Mucking out with a bad back - best bedding/tools?

Oh yes, and another person I know with back issues uses those little garden rake things and a poo picking skip thingy and does her stable that way.
 
Woodpellets and a future fork have saved me. Have always struggled with my back and it was made worse last year after a bad fall. I do a full muck out every day and i don't struggle at all. My stables are rubber matted and my banks are big so i pull down bedding from the banks each day. I haven't found i heavy like i did with the shavings and the future fork is long enough so i don't have to bend down or twist.
 
tankgirl1 said:
Our muck heap is a small trailer so regardless of what you use who have to shovel it twice as you have to throw it up onto the trailer from the barrow which doesn't help!
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Is there any way round that? That would finish my back off. I can wheel my barrow up along a plank to the high part of the muck heap and then tip it.
 
Wood pellets are great and coupled with a plastic shavings fork means it’s light work. However if cost is an issue, there’s nothing wrong with a small bit of straw and mats. Save your back and your bank balance.
 
I had to deep litter on easibed when mine was really bad and I just took out the poo daily (that was bad enough when it was at its worst). I couldn't do straw without hurting all day.

Wednesday was take out the wet for my mare and Sunday for the gelding.

Soaked haynets and water buckets were my nemesis last winter though - I ache thinking about them.
 
I have a long handled muck fork which helps if my back is suffering from over use, and a long handled plastic snow shovel. Also have an Equispeedskip and a long handled rake which also minimises bending for just skipping out. Barrow isn't a problem for me but someone I knew passed a rope from one handle, round the back of his neck and to the other handle, meaning he didn't have to bend so much to pick up the handles. I use long straw on top of rubber mats which generally is fairly light to move
 
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Jellymoon said:
Oh yes, and another person I know with back issues uses those little garden rake things and a poo picking skip thingy and does her stable that way.
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I have a poo skip thing too and funnily enough just picked up a long handled kids garden rake from B&M this afternoon for £1.99 so hope fully that will help a bit!

Tiddlypom said:
Is there any way round that? That would finish my back off. I can wheel my barrow up along a plank to the high part of the muck heap and then tip it.
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Not really no, the only other way is to full a trug bucket and lift it up
 
I also have a bad back. It’s the heavy twisting and lifting of the pitch fork with the straw that sets it off. Bales of mixed chop straw/shavings and using rubber gloves to squat down and pick up the poo is easier for me.
 
I had a real good look at my stable last night. 3 slices of straw with 4 poos removed still looks ok amazingly and I scooped up all poos with my £1.99 B&M kiddy scoop...
 
Thick Eva mats & light covering of shavings. When my back was very bad for about 9 months I used to kneel and skip out the poo kneeling down with disposable gloves. Also I used Rocktape H2O Extra Sticky Waterproof Athletic Tape Kinesiology, this was a game changer for me and I think this is what got me on the road to recovery. You can shower in it and lasts around 5 days, gives you muscles support, I knew within 5 minutes of sticking this stuff on my back felt different. Good luck its pretty frustrating when you just want to get cracked on mucking out !
 
When you fit the hay bar you need it to be strong enough to withstand the horses neck rubbing along as they eat but not so strongly that it prevents them pulling off the wall if a horse jumps in them .
Also they need to be up off the floor with a gap at the back so you can easily brush them out as very nasty stuff builds up in the bottom you need to clean them out properly twice a week or they act as a nice sump for spores that your puts his head in and inhales .
 
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