Poo Picking Rant!

At our place, you just get on a do it. If you refuse your pony will be turned out at the top, which is about a mile up the track at the top of the hill. Most people see the benefits of just getting on with it and doing their share then.
 
I love poo-picking. Well, OK, I don't LOVE it, but I don't dislike it. It's a necessary chore that I kind-of enjoy doing at least once a day. My horses usually have zero worm-counts so I'm not pumping them full of chemicals unless they need them and my paddocks look green and clean. I'm currently nursing six broken ribs, thanks to being thrown by a cob, but my husband stepped up and poo-picked from day one for me. The thing that makes me a REAL saddo is the fact that I started helping him every evening only 3 weeks after my accident :o (I considered it "mobilisation therapy" :D)
 
I poo pick everyday, I don't think the farmer would care if we didn't. I like doing it, it's a chance to check horses fencing etc. I see it as my daily work as I'm stuck indoors all day at work. Also, worm counts come back as zero and there are no patches of sour grass that horses won't eat.
 
Poo pick at the weekends but I'm a bit behind and struggling to catch up! 4 horses/ponies kept at home and turned out 24/7, really have to poo pick as we don't have lots of land. Have been ragworting as a priority as they seem to be appearing fast!
 
At my yard we have a sheet. Everyone about on that day is required to note if they poo-picked and how much. I always do my barrowful for my share pony unless I'm in a rush but then the next time I visit I make sure I do two to balance up. Don't mind doing it tbh. Only 5 horses at the yard so its kept reasonably on top of
 
I dont have to do it because its my own field but I do. As others have said, I check the fences and field as I go round,when my vet visited last time he asked if i poopicked as field so clean and was full of praise when I said yes.
 
I loan a horse who shares a field with a Pony and I go and poo pick his field even on days when I don't ride him. My little boy (18mnths old) has to sit outside his paddock in his buggy and big sister has to push him back and forth when I'm wheeling barrows of poop!

Maybe I should ask for a loan discount for clearing up after the two of them not just the one I loan!! hehe

If you don't want to clean up after your horse/pony then you shouldn't have one! It's not all just about riding them.
 
at my old yard, we had to do 3 barrows worth of poo a week and people did everything they could to avoid it.. in the end, the yard owners introduced fines to motivate everyone. definitely got their arses into gear after that! :)
 
Please do not get me started! I'm in a paddock with 3 others and I'm the only one who ever poopicks :(:mad:

I didn't touch the field for a week to see if they got sick of the sight of all of the poo, but they obviously like the look!:(
 
I poo pick in the summer when they are sectioned into smaller paddocks, but fields get harrowed and rolled at least once a year so dont worry too much.

ATM the field is too wet to drive the trailer over, and I'm not spending my time pushing a barrow that far! Besides more pressing things to do ATM, like keeping on top on the dratted ragwort :mad:
 
Sorry but I would only poo pick for my own horse/or equally shared with any other horses that my horse shares a pasture with. There is no WAY you would get me poo picking when it is someone elses responsibility, so why do people jump in and be the good Samaritans because certain people refuse to carry out their chores??? Don't do it is all I can say. Some people will take you for a mug for as long as you will gladly be one.
 
Ours are in mahossive fields on the side of a steep hill, in small herds (6 others in my horse's field). Poo picking is not necessary and would be next to impossible anyway.

I have been on yards with little paddocks before and poo picked, but I much prefer the system we have now, where they have plenty of space to roam :D
 
rhino said:
Ours are in mahossive fields on the side of a steep hill, in small herds (6 others in my horse's field). Poo picking is not necessary and would be next to impossible anyway.

I have been on yards with little paddocks before and poo picked, but I hate seeing horses on such pitiful areas of grazing.
Click to expand...

Lol it's the size of our fields combined with the hill which puts me off :D
 
The thing that gets on my nerves are the people that say they have done it after I have cleared it so the are picking up imaginary poo! I am sadly one of those that does way more than my fair share but I do enjoy it most of the time but those that don't do it get on my nerves....one person said they didn't have time as had to cook dinner etc!
 
When I was last at a livery yard my pony shared with one other horse. The other owner never ever picked up the poo. I always did it. She kept promising but never did it. The last time she offered to do it she said she would do it in August this was in May. She sold the horse before August came and I got a second horse. Poo picking is so much more pleasant when it is for your own and you are not annoyed every time you do it. There was no way I was going to refuse to do it though as my pony would have suffered as she still would not have done it had I just left it. Love not being on livery now.
 
I do way more than my fair share, but as our horses are out in small fields it's a necessity. What really frustrates me is the people who seem to think it's unnecessary and never lift a finger. In the mornings, if I'm not riding, I go in and get a barrow out and if I am riding, I take the barrow and fork out when I take the horse back out and get a barrow then - it takes me 10 minutes. Then at night when they have come in for their tea, I generally go and get another barrow. I don't like just standing around waiting for them to eat - I like to be doing something. I detest filthy paddocks. If they were in massive fields I wouldn't think it necessary, but they're not, so as far as I'm concerned, it's essential. I don't want my horses eating round their own crap, so yes I end up getting everyone elses as well, but that's how it goes. I just wish it would stop raining as the field is getting wet and the wheelbarrow is going to get stuck in the mud soon!
 
As a yard we poo pick daily as a rule. It takes an hour and 10 barrows to pick up poo from 19 horses, maybe a bit longer if the ground is very boggy or we are doing it alone.

Our paddocks are very boggy / hilly and it is blo*dy hard work, but the fields look so pretty once its done :) And its toning me up quite nicely!
 
Haha - some of these replies have made me giggle! :)

The frustrating thing is we do have a rota, just nobody bloody sticks to it.
It's done daily, twice daily recently. So, one person does every morning, and the two others do alternate nights. And as for the rest of them - see above! :D

Luckily, where we are we don't have a ragwort problem, I can only imagine the whinging that would be done about that!

And for the record, I don't mind poo picking, I actually find it quite therapeutic (weirdo).
What I do mind though is picking up everybody elses horse *****! ;)

ETA- Can't move them as no free paddocks, and yard owner is a farmer so doesn't give two hoots :)
Thanks for all the advice, though I was more venting than anything :D
Happy Poo Picking :)
 
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I dont mind doing it in either field that my horses are in (are at two farms at the moment!) what used to annoy me about one field is that the lady I share with doesnt even go up to see her horse if she doesnt feel like it - she doenst get seen (apart from by me and the farm owner when she goes to let her chickens out) at least 3 days a week - and when she does go over, she hasnt got time to poo pick because she goes riding.... as we all know - it takes 10/15 minutes when its done regually, so come back 10 minutes early and do whatever you can??!!! weve got a new wheelbarrow there too - its lovely and light, with a proper pumped up wheel - makes SUCH a difference!!
the other field has turned weird since I got my new horse - wont go into details, but there are things going on that are very odd and I dont know why shes doing them, but hey ho - as soon as the other field comes available at the first farm my horses are going together over there, so I can cope till then. I hope!!

One place I kept my horse was really infuriating - there were 7 horses in the field, so youd think that would be easy - works out nicely to do one day per horse (so id do one day, the girl with two horses would do 2 days and the like) but that never happened either - but the good thing is that it made me more hardened to leaving it if I was cross - Id do a barrow when I was feeding my horse, but that was it after a while.

its a real bone of contention, thats for sure !!! :)
 
I used to like it...........I would stick on my music, then have a wee sing to myself whilst dancing around with the fork picking up the crap :). I had to have MY special fork though........which dad altered for me so it was nice and long so no bending down.
 
How much dung does the average horse produce per day? 10 piles? 15?

Today, for instance, I have 10 mares (+ 3 foals) in a 10 acre section, so that is approximately 130 piles a day I need to locate and hand pick, forget it!

I have other things to do with my day, like feed other horses (15 in 6 other paddocks --> 150) and all the other stuff to be done on a farm. At the moment all before 11am, because by then the temperature is in the 30's and only an idiot works voluntarily in that.

I have a tractor, a bush hog for topping, a harrow and a roller.

Fat Piggy: [I could count on the fingers of one hand, the number of horse owners I 've met who understand the benefits of poo-picking and do it voluntarily]

:eek: Do you know how pious that sounds? What a load of utter twaddle! You must have a bloody great hand with a lot of fingers then! Or not know many horse people perhaps.

Trivia for you :D "the average 1,000-pound horse will produce approximately 50 pounds of manure. This amounts to about eight and a half tons per year!" http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/406/406-208/406-208.html
 
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For the most part I do not poo pick, as I am a cunning genius :D I have talked a number of my neighbours in to poo picking and taking said poo away to use in there gardens :D
 
I really enjoy poo picking!!! Although I'm glad ours is on a field of his own & does about half a barrow every 2 days :D - others have 3 each to a field with 3 different owners & you see the same person doing it all the time. Others take the pee knowing that she'll do it
 
I weirdly enjoy it on a sunny day its a great sun tanning opportunity! And I love the look of a neat and tidy paddock. However when its wet its grim, the poo is all heavy and horrible and I bribe my 9 year old to do it!
 
Harrowing can help to stop horse sick areas but temperatures in the UK (esp more northern areas) arent really consistently high enough to kill the worms reliably. So while useful, low worm counts on harrowed fields prob means the worms werent there anyway. It's fine in very large areas tho, as horse can choose completely poo free areas to graze.

So however big the field, poo picking it is. I use surgical gloves (disposable) and a bucket and do it daily. The only time it didnt get done was when I was in hospital for a week and OH struggled to cope with the animals and his day job and visiting me (2 hour round trip).

I love to see a clean poo free paddock and am not worried about losing the fertility by always removing droppings; my horses could do with grass thats as poor as possible.
 
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