Am i mucking out right?

sjames86

sjames86

New Member
Nov 25, 2009
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Birmingham
I've had my new pony for 3 1/2 weeks now and getting to grips with everything.

However when i muck out i seem to have a much fuller barrow than others on the yard and i am not always sure if i am doing it right.

My mare is very messy so poop is often spread around or trampled in and she is on a straw bed.

I lift out the poop with a shovel but seem to have to take out an awful lot of the straw each day too as it is either wet or really mucky.

Not sure if i should be leaving dirty straw or get out everything that doesnt look clean and fresh.

I am reluctant to ask at the yard as although everyone is lovely there i dont want them thinking i havent got a clue!

Can someone reassure me that i am doing okay or is there some way i can improve my technique as at this rate shavings will be more economical!! :eek:

(ps she doesnt have mats in the stable)
 
Without seeing your bed and watching you muck out, I couldn't really say!

With mucky horses its often a case of trial and error - one of my horses is absolutely disgusting (as in, take everything out) if left on a bed any thinner than about 8". Ideal depth of bed for him is about 1.5ft. He has mats by the way. He tramples it in as he box walks in anticipation of turnout on a morning.
However one of my others is ideal on a bed about 1ft deep - any less and he's digsuting, any more and he's horrendous!!!!
Try her out with varying depths of bed and see what difference it makes.

When mucking out, you want to take out the poo and the wet straw. If it's just a bit "used" but not wet, I leave it in. :)
 
I'm probably not best qualified to answer as I've always been on mats. I had to muck out a traditional straw bed for a friend over the holidays and was appalled at how much more I had to take to the muck heap. 3 barrows from one horse, when I normally get my own two horses's production in a barrow each or even just one sometimes. I daresay it depends how tidy your horse is and how wet they are, how big your stable is and also how scrupulous you are too. If you don't mind a bit of slightly yellow straw going back in to the bed here and there, especially in the toilet areas then it might save a bit of effort.
 
I havent so far noticed that she has a toilet area, it just seems to be any where.
The stable is 10x10 (i think!).
I try to only take out one barrow per day (but they are always heaped) and sometimes worry that i am leaving too much mucky stuff behind.
However the light in the stable isnt very bright so i cant always tell properly what is dirty and what isnt.
It is about the only thing left about caring for her that still stresses me out a little

I gave her quite a deep bed tonight and she will probably be in all day tomorrow due to snow so i will see how it looks when i go up tomorrow evening.
 
When I got my first pony, it took me ages to muck out, I spent hours meticulously separating dirty from clean, then doubting whether I had done it correctly or not. 5 years on, and 3 yards later, I have realised mucking out is incredibly personal, some people leave the wet in, take the solid out, deep litter,lifts beds up, do a full muck out everyday....The only advice I can give is 'do what suits you and your pone'. I go to the yard twice a day, I muck out first thing and leave my bed up around the edges, with some dirty straw left in the middle (for wees). When I go in the evening, I take poo and dirty bedding from middle and put bed down and add clean straw.

My mare is very dirty, my gelding is quite clean, ( has a toilet area), you will find your own mucking out routine with time. It used to take me about 4 hours to muck out 2 stables lol now it takes me about 30 mins.
 
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10x10 isn't very big for a 14.2, so this will add to the problem.
Also, how often is she mucked out and how much time is she in? I get 1/1.5 barrows out of each horse and they come in at around 2pm and are in until 9am next morning. However if they are in for 24 hours (ie we can't get them out due to weather or they are on box rest) I muck out twice daily.

ADD: As the above poster mentioned, speed and efficeincy comes with experience - I can comfortably muck out my three horses in about half an hour, that's mucked out, beds down and haybars filled. I can hurry if I need to and do it in less, but of course this is relected in how well they are done!
My mum is relatively new to this horsie lark, and when she comes down to help muck out on weekends I have two done, bedded down, haybars and waters done and she's just finishing the first box. She was off work today and came to help - I'd got two all done (as above) and in from the field when she was just finishing one box. That said, I have about 16 years experience shovelling sh!t :p
 
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it might be a 12x12 but i'm having a mental block at the moment and can't remember! I have the option of moving to a larger stable for the same price but didnt think my little pony would need a big stable.

She is turned out at about 9am and comes back in between 2-4pm. I work so only get up there once a day after work on weekdays so i cant muck out twice daily unfortunately. Being dark when i get there too it is hard to see what i am doing!
 
My gleding pees like a mare - EVERYWHERE! he gets a very messy bed and it takes me forever to take out the soiled stuff. When I first started I thought I was taking out too much and would get in trouble for making the muck heap excessive ;) but TBH I then watched the yard staff do it on a livery day and they took out even more!

Comet is on straw and I would take about 4 medium barrows out per day. Every horse is different.

You could try wearing a pair of Marigolds to skip out though if your mare poos loads. That saves loads of time
 
sjames86 said:
it might be a 12x12 but i'm having a mental block at the moment and can't remember! I have the option of moving to a larger stable for the same price but didnt think my little pony would need a big stable.

She is turned out at about 9am and comes back in between 2-4pm. I work so only get up there once a day after work on weekdays so i cant muck out twice daily unfortunately. Being dark when i get there too it is hard to see what i am doing!
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IMO mucking out once when she's out for all that time is fine - that's what I do. I only muck out twice when they're in all day.

Regarding the stable, I would always rather have too much space than not enough. One of my horses used to be in a 16x15 foaling box - he didn't need it, it was so big he box-cantered when upset rather than box walking, but he liked it and so did i :)
 
Piling on the "depends on the horse" bandwagon here.

When we had our two share mares I learned pretty quick. Katie was filthy in her box . . . trampled all the poo into little tiny pieces mixed into the shavings and wee'd everywhere. As a result her bed only got completely taken up at the weekends - during the week the worst wet patches were dug out and the bed topped up with fresh shavings. Nell was immaculate. Had two toilet areas which were easy to dig out. Left her poos intact. Skipping her out was a doddle - as was mucking out. It would take me at least twice as long . . . and I'd end up removing twice as much muck - cleaning up Katie's bed than Nell's.

Apparently Kal is pretty clean in his bed . . . although I hear he likes to lie in his poo (which is just lovely considering he's grey!). He'll be on full livery so I won't be mucking him out - but I will skip him out if needed when I go up. It'll be interesting to see if he's easy or hard to do.

Don't worry too much about it . . . as everyone else has said here you'll find your own rhythm and figure out what works for you and your pony after a while.

N
 
I muck out three donkeys and two horses and it all fits into 2 large barrows, but they are on mats.

Molly horse was messy, box walking poos everywhere, when she was on straw I had to practically empty the stable daily, as everything was soaking. i was taking about 2-3 barrows out of her stable alone.

you might find if you put in one of the more absorbent shavings type beds it is less, or invest in mats - they do save time and bedding, but only work if the stable has drainage.

also the horse, if it has recently moved, may settle more and be less messy but you tend to find you have tidy horses and those that aren't. Our donkeys are mega tidy, they poo in the same place, the horses tend to just go wherever they are....they are both mares.

I used to muck out at a livery yard, and you had very tidy horses and some that were utterly filthy.....luck of the draw.
 
*shudder* I used to hate mucking out straw, in particular mares on it, yuk :eek:

I used to work it by lifting visible poo out first with a shovel, then forking up, working in a sort of spiral around from the edges in, throwing the clean stuff up the banks. eventually i'd get to the wettest patch in the middle which i'd lift and chuck out. That was geldings though, with mares the wet tended to be at the back, so i'd work side to side, starting at the front and working backwards.

If i did throw any wet up the sides, i'd notice it against the cleaner stuff and lift it off then.

I wouldn't worry too much, other people might not be doing a full muck out, or might not be as fussy ;) One thing I would say though, with straw I always found it was better to have a thicker bed, it always seemed to be much easier to do for some reason :)
 
I think when you get your first horse it takes a while to find a "technique" of sorts and at first you seem to very quickly fill a barrow! Took me ages to get a system going with Storm and Joe - but now its a lot easier. I've tried various beddings, shavings, straw, nedz bedz etc but am now on a combo of straw and Nedz Bedz. If you've got a messy horse, doesn't really matter what you use in my opinion!! Basically I flip all the bed up against the walls and the poop drops down (very easy in this cold weather as its frozen!!!). Then I take out any wet I can see and put the bedding back down and add if necessary. I don't think there is any set way of doing it - just trial and error!
 
Kelly was quite clean when she first came in, but lately she's been eating her bed, so she's a lot dirtier now. She tends to use the middle/front more than the back.

I sweep all the dirty stuff away then fork it up, push the clean stuff to the back and leave it there during the day (even when she's in). Then at night I bring the back stuff to the front and top up the back with clean - does that make sense?!

I generally shift a barrowload a day, but on good days I can get away with filling one of those blue Ikea bags.
 
I know just what you mean! My horses live out with shelter but I help out my neighbour when she goes on holiday and it takes me ages to muck out (horse is on auboise) I never know how much to take out! My banks always look uneven and I worry it isn't neat enough. Some of the time my friend helps me out and she does it so neatly as shown in this pic I had to take to show my Mum. Thats enough to give anyone a mucking out complex!
It probably doesn't matter as long as your horse is happy and healthy. I have got a TB and a native and I let mine live out with a shelter so I don't have to muck out thank heavens!
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I take 2 barrows a day from Silver 12hh mare now she is on straw (temporarily!!!)...

And I get :eek: but I find it difficult to seperate clean from dirty, so if the scoopful is partly dirty its going in the barrow lol.

Its personal choice and I prefer shavings as long as they are decent quality (not dust), dont bother with banks as they dont stop them getting cast... With shavings I take out 1/2 a barrow a day to a barrow :)
 
when our 12.2 was on straw, we'd take out 2 - 3 heaped barrows a day - and that was just in overnight

on straw, we are from the thorough muck out and bank it all back and let the floor air every day type of person

we are now on flax but we still muck out every last drop of poop!

I guess it also is how fussy you are, as well as how messy the pony is

my friend - omg I am SO jealous - there pony poops in one place - just off the bedding, by the door - how good is that! They never have to sort thru the bed to find poop - grrr jealous jealous jealous LOL x
 
I would buy some mats and drastically reduce the bedding that you use. I don't understand why people have such thick beds - most horses don't need this and you are making more work for yourself and spending much more cash than you have to.

Mucking out is a skill that you improve over time. I also think that new owners are much more fussy about removing every last bit of wet straw compared to people who have had horses for years.
 
Don't worry we're all slow to start with ;)

My horse and shetland pony share a "bull shed". It's about 16' x 20', so nice and big. It's also an earth floor so the wet soaks away. I deep litter them, only skipping out the poos into a basket which takes minutes. As the wet comes to the top I then take that part of the bed out (2 or 3 times each year). The straw is topped up about every 2 or 3 days. It does them fine and is clean and always dry for them to lie on. After nearly 30 years of mucking horses out I refuse to give myself extra work when it's not necessary. You would think that the bed would be horrendously deep by now, but it's not.

Obviously if it was a concrete floor I would have to do it differently..
 
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