I was lazy and slow for the first time in 10 years of working with horses and having always been praised in previous jobs for being efficient and hardworking, I left! Funnily enough after leaving the person who took over told me that they were now allowed 5 hours to do all of that.
In my currently job, at the moment we have 3/4 beds of shavings with the odd straw box, 15 boxes, 3 lots on the walker, horses to check and feed outside and we get that done in 3 hours, skip out on Tuesday and Thursday and weekends, full muck out 3 times a week and the beds always look immaculate.
 
Wagtail said:
Blimey. That is good going. Your employers sound pretty ungrateful.

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She has been very ungrateful of late, to the point it is starting to make me feel ill with the lack of sleep worrying about what she will say to me next. Today alone was a nightmare, had so much to do and not nearly enough time. If I run over my 3 hours, then I won't get paid for anything extra, unless it is with permission. I used to be so keen to go to work, and really knew my stuff, now I feel like a shell. Tomorrow will be horrid too, because of 'how slow' I was today... had to be slow to be a whole hour over my allotted time?? and I didn't finish the muck heap... all hell will break lose over the muck heap.
Better get that job I've got an interview for on Friday, then I can leave this job early. I will miss the horses though, like to think I had a report with all of them... all 30 odd!
 
If your only getting paid for three hours, do three hours of work!!!

When I have been on mucking out, could probably do 8 in a full day. To included full muck out of straw beds, leave air to get to floor, and then bed down later.

Of course it all depends on how large the stables are, what they are bedded on, and how far away is the muck heap...
 
I work on a yard similar to the one OP described but with more stables and more horses. I muck out anywhere between 12-15 boxes per day. We have wood pellet bedding and rubber matting so it is nice and quick to muck out.
 
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