Your shavings bed

Just out of interest, how do you muck out/manage your shavings bed? Also, any tips for using less bedding?

take out the poo *comb* the shavings where i know his pee is pulll back the clean and dig out the pee area then fill in the hole with clean shavings
 
I used to be really fussy about my beds when I was a livery, well you have time don't you only mucking out 1 or 2 beds a day. When you have to muck out 8 mucky horses every day well ............. the enthusiasm goes from it when they come in and trash it within the first hour of being in.

They are rubber matted and bespoke beds many only a tiny weeny sprinkling of bedding down. Luckily no deep beds here as O find its too costly to keep adding bedidng in, most have no banks or tiny banks.
 
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I prefer miscanthus to shavings, but my biggest cost saving applies to both. Before he lived out 24/7, I used to have a tubtrug with a layer of bedding on the bottom outside his stable, so that I could dive in and catch it - just after he came in for the night, and just before breakfast and dinner.

He is a creature of habit, and likes to make sure he's good and empty before he eats!
 
Now on pellets... Thank goodness what a difference.
I used to take ouy worst of the poos and the pee throw bed up into banks and shake out all the other bits of poo... Wonder why dear pony has to hide a great big beast of a poo up the back of his banks*rolls eyes* remove that them pull bed down and make square banks up the 3 sides, take out any stray poo and flatten bed and square it up.

Took me about 20-25mins... Now takes me 5-10mins!! YAY!!
 
Mine is probably the dirtiest horse I've had - so he lives out for majority of year, and when he has to come off field (usually in January) he lives in the yard that attaches to his stable. He only goes into his stable to pee and lie down!!

The bed is a special type of shavings, and he is deep littered so about twice a year I lift all the wet. I would also lift some wet if it starts to come to the top about once or twice a month. But he digs up his bed so keeping the wet in helps to prevent this, and instead he digs the banks which he hides the poo under :p getting a half barrow out of the bed in the morning (if he is on box rest etc.) is a good day...!

So usually takes me 5-10 mins to do his bed and yard and the all wet lift & new bed in would take about 1hr twice a year :)
 
My stables are 11ft by 22ft so I put the bedding at the back and his matts at the front with his hay and water . this means that he has no concrete to stand on which I prefer.

I've learnt after last couple of years not to be ott with his bed , I take out all the poos I see, but if there is the odd bits were he's obviosulupy walked through ,(once then beds all put I will go through with anpooper scooper and take any off the top insee) I don't let my self get worked up over it, any real wet I come across gets chucked away but anything not too bad gets thrown up as a bank and mixed with some clean were its left to dry and then eventually bring down as a base for his bed and then the cleaner bedding that's been thrown to one side gets put back on top.

This is the easiest and fastest way that works for me, and I've learnt that as long as his bed Is deep and dry it doesn't have to be the whitest and he's also a very happy horse and I would prefer spending time with him than on his stsble .

This also means I don't go through a lot of shaving bales , cause I reuse alot of the shavings if not totally sodden that have had a couple of days drying out, that's the one bonus with shavings they do dry out , just change colour
 
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