Speeding Up Yard Work & Stubborn Horses - Advice Needed!

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lxfe_mxtterz

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Hi there. I'm new here, and I'm also relatively new to horses, so please be nice and bear with me!

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A couple of months ago, I started a part-time weekend job at a local yard. Preliminary to this, I had absolutely zero experience working with horses, but they were kind enough to teach me all the basics from the moment I started.

My main duties usually include mucking out, feeding and leading the horses in from the pasture, but I've also had the opportunity to groom horses and clean bridles (not as fun!)

Today, I was told that although I'm doing a good job, but I need to speed up a bit. At the moment, it's taking me about 40 minutes to muck out one stable (depending on how messy it is), refill the water buckets in the stable and shovel the muck up onto the "muck truck" from the muck heap.

As I was informed, the aforementioned should take about 20 minutes! That is, of course, much quicker than the rate I'm currently working at.

How can I work faster to achieve this time?

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I also have a few aside questions, as it's not just the mucking out, etc. that I need to get quicker with.

Leading two horses in, one at a time from separate fields, took me almost half an hour today! The first horse was a breeze and was very compliant, however the second one cost me a lot of time, as he was quite stubborn.

After I had attached the lead rope, he just kept grazing, even after I attempted to treat him with additional carrots! Needless to say, he did eventually move but it involved a lot of pulling and tugging.

How can I get a horse to move if they are being stubborn?

And finally, a few weeks back, I had a scary experience when one of the ponies escaped his stable under my supervision. As I was removing his headcollar after leading him in, he turned around and dashed out the unlocked door.

I was told that, as a precaution, I'd need to close the stable door before removing the headcollar of any horse, as some of the horses at the yard are a bit naughty!

I've experimented with this, but I haven't found an efficient way to do this without being awkward and leading the horse in a circle once inside the stable, so that I can reach the door and pull it shut.

Is there a better way to close the stable door when leading a horse in?

---

I am, without a doubt, enjoying what I'm doing, however my lack of experience and slow rate of working are somewhat of a hindrance (and it shows!) So, if anybody could be kind enough to provide some advice on how I can speed up and get things done quicker, that'd be much appreciated!

Thank you! :)
 
Welcome ?
Regarding mucking I find it helps to have a system. I work from right to left in most stables but if I'm doing the same horse every day i might change this if they regularly do droppings in the same place. (Maybe you could watch someone experienced to see if they do anything differently.)
With leading stubborn ponies try to be very positive. Again watching someone else might help.
When you lead a pony into its stable make it walk a circle so you are between it and the door.
 
Some of the horses sound like they lack basic manners re. grazing while you are trying to lead. It sounds as though you got there eventually but I would absolutely NOT treat them with additional carrots! This rewards them for the behaviour. My horses rarely do this now but if they did I would be pulling, tugging, growling - doing anything to get their head out of the grass as it's extremely rude and they should have been taught not to do this. Don't use carrots - they are being naughty! Don't just do one long pull to get their head up - do short, sharp tugs on the lead rope.

Re. the stable door, I always lead my horse in a circle when they come into their stable. It teaches the horse manners as they can't just dive into their food bowl or hay as soon as they enter the stable (assuming they have food or forage by the door).

It is very bad manners for a horse to dash out the stable - I can muck out my horses with the door wide open and they know not to run off so that's not your fault. But if this is an issue then absolutely walk the horse into the stable and turn them around, then close the door and remove their head collar. This is common practise.

ETA - it sounds like you are doing a great job considering you don't have any experience! So don't worry too much :D
 
You don’t say what bedding you use and whether you have to do full muck out or just skip.

regards leading into stable I always walk them in and turn them round to face me (same in field) that way you are stood between them and the open door so they’d have to be pretty rude to barge through you.

you’ll get into a routine soon enough and be able to get through jobs quicker, always try and double duty, ie swill out feed bowls with water bucket before refilling
 
Mucking out. A system helps this. Depending on the bedding but one side to the other is as good as anything. You will get to know where each horse "goes" and that helps as well. Make sure you have tools etc within easy reach. Practise will get you there. Leading out or in. Don't be afraid to be bossy if you have a rude horse to deal with. You should be in charge not them. If he starts to put his head down tell him off sharply and hook his head up if necessary. Always walk pony into stable and turn him around in a circle to face you and the close door before you remove headcollar. If you are a total novice then your YM should really have shown you all this before cutting you loose. When you are finished certain jobs then put whatever tools away in the right place for next time. Then you don't waste time looking for things. Good luck, you'll get there. It takes me 15 minutes to do a full straw muck out and rebed and hay and water, if I get moving but then I have been doing this for well over 50 years. You just gotta keep practising.
 
I think you really need the YO/YM to show you how they deal with things to make it quicker. Having said that sometimes people have unsafe working practices that cut corners which isn’t good for a novice so if you feel unsafe you need to say so. Horses always know when they can get away with things so as you’re inexperienced they’re taking advantage of that.

Part of the key to doing beds is to concentrate on what you’re doing properly. Task switching slows things down so remove all buckets and haynets etc. First and place outside stable. Then make sure you’ve all the tools you need before you start. I usually remove all the muck and dropped hay around the door first the. Place wheelbarrow there. On a pellet or shavings bed I remove all droppings that are on top of the bed and any hay wastage. Then I’ll start sifting through the top loose layers throwing up onto banks to let the droppings that are mixed in fall out . I don’t put the full bed up if it’s compacted I just find the wet patch and lift that out. It will depend on the bedding, how messy the horse is and what the YO expects though.

As to putting into stable I bring my two in at the same time and both mine go into the stable in front of me whilst I hold the rope at the door and they turn themselves around. I then can take off the headcollar or rope halter without even going into the box. However mine are polite on the whole so not necessarily something you should do. They wear rope halters because plain headcollars are pretty useless to hold onto a strong horse.

I regularly remind them if their manners are missing. This may be to halt them at the stable door and back up if they are too eager to get in. Also in the stable to back them away from my space or the doorway if they are crowding it. It’s more difficult if they’re not your own but you’ve again got to be in the moment and observe what they are doing as timing to correct them is important.
 
Practise makes perfect so the more you do the quicker you will get. The best method on straw is to remove visible muck and pop it in the barrow or skip then move the top straw to one wall removing any buried poo as you go find the wet bits and remove sweep the floor leave the floor to dry while you do the next one the same. It takes a lot longer to do shavings beds as all the poo has to be sifted from the shavings and the wet dug out then the bed relaid and any other bits you have missed removed. I am not very experienced with most of the other bedding types but straw should take less than 5 minutes to muck out ready for the floor to dry and another 10 minutes to relay hay and water the stable
Bringing in when I have two I usually keep them both at my shoulder and tie them on the yard before putting into the stable each one is taken in turned to face the door while I shut it mine have good manners so you can just take off the headcollar at the door and close it behind them but rude horses need more strict handling
Get the YM to show you how they like things done and how quickly then they will know what you are struggling with. If you are being paid I can understand why they want you to work quickly if not then I dont really know why it matters unless you are holding up proceedings
 
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Thanks very much to everyone who has given their input thus far! Reading all of the advice has been of great help.

A few points in regards to some of the responses:

greenbean10 said:
Some of the horses sound like they lack basic manners re. grazing while you are trying to lead. It sounds as though you got there eventually but I would absolutely NOT treat them with additional carrots! This rewards them for the behaviour. My horses rarely do this now but if they did I would be pulling, tugging, growling - doing anything to get their head out of the grass as it's extremely rude and they should have been taught not to do this. Don't use carrots - they are being naughty! Don't just do one long pull to get their head up - do short, sharp tugs on the lead rope.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the advice about the carrots. At the yard I'm at, it's custom to take two pieces of carrot when leading in - the first as an aid to get the horse's head up, so that the lead rope can be attached - hence why I assumed it was okay to give the extra piece of carrot if a horse were being stubborn.

Myloubylou said:
You don’t say what bedding you use and whether you have to do full muck out or just skip.
Click to expand...
Some of the horses whose stables I muck out are on shavings, whereas others are on wood pellets mixed in with some sand thing (sorry, as I said I'm new to the world of horses, so I don't know the exact name for it!) Again, due to my lack of experience, my terminology isn't up to scratch just yet, so I'm unable to determine what kind of mucking out is being done, as management just calls it a "muck out". But it involves removing all droppings and wet bedding leaving any clean bedding, then adding to the clean existing bed using new bedding.
 
The BHS Stage 1 stable management course or a text book associated with it will give basic instructions for safely handling horses in the stable, rugging them etc.
In my opinion, you should either have been trained by the yard staff or had lessons before starting work.

I too worked or helped out on a yard once a week and was kindly taught how to do things by the yard manager, but I had already done a BHS stable management course and learned to groom, lift the feet and lead safely.

There is for instance a strict BHS rule about how to lead a horse into its box, circling while staying safely on the outside of the horse umtil the horse is facing the door, then shutting the stable door before taking off the bridle or head collar.

However, once you have had the instruction, I dont recommend speeding up when actually handling horses. I learned to handle horses as an o.a.p. and it has been suggested that the reason horses do as I want is that I am slow. Horses that resist being bridled by busy staff working to speed, lower their heads and take the bit in order to help me out.

A horse's brain works slower than a human brain and allowing it time makes perfect sense.

Almost all the difficulties you describe are like someone complaining they cannot play the piano or speak French when you havent been taught how. You really need to watch someone else doing it and copy them and have instructions and understand the reason why things are usally done in a certain way. All you need are lessons and practice. It doesnt make sense for you to be helping on a yard unless people on the yard can take the time to instruct you. And if you dont yet know how to lead a horse, it could be dangerous. I learned ground work from watching clinics and DVDs.
 
This is how I muck out regardless of what bedding. Takes about 5 -10 mins per stable.

1. Remove any buckets/Haynets if applicable.
2. Pick up all the big visible poos in to wheelbarrow.
3. Throw up all clean bedding against the wall, leaving the wet patches/mashed in poos.
4. Shovel all of dirty bedding in to wheelbarrow and sweep the floor clean.
5. Either relay bed or leave floor to dry for the day.

If you use shavings or pellets you will find that when you throw the bed against the wall loose poos will roll down to the floor so it's easy to pick up.

The best thing I would I would advise is to ask the YO exactly how they want you to muck out as they may only take the wet out once or twice a week, common practice with pellets.
 
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lxfe_mxtterz said:
Leading two horses in, one at a time from separate fields, took me almost half an hour today! The first horse was a breeze and was very compliant, however the second one cost me a lot of time, as he was quite stubborn.

After I had attached the lead rope, he just kept grazing, even after I attempted to treat him with additional carrots! Needless to say, he did eventually move but it involved a lot of pulling and tugging.

How can I get a horse to move if they are being stubborn?
Click to expand...


I don't think you can just pull on the lead rope and expect the horse to start walking.

In today's lesson (that turned out to be just a private lesson for me, as a result of a bit of missed communication and changing plans at the centre), I told the instructor that there are some things that we are just assumed to have picked up, and that as a consequence are never taught in lessons... among these is walking the horse from its stable to the arena and back again.

So today, the instructor showed me how to mead a horse in a bridle... To get the horse to move forwards, pull forwards gently on the left rein, and slacken off as soon as the horse starts to walk. To stop, lift the rein until it is parallel to the cheek piece of the bridle and gently pull, and again slacken off as soon as the horse stops.

Maybe you could put a bridle without reins on the horse and clip a lead rope to the left ring of the snaffle and use this technique.


lxfe_mxtterz said:
And finally, a few weeks back, I had a scary experience when one of the ponies escaped his stable under my supervision. As I was removing his headcollar after leading him in, he turned around and dashed out the unlocked door.

I was told that, as a precaution, I'd need to close the stable door before removing the headcollar of any horse, as some of the horses at the yard are a bit naughty!

I've experimented with this, but I haven't found an efficient way to do this without being awkward and leading the horse in a circle once inside the stable, so that I can reach the door and pull it shut.

Is there a better way to close the stable door when leading a horse in?
Click to expand...

My lesson ends at about 12h00, and sometimes the feed has already been given out. The horses know that feed is already in the trough or will be soon, and are really eager to get back inside.

What I do is try to make the horse learn to be patient.

When leading back, I stop about three metres away from the box and make the horse stand for between three and eight seconds. Then we walk up to the door and stop so that the door latches are just within my reach. I unlatch and open the door, and again make the horse stand for between three and eight seconds before leading it in slowly. Then we stop again, even if the horse can see its feed (some of them get their feed on the floor, rather than in the trough), we turn around and I pull the door shut but I don't latch it. (The first time I took my daughter up there to learn to ride ponies, we were told that we should never latch the door while we're inside with a pony or horse.)

It might seem awkward leading the horse in a circle in such a small space, but it can keep its front hooves in one place (shuffling them a bit) and pivot its back end around without any problem... this is probably easier than trying to walk in a circle.

Then the horse stands while I take off its tack, and only then I let it turn round to start eating.
 
lxfe_mxtterz said:
Hi there. I'm new here, and I'm also relatively new to horses, so please be nice and bear with me!

---

A couple of months ago, I started a part-time weekend job at a local yard. Preliminary to this, I had absolutely zero experience working with horses, but they were kind enough to teach me all the basics from the moment I started.

My main duties usually include mucking out, feeding and leading the horses in from the pasture, but I've also had the opportunity to groom horses and clean bridles (not as fun!)

Today, I was told that although I'm doing a good job, but I need to speed up a bit. At the moment, it's taking me about 40 minutes to muck out one stable (depending on how messy it is), refill the water buckets in the stable and shovel the muck up onto the "muck truck" from the muck heap.

As I was informed, the aforementioned should take about 20 minutes! That is, of course, much quicker than the rate I'm currently working at.

How can I work faster to achieve this time?

---

I also have a few aside questions, as it's not just the mucking out, etc. that I need to get quicker with.

Leading two horses in, one at a time from separate fields, took me almost half an hour today! The first horse was a breeze and was very compliant, however the second one cost me a lot of time, as he was quite stubborn.

After I had attached the lead rope, he just kept grazing, even after I attempted to treat him with additional carrots! Needless to say, he did eventually move but it involved a lot of pulling and tugging.

How can I get a horse to move if they are being stubborn?

And finally, a few weeks back, I had a scary experience when one of the ponies escaped his stable under my supervision. As I was removing his headcollar after leading him in, he turned around and dashed out the unlocked door.

I was told that, as a precaution, I'd need to close the stable door before removing the headcollar of any horse, as some of the horses at the yard are a bit naughty!

I've experimented with this, but I haven't found an efficient way to do this without being awkward and leading the horse in a circle once inside the stable, so that I can reach the door and pull it shut.

Is there a better way to close the stable door when leading a horse in?

---

I am, without a doubt, enjoying what I'm doing, however my lack of experience and slow rate of working are somewhat of a hindrance (and it shows!) So, if anybody could be kind enough to provide some advice on how I can speed up and get things done quicker, that'd be much appreciated!

Thank you! :)
Click to expand...
It always takes longer till you get used to it. Much depends on
1. if horse is messy or wet
2 bedding they are on
3 drainage of stable

Don't use treats, either use a catching bridle and take a jump crop or use end of lead rope on his side and say firmly *WALK ON*


Always close the door before removing head collar ( unless you know horse, or feed already in there ) Walk in box and tie horse up then shut door if you must, or maybe someone else can, or with naughty pony use stall chain across till you can shut door.
 
When I worked weekends on a yard and was new to mucking out I too took longer than other people. On Saturdays I mucked out the horses of the working pupil who had that day off, and on Sundays I mucked out different horses for the working pupil who had Sunday off. It didn't take me long to realise that it was easier and quicker to muck out the horses of one particular WP. This was because she mucked out and skipped out thoroughly the day before her day off (the day I looked after her horses). The other WPs didn't bother too much the day before nor skip out at evening stables so on their day off and my day covering for them there was more muck and I took longer.
 
I semi deep litter on flax and this is what I do

1) remove water & feed bowls & swill out
2) take down haynets
3) fork out piles of poo
4) sweep front of stable clear of leftover hay & dirty bedding
5) Sweep clean bedding back to neaten bed
6) level top of bed with broom
7) using skip & rake pick up bits of hidden poo & wet bits.
8) if needed take forkful of clean bedding from banks and shake over top of bed
9) refill water
10) refill hay and hang
11) sweep outside stable

if full muck out I do the same but pull clean bedding away from wet after step three & remove wet patches. Pull in clean bedding from sides. Carry on from step 4 and add more bedding in step 8

I can do 2 stables in about 20 mins, 30 mins for full muck out as have to go to muck heap more
 
With regards to taking less time to muck out a stable...
1. Have you got the best tools for the job? i.e. the right sort of fork for the bedding and ones that suit your height and build, not too heavy or long for example
2. Are you doing things in the most efficient order? e.g. don't take two trips to the muck heap when one would do
3. Can you actually just move a bit faster? I don't mean run everywhere, but perhaps there is a gear in you that you just haven't found yet. Sometime I am amazed how slowly some people walk, or sweep or whatever. I don't think it was until I worked in racing stables that I started actually working hard
Finally, how about working out which person at the yard appears to be the most efficient and trying to work out how they manage it, or even ask them for advice.
I think it is great that you have taken on this job and I wish you well!
 
Kick the horse in the teeth to get its head off the ground, put the rope of your shoulder and march off dragging the damned thing in - keep a tight hold of the rope though! The horse shouldn't be able to get its head down to eat when you have the extra leverage to keep its head up.

As to mucking out I find just taking in a shovel/fork and scooping and chucking works best. Might make a bit of a mess - especially in the wind but hey! It's quicker!

^^that^^ is completely tongue in cheek btw! Before anyone has a go!
 
Arzada said:
When I worked weekends on a yard and was new to mucking out I too took longer than other people. On Saturdays I mucked out the horses of the working pupil who had that day off, and on Sundays I mucked out different horses for the working pupil who had Sunday off. It didn't take me long to realise that it was easier and quicker to muck out the horses of one particular WP. This was because she mucked out and skipped out thoroughly the day before her day off (the day I looked after her horses). The other WPs didn't bother too much the day before nor skip out at evening stables so on their day off and my day covering for them there was more muck and I took longer.
Click to expand...

It's definitely quicker and easier to muck out if it's been done properly the day before. If I've mucked out the day before I take 1.5 barrows max to the muckheap. A couple of weeks ago the yard had allegedly mucked out for the week and I took out 7 barrows. Not amused! As somebody has said above, it does also help if you know where the horses normally poo and wee.
 
Yes definitely takes half the time if it’s been done right the day before. I done weekend yard work when I was a teenager and the guy that done it during the week used to leave all the wet and most of the poops up the back on a Friday... :mad:
 
The extra piece of carrot might be for the gate so they turn round easy for you to shut it and get the carrot instead of trying to drag you away up the track before you have done the gate.

Getting head up is do the headcollar up quickly walk off with them and do not let them get their head down again. If you faff with the headcollar and lead rope when catching lots lose patience and graze. To get the head up on stubborn ones put your knee under the neck and steadily raise your leg. If horsey wants to keep breathing the head comes up! Then walk on before head goes down again. Hold short too with your hand under chin not holding rope 2ft away. If they plant , stand at neck and use end of rope in other hand flick your wrist behind your bum on the horses side like a leg aid and use your voice to ask for walk on. Works for most.

Mucking out sorry to say my experience the answer is lower your standards. Lots of yards the mucking out is only so-so to get it all done in the time allocated. Scoop worst of poo out scrape clean to one side never mind the odd poo nugget dig out wet sweep floor and re-lay bed. No faffing! What you describe is full muck out. Check this especially for flax or pellets beds these are not designed for daily mucking out usually skip out (remove poo and tidy bed) and semi regular dig out of wet. The sand with pellets is expanded pellets are you putting fresh in dry? Some people like them expanded with water first some put in dry let the wee expand them.

To speed up never go anywhere empty handed example take haynets to muck heap and fill on way back to stable.
 
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