How do you muck out?

[SpringySpring]

I was told off the other day by a friends friend for not mucking out my share horse properly

She is on shavings and this is how i muck her out. Take out all the poop. Scrape off the clean dry layer and chuck that onto the banks. Take out all the wet. Then I pull the banks into the centre as she likes weeing under them. Take out anymore wet I find. Spread the bed out so its even and build up some banks.

I don't see the problem, the bed is clean. How do you all muck out?? Am I doing it right?

Thanks (and I realise this sounds like a stupid question, but she really made me paranoid )

[Lacetti]

I would muck shavings out exactly the same way you do, however, I would leave the banks and do them of a weekend.

How are you not doing it properly?????

[xloopylozzax]

i have straw so its a tad different (and no banks) but usually i take droppings out then scrape the clean straw (where they dont wee or poo) and pile it around the edge. then i begin skimming the top dry layer of straw off and pile that up too, until i get to wet then that goes out. sweep all the wet floor then turn the edges out and put the starw back down. fresh straw in. sweep along the front and edge (big stable, so we leave one edge bed free) change water, hang haynet up and untie them.
if they are having breakfast then they get that then aswell.

droppings are taken out on a night as well.

[Marusenka]

I'm not quite sure how that is not proper mucking out! My boy is on shavings and i take out the poop and then scrape the dry layer off and pick up all the wet and leave it up for the day to dry and then put it back down in the evening! I don't have to do the banks however (the joy of a clean gelding) but i pull them down once a week to make sure the shavings get spread around a bit!
Really don't know how that is not good mucking out- perhaps ask your friend how on earth they are mucking out! I know some people prefer to leave the wet until the weekend but i am a firm believer in not making a stack load of work for myself- plus he digs all the pee up if i leave it when i am rushed for time!

[Bouncer]

I would do the same for mucking out shavings. This person might just have a different standard of mucking out lol

You have to take a test to muck my sisters stable out she is very pickey about how clean it is lol

All the bed has to be level lol and all the lines straight she is a bit scary like that lol

[x-Marmite-x]

Would you like to hear how i was taught to muck out ? It's so complicated i need a blooming diagram !
Katie's ten steps to the most complicated, long winded muck out ever :
1)Take out all poo and wet you can see.
2)Sift through the bed, taking up any other waste you find, turning it over on your fork, fuffing it up etc.
3)Fork up all of the bed onto the walls
4)Jam the fork into the bottom of the bank and shake it up, turning it all over, to get any muck you've missed or that was in the banks, so you end up with all the bed 'fluffed up' round the edges.
5) Push the fork down the wall behind a section of the bank, and pull it down so there is no back left at that bit of the wall. Go all the way round the bed doing this at intervals, so you have massive bit of bank, no bank, massive bit of bank, no bank and so on and so forth.
6) Spread out all of the bedding that you've pulled down, and add fresh bedding (as much as needed to make good depth bed)
7)With the rest of the 'turret style' bank round the edge, pull it across so you have your banks all the way around. Run your fork along the top of the banks to neaten up and pat along the side of the banks with the fork to get a good shape.
8)Run your fork over the top of the main bed to smooth out and make neat.
9)Flick some of the bed against the banks so you don't have a sort of right angle from the main bed to the banks
10)Finally, sweep up the front of the bed to make a clean edge and untie horse

And i got told off for not doing every single bed that way even though it takes forever! Don't worry, your way is fine; everyone has their own way of mucking out and as long as the bed ends up clean and suitable for the horse to be in then they can't really argue how you got there !

[Trewsers]

I don't think you're doing it wrong! How can it be wrong if its clean when you've finished?! Ours are on shavings and I take all the visible poo off the top first, then harrow in rows (thats the best way I can put it) down across the bed - which usually unearths any stray poop and then I dig out the wet bits (I know where madam wee's she's a creature of habit!). Once a week I top it up with a new bale of shavings - we use more in winter tho.

[SpringySpring]

Originally Posted by *katie*

1)Take out all poo and wet you can see.
2)Sift through the bed, taking up any other waste you find, turning it over on your fork, fuffing it up etc.
3)Fork up all of the bed onto the walls
4)Jam the fork into the bottom of the bank and shake it up, turning it all over, to get any muck you've missed or that was in the banks, so you end up with all the bed 'fluffed up' round the edges.
5) Push the fork down the wall behind a section of the bank, and pull it down so there is no back left at that bit of the wall. Go all the way round the bed doing this at intervals, so you have massive bit of bank, no bank, massive bit of bank, no bank and so on and so forth.
6) Spread out all of the bedding that you've pulled down, and add fresh bedding (as much as needed to make good depth bed)
7)With the rest of the 'turret style' bank round the edge, pull it across so you have your banks all the way around. Run your fork along the top of the banks to neaten up and pat along the side of the banks with the fork to get a good shape.
8)Run your fork over the top of the main bed to smooth out and make neat.
9)Flick some of the bed against the banks so you don't have a sort of right angle from the main bed to the banks
10)Finally, sweep up the front of the bed to make a clean edge and untie horse

Good god girl, where were you taught
If everyone mucked out like that no one would be able to own more than one horse for fear of running out of time to muck out

I'm glad to hear that it seems I'm mucking out ok perhaps I will ask this girl to show me how she mucks out next time...I could do with a laugh

[horses4eva888]

Up to point 4 *katie* I do it the same as you, never heard of the turret thing before!

Can't see anything wrong with what you're doing Springyspring, you should ask her what you did, maybe you did a better job than her and she was jealous

[x-Marmite-x]

I know! I spent about nine years mucking out a certain way (although i didn't get to do it very often) - it was v similar to the way springyspring mucks out, then i went to my RS for work experience and they had a go at me, showed me how to do it 'properly' then watched me like a hawk for a fortnight to check up on me ! Funny thing is, the same RS was the one who taught me to muck out the way i was being told off for (oh no, a nine year old technique, it must need changing !)

[Mimi + Me]

That sounds right in theory.

Maybe you're just not sifting through the bed enough and leaving bits of poo in? I know there are always some bits that are so small that to get them out you'd have to pick them out by hand, but maybe it's just dotted with bigger bits? That's all I can think it might be

[noodle]

OMG Katie, if that is how I was asked to muck out, I would never have got a horse LOL.

12 months ago I had NEVER mucked out a horse, now I own 2.
I guess it all depends on the bedding, but I have had experience with shavings,flax and hemcore never straw.
I would take all the poo of the top, then gently scrape back the 'cleaner top bedding' take out all the wet, BUT when I first started mucking out I used to then turn ALL the bedding over so it all mixed into 1 mass, BUT I found that even though the bed was dry it became stained quicker and was pointless using really fresh clean bedding to put at the bottom of the bed, so I now keep the top of the bed to one side, cover over the floor/matting with older bed, put top back on, pat down a bit to get roughly even surface, sweep back to a lip, add any extra on top, sometimes just to make it look nice cos flax goes a horrible colour very quick, then pat again, sweep again. BED DONE.
That was for the loan horse.

My 2 are on hemcore cos that all the yard lets us use{but the supply it cheap and no need to collect ect] and I love it!!!!!!!!
SO much nicer, the wee runs staright through and soaks only at the bottom, dosnt stain like flax/shavings and smells lovely

[chris22]

Originally Posted by *katie*

Would you like to hear how i was taught to muck out ? It's so complicated i need a blooming diagram !
Katie's ten steps to the most complicated, long winded muck out ever :
1)Take out all poo and wet you can see.
2)Sift through the bed, taking up any other waste you find, turning it over on your fork, fuffing it up etc.
3)Fork up all of the bed onto the walls
4)Jam the fork into the bottom of the bank and shake it up, turning it all over, to get any muck you've missed or that was in the banks, so you end up with all the bed 'fluffed up' round the edges.
5) Push the fork down the wall behind a section of the bank, and pull it down so there is no back left at that bit of the wall. Go all the way round the bed doing this at intervals, so you have massive bit of bank, no bank, massive bit of bank, no bank and so on and so forth.
6) Spread out all of the bedding that you've pulled down, and add fresh bedding (as much as needed to make good depth bed)
7)With the rest of the 'turret style' bank round the edge, pull it across so you have your banks all the way around. Run your fork along the top of the banks to neaten up and pat along the side of the banks with the fork to get a good shape.
8)Run your fork over the top of the main bed to smooth out and make neat.
9)Flick some of the bed against the banks so you don't have a sort of right angle from the main bed to the banks
10)Finally, sweep up the front of the bed to make a clean edge and untie horse

And i got told off for not doing every single bed that way even though it takes forever! Don't worry, your way is fine; everyone has their own way of mucking out and as long as the bed ends up clean and suitable for the horse to be in then they can't really argue how you got there !

I also learn't a similar method. Thank goodness I know have rubber matting lol

[Cupcake]

I take out all the poos and wet parts... fill it up a bit more and then on weekends I change the whole bed.

How can there be a proper way?

[annette h]

Your mucking out routine is the same as mine, it works fine for us. We have rubber matting underneath

[LokiSofi]

mine is the same as Katies I was taught to muck out in a very very strict yard. i had to do it within a time limit aswell...oh the joys of being an apprentice

[Loopslou]

I muck out as quickly as poss as my two are only in overnight in winter and no harm to you, they aren't going to walk back out of the stable and say "hey mum, you missed a bit"

I quickly lift the poo and any visible wee

don't touch the banks until about every 6 weeks as believe it or not, there is a lot of bacteria in the banks and why disturb that every day or even week just to then have to practically re-set the whole bed. I just let the banks be.

On the weekend, I lift the clean shavings and dig out any big wet patches (Amber rarely pees in her bed so rarely has wet patches BUT has been a cat in a previous life and buries her poo) I then add in clean shavings to each stable.

Milou can be wet but a good deep litter bed works best for him or else I'd be taking out shares in the shaving company!

So long as there is no smell, no huge poos hanging about and the top few inches of their bed is dry, I'm happy!

Tell anyone else who is saying you aren't doing the bed right to show you how to do it, let them muck out for you, then next time, act dumb and say you haven't quite got the gist of what they were saying and get them to muck out for you another few times and then they will soon think twice of sticking their nose in where its not wanted. Honestly, some people have nothing better to do on yards except stand around waiting to criticise and be offended

[Zayna]

You're not mucking out properly if there's still muck in the stable when you've finished, end of. I'm sure your style of mucking out is a personal thing. I know when you're training on a yard there have to be rules, but as long as the job gets done properly, who cares about turrets?

[kirby]

I have a straw bed and as the yard im on include straw as much as you want i make a big queen size bed!!!

First i remove the horse, water bucket and haynet then
Put my rubber gloves on and pick out the poos
From the front of bed move clean bedding into a pile including clean end of banks
Then scrape away top layer, then as Porsha wees all along the back end, i remove all the soaked straw and the banks that have been saturated
Sweep all floor
Leave to dry all day while porsha out and im at work,
Then cover stable floor with leftover straw,build up banks,add new straw on top,fold under banks and front,sweep then throw fork into bed all over to make sure deep anough,
Then add in freash haynet and water,and horsy, unless its summer 24/7 turnout yippee!

Everyone does it differently and no way is right, as long as its a healthy and comfortable bed for the occupants

[Snow_Pony]

I used to work at a yard where we had to just take out the muck and wet we could see, then fork clean shavings in to the holes in the bed we'd made. Got told off for forking clean shavings up onto the banks! Strangely enough kept beds very clean though...