mucking out nightmare

[jeely]

I'm sure I'm not alone here, but Sam is an absolute nightmare to muck-out.

Basically, i'm on deep-litter bedding at the livery yard , and he just tramples and mixes all his poo into it. It takes me atleast an hour to muck out every morning before work, and I'm throwing so much bedding away( and it's damn expensive!)

Anyway, I think the solution may be rubber matting, with some shavings?

I've been looking on the net, and the prices vary dramatically, so wondered if anyone knows of anywhere in the UK, that supplies quality matting at a reasonable price?

Thanks!

[Yann]

Quality rubber matting isn't cheap, the average stable will cost about £250 to £300 to sort but you will definitely save time and effort. If your horse is messy you will still end up chucking a lot of shavings away and as these are much dearer you might find you aren't a lot better off. If your stable drains well you could always continue with a straw bed on shavings, it can be much thinner and is easy to sort out even if you chuck most of it out each day. A dusting of shavings or sawdust under the straw will catch a lot of the wet and stop your stable getting smelly too quick.

[Big Ears]

I use the Fieldguard rubber mats which I bought direct. One set is now ten years old and still in use, the other set is 8 years old, and the third set is new. I have four stables done in them.

They cost about £350 a stable but you must bear in mind the following:-

They are designed so that the wee slips down between the gaps in the mats and gathers on the floor - so you need to put a slope in the floor and a drain so that the water will run to there.

You just put a dustbin lid of shavings on top - you may have to start with a bigger pad of shavings till the horse gets used to peeing on them.

You need to lift the mats every six months or so and wash out the floor - if you do not have a sloping floor the pee will come out under the door so you have to disinfect and wash the area.

They supply a disinfectant called Gloop.

I think their mats are excellent but you must use them the right way - other mats don't let the pee go under so I suppose you have to use more shavings.

[jeely]

thanks for your advice...

to be honest, shavings will work out cheaper, as I'm using hemcore at the moment, at £6.50 per bail, and going through about 3 per week!....

I think it would be economical if your horse didn't stir up it's bedding, and left it to settle into a deep litter...but with Sam, it doesn't get the chance.

the stable itself doesn't have drainage, so I'll need to get mats that don't allow drainage, and just use more shavings I suppose...

I know it's not the ideal solution, but it's the best I can come up with!

[nat17]

I know how you feel! Podge is a dirty little git ! He is on a semi deep littler of straw at the moment. I take out the droppings everyday and take the wet out every saturday. It takes 2 bales a week to keep his bed up and takes about 45 mins to take out the wet. It only just lasts till saturday as well!

Wish he was like Minnie, two dainty poos together in the corner , every morning, maybe three sometimes but always together in the corner!:D

[rache]

I am glad you have posted this!

My gelding is exactly the same, he would need around 3 bales a week but i manage to get away with one!

I turn my bed up every week. I sometimes do every two days much out but i actually come worse out by putting in more bales then i would if i did a full muck out everyday.

I put a nice big bag of shavings there pure white then within 3 days it is all damp where he just walks about.

I am definately getting rubber matting next year!

[nat17]

There is a place near me than makes them, I bought them 'cash' for £18 each. I only have one in each stable at the front door so they dont stand on the concrete.
I would look to 'non horsey' suppliers as you all know the horsey means more money!!!:D

[Celt]

My god there was me thinking I was alone… my boy is so dirty I’m taking 1hr a night or longer, he is on hemp & aubose and it costing a fortune. His problem is not the poo so much it’s the pee… and if I try and deep litter it is unbearable by the 3rd day and when I take it out the bedding its well not nice.
I am getting the vet to look at him just in case, but I am going to put him on rubber with cheep chippings to soak most of it up. I have found a rubber matting company, which makes it and they will sell direct at a much better price. Its 18mm thick and has a non-porous and non-slip surface on top and is £10 cheaper than my local equestrian shop… they even do the wall mats and you can get sealant so you can seal the mats so the wee will not get under them. Plus they have a 10 year guarantee. They are called Easy Rubber Matting and there number is 07810 190359 good luck.

[rache]

Owow celt.

How far do they deliever? Do they supply and fit?

[Celt]

They do fitting service it costs £30.00 per stable, they manufacture the flooring so no doubt they will cover most of the country and why they can do the flooring for such a good price. Give them a call they are very helpful and if you want they will send you a sample and a price list.

[Principal]

Well i must be very lucky, cos all my 3 are very clean! i ahve them on shaving with about 1 meter high banks! All 3 stables are mucked out fully each day but because there bery clean it onyl take me about 20mins to do each stable so an hour in total, but im a pretty fast mucker outer! i have had 10 years practise! i was going to get rubber matting but i dont like the idea of them sleeping on it cos its still quite hard!

[Bebe]

You could try Megazorb bedding. A friend of mine has a really dirty gelding (he mashes the manure into the wet and then buries it under clean straw and hay) and she's pretty happy with Megazorb. She doesn't have rubber mats so she's got a 2-3" thick base of Megazorb and then has straw over the top. She said its reduced her mucking out time by half and since she started using it about 2 months ago she's only used 2.5 bales of straw and 4 bags of Megazorb (it took 2.5 to put the initial bed down). Her gelding is in every night now though at first he only spent a few nights a week in on it. It took her a while to get to grips with it but now she has a system where she picks out the manure, forks the straw back throwing out the little bit of wet as she does this, then she checks the megazorb base. More often than not there isn't any to throw out, but every couple of days she digs out the wet patch and refills it with clean.

I've just started using Megazorb under my straw bed (I do have rubber mats so only have a thin layer of Megazorb). My mare is very clean and only comes in for 4-5 hours each day but she does wee in there most days. In 2 weeks of her coming in I've only taken out a tiny bit of bedding and the stable smells clean and fresh.

Might be worth a try, with or without mats. Megazorb is about £5 per bag and a little really does go a long way.

[G.Gracious]

Why don't you keep Sam out? Gracie is on 24-hour turnout with nothing but some hay and a handful of Dengie Hi-Fi!! Min you, she is a good do-er and she's a cob. I don't know what breed Sam is and how easy it is to keep him at a good weight.

[LindaAd]

You could try teaching him to pee before he goes in.....My Barney was taught to stale on command by his last owner, although usually if he's going into his stable he's in too much of a hurry to get to his supper. But I'm sure if a horse was in every night he'd soon learn.

[jeely]

thanks, I will try phoning the Easy Rubber Matting place for a quote...I'll also look into the Magasorb option?

It is true that as soon as "equine" is attached to anything..the prices seem to rise dramatically!

Unfortunately Sam can't stay out 24/7 in the winter ( he can in summer), as he's at Livery where all the others come in at night.

[rezbeck]

my boy jack is exactly the same with his bedding, he is sooooo messy!!!!!!!! gotta luv him tho!

[nat17]

I have had enough today! I have taken his whole bed out, disinfected and put both my rubbermats down and bedded down the back ONLY! plus banks! I have shaken straw over the mats but thats it, will see tomorrow what happens!

;)

[virtuallyhorses]

Its threads like these that make me grateful for outdoor living even when I'm cursing the mud,cold and rain in winter :) However, has anyone considered sand? Either as a complete bed or as a base for a light layer of bedding? I know it has disadvantages for those horses that insist on eating off the floor but just thought I'd pop that suggestion in.

[rezbeck]

my ponies live out but i still have to muck out the field shelter, by the time i did it tonight i couldnt see what i was doing and found a rabbits head in my wheelbarrow yuek!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[deborah ann]

My geldings stall seemed to be getting messier and taking way too long to clean also. To those who arent restricted about the hours when they can go the barn, the answer can be as simple as go earlier to the barn to do the chore of cleaning. I have quickly caught on to this one. For some reason I went out acouple of mornings when it was still dark out and he was actually still laying down. I get him up and tie him in the aisle and clean out the stall first thing before he has time to get too antsy. His stall is now a breeze compared to before, honestly. It does take some fortitude on your part, but the reward is worth it. I skip the stalls before I go to bed also, my mare is a dream to clean after, its the gelding who has no sense of housekeeping. To folks who board, maybe you could swap skipping thru each others stalls if there is someone you trust with your horse and vice versa.

[rezbeck]

maybe thats why jack is messy then cos he is a man!!!!!!!!!