Stall cleaning

[Mavi]

It might seam a bit dirty but I have queries on the cleaning of the stall, I use straw for beddng and my mare does **** a lot and as she stays a gret part of the day in the stall now in winter she gets it very wet and dirty, I have used wood dust and keeps her very clean and dry, but is very difficult to get big quantities for everyday use, so she seams to be dirty all the time, my friends tell me to leave the dirt that will make very good manure and not to take it out all the time as i use a lot of straw, but Would you like to be dirty and wet all the time? I certainly would not so I keep cleaning the stall and is always wet (It only lasts a night clean, next moorning is wet). The stall is 4 x 4 mtrs , so is quite big for her and I do not keep her tied up like many people do in Spain so is easy to clean, so She messes all the stall up. Any suggestions?

[Sarah]

hello!

i am sure your post will spur a lot of responses, as everyone has their own opinion of how to keep their horse! This is mine.

If your horse is the type that really messes up her stable,then I am afraid you have a lot of work to do everyday! I like to make sure that all the really wet areas of bedding and the lumps are removed every day. When you have taken out the stuff to throw away, make sure you have left some old straw in the stable as this makes a good base for the new straw.

If you have a horse that walks in the stall a lot and ploughs up the straw, doing a deep litter system where you only take up the lumps and worst of the wet patches every day then do a thorough clean out once a week or once a month doesn't really work as the horse just mixes everything up.

I am glad to hear that you don't leave you horse tied up in the stable, it might well keep the stable cleaner, but i am sure that she wouldn't be happy like that.

It sounds to me like you are doing a lovely job with your mare, I would carry on doing as you are doing, and just ignore your friends!

[bren]

Does she go to the bathroom in one area? I have had two mares and they both used one corner of the stall. Marty is a gelding and he goes anywhere and everywhere. Our horses are in part of a driveshed so i just keep adding straw when it gets real wet.Then in the spring we will take down the interior wall which is cattle fencing and use the scraper on the tractor to clean it out. Since it is open on one side partially, they go outside a lot to do their business. When my dad was doing woodworking I used his shavings in the stalls in the barn, also used leaves from friends raked up in their yards, they had to pay to get them taken away so i used them in the stalls, that was the best compost! Straw compost is ok for a vegetable garden but not for flower beds.

[CLAUDIA]

In our stalls we have gravel covered with sand, and on top of that there's veryfine gravel. This is all level, and those heavy rubber mats are on top. We use wood shavings for bedding. I think this is good if you spend a lot on bedding, because it definitely reduces the amount of bedding we use. We don't have to spend half the day cleaning stalls either! :)

[mimi]

Wow - straw. I can't imagine. I'm new to horses and in order to get lessons I muck stalls on weekends. Saturday and Sunday for 23 horses. We have wood shavings and is it ever neat. The horses may be pigs in their stalls but I am confident that when I'm done, there are no 'apples' and no wet spots. I'd get shavings ASAP!
-m-

[Gryphon]

I use shavings as most horsepeople. It's a vast improvement over straw in cleanup duties. I muck out my stalls every day. I keep an old base and do the scooping of manure etc. Then add clean shavings on top. One thing you might want to keep in mind is that a dry/spotless stall tends to dry out feet.

Gryphon

[Zoey]

Mavi
We have got a very wet mare! We bought rubber matting last week and just put enough shavings over it to soak up the urine. We brush it out every day (there is never any clean left!).
I have a 17hh mare with an arthritic knee. She is also quite mucky. I have her on a shavings bed. I skip the muck out each day and take out a chunk of the wet patch. I mix the rest around. I muck out thoroughly on a Sunday and put a new bale on. I suppose this is a form of deep littering as there is still mucky stuff in there. Extra padding for knee, warmer for winter. That's my reasoning anyway.
I would also give a thumbs up for shavings. I would never go back to straw - expecially not with a wet horse!

[Mavi]

Thank you everyone for your replys, to bren I would like to tell that she (my mare) is messy all over the stall as she has three windows one on each wall and likes looking out each one of them and do her business. I have tried to use the wood shavings but I cannot buy it in quantities as a couple or ten sacks, I would need to buy a truck full and I do not have space to store it (I keep my mare at home and not in stables) so that is why I use old fashion straw.

[bren]

Yes I use straw as it is very cheap around here, plus since the barn is open on one side, shavings would just blow right out. In my dream barn(yeah right!) i would use shavings or a new product here is the hemp chips. Plus the shavings if you buy it baled is really expensive. I have heard too that some tree clippings are toxic plus you run the risk of breathing the dust in. Some places you can arrange for the county to dump their tree trimmings(which are chipped) at your place. We dont have much room to store stuff like that ourselves, we get our hay and straw from our neighbour usually 20 bales at a time. We are hoping to replant one acre this spring in mixed grass and have it cut and baled in the next couple of years. That will help cut costs for us.

[intouch]

One of our ponies developed COPD last year so we had to change from straw - we've been using shredded paper, cheaper than shavings, looks odd till you get used to it but warm and easily managed, and dries off wet feet quickly, also decomposes well, but tends to blow about a bit.

[Horselover2]

Intouch, I use shredded paper in my pet rat's cage because it's easier on their tiny little lungs than the wood shavings are (no dust). But, it's rather expensive ($12.00/25#). Although that qty goes a long way for one little ratguy! I wouldn't mind trying it for my mare (she is a pig and has to pee in at least 3 different spots, and tramples her "apples" so badly that they're literally everywhere!) But here in the U.S. the shavings are much cheaper to come by.

Does anyone in the U.S. know of a supplier for the shredded paper??

And Mavi, I sympathize with you, as straw is not very effective for the wet areas!

[intouch]

I'm lucky that I can collect my paper @ £2 a bale, but I read recently of someone who bought a shredder for around £100 and collects leftover newspapers from newsagents at a small cost and does it himself. Watch out for the free CDs though, they don't shred so well.

[Allie]

intouch- we use the free cds as makeshift frisbees- they work quite well.

I have two computer science majors for brothers, and we are all sort of internet junkies. At the moment we have a DSL line which means we are connected to the interent 24 hours a day, and there are people using it probably 4 or 5 hours a day.

The other day we recieved a cd that offered 200 free hours that had to be used in one month (as if we couldn't do that!). My brothers and I had a good laugh about that.

Okay, now I'm rambling(and not even about the subject). Straw does have it's benefits, in that it keeps show horses much cleaner. Shavings have a way of getting all tangled in the horse's mane and tail, as do wood chips. If your horse is not a show horse, I personally think shavings are the best option, provided you have the time to comb them out.

Allie :)

[basper]

most people clean out their stalls every day.
Mats r good and also try putting sawdust then over it put straw. That would be extra protection.

[clairev]

I think your best bet is to get some rubber matting as this would mean you only would need a small amount of shavings and you just sweep the whole lot out everyday - takes about 3 minutes! The only drawback is the horse often lays in the muck so a stable rug is essential!

[michal]

What is a stable rug? I dont think they have them in the us?

I have a tip for those shavings users. Sometimes you find droppings in amongst clean dry shavings and it is difficult to pick out and preserve or shake thru your pick. I sometimes dig a trench about 3 feet long paralell to one wall. Then I pick up the droppins -shavings and all & throw the whole thing against the wall. The shavings slide straight down the wall & the droppings bounce off & roll mostly into the trench. I scoop us the droppings easily & push the shavings out when I am done with all the scoops. It isnt always worth it...but is really fast at times.

My experience with straw has been pretty gross..would never use it again.

[1tkathie]

I would say use a thin layer of shavings under the staw, the sawdust will wick away most of the dampness, all u will have to do is skip out the poos and fork the straw off the sawdust. then scrape out and remove the sawdust.
Hope u can get hold of enough sawdust to do this, i know what u mean about storage space!!!

[bren]

Question about shavings? If your horse chews on wood will they eat shavings? Reason I ask is Marty has chewed on the wood inside his shelter and the remaining wood fence in his pasture( the new stuff is wire and metal t-posts) and pretty much chewed some wild swamp willow down to the ground. He also eats straw. Is there anything left?? :) Has anyone used the hemp chips? They have just started growing hemp around here (for nonmedicinal purposes ;) )and I wondered if he would eat that. Its pretty expensive as well.

[This message has been edited by bren (edited 01 February 2000).]

[michal]

My horse has never eaten shavings that I know of and rarely chews wood...I have painted my wood surfaces with a can of crib halt solution...and have a pvc pipe for my horse to roll and play with and a eggbutt ball that he loves to chew and several sturdy dog toys that he chews and rubs the ground with when he is bored. Have you tried toys? I also tie a rope thru the handle of a stall ball and my horse manuevers the rope ...He has a busy nose. But I taught him not to be pushy to me just inquisitive. Would this help diver the wood chewing?