How do you muck out?

[Sammii]

Depending on whether you deep litter or not, aslong as you get all the poo and wee (if applicable) then it's fine, it's not about the way in which you go about it.

Before when Red was on shavings, I did pretty much exactly the same as Katie did, I was very particular and did a full muck out each day. Now Red is on bliss, it's really hard to do a full muck out each day as it's harder to distinguish the wet from the dry shavings so I normally just do it at weekends. I tend not to use banks now as this bedding doesn't stay in banks very well, plus red's in a 20x18ft stable so space to roll within the walls isn't a problem!

I've got strange cravings to muck out now. LOL

[Flash Harry]

I have straw and i have to be honest i deep litter. Harry is in every night, he`s a big old boy who loves to have a roll.I`d rather his stable was slightly dirty than have to deal with any injuries incurred by rolling If any of my previous bosses saw this, i would be hung,drawn and quatered!!

[cazrider]

I think it very much depends on the horse. With Sennie, he pees for england so always produces a huge wet patch in the middle. However, he's very tidy with his poo. It's always in a neat pile at the back. He's on mats and has shavings. So for him I remove all the middle of the bed every day, and scoop up the big poo pile. I then remove any stray poo. Then I bring shavings down from the sides into the middle to create enough of a bed to absorb the enormous amount of wee. However, I don't create massive banks at the back as that's where he creates his poo pile. Then I smooth and tidy it all up so that he can soak it all again.

His stable mate however, is deep littered, with just the poo removed every day, and all the wet removed at the weekend.

If I did that with Sennie he'd be swimming after two days, and very smelly.

So, judge what's best for your horse. If the bed doesn't have bits of poo in it, is thick enough for your horse to lie down on, and it doesn't smell, I'd say you've got it about right.

[theocat]

I can't believe how few people deep-litter!!

Laziness aside I love a well-established shavings bed as a surface - done properly it seems much the comfiest (from the point of view of a horse!)

mucking out consisted of:

(i was on mats)

remove all poos from the top - throw the rest of the bed upto my banks,,, removed wet - obv - then shake the banks up (slightly) and then put bed back down

banks got done rarely


next horse will have little banks and lotsa bed (no mats and cant afford them again lol)

[horse__obsessed]

i do the same as you but dig out the banks whenever they need new shavings, use shavings from that bank on the middle of the bed and the new bag of shavings is made into the bank along that wall

i rotate which bank i dig out

[*millie*]

Originally Posted by Sammii

I've got strange cravings to muck out now. LOL

Me too

It's been aaaaages since i last mucked out!

[JustJas]

My lot live out now but in the year i stabled I deep littered on hemcore.
With three lived in with about 2 hours turn out.
I picked out the dung and bad wet bits. Put in more bedding when needed.
When I emptied the stables when they were going out 24/7, 3 months later the pad was still ok.
It was great fertiliser.

[x-Marmite-x]

Originally Posted by LokiSofi

mine is the same as Katies

Glad to know someone's is ! I hated doing it like that but after two weeks i couldn't seem to go back to my old way when i tried ! Now that's my mucking out technique and i ended up getting quite quick at it !

[Camyds]

What would we do for entertainment if we did not have the yard busybody? What i would do is say "really, you dont do your bed the same way?" Let me come and watch how you do yours.................... Then cretique hers loads, after all, you do yours very well, so hers MUST be totally inadaquate........ She will soon get the message and butt out of your business as she is deffo trying it on sweetpea!!! if you let her away with critising your bed today, then gawd knows what she will pick faults with tomorrowso stop her in her tracks as she obvously thinks she has future YO in her blood and the world does not need another bad biast one