Some General Points on Mucking Out
a. The door of the stable must always be securely hooked back during mucking out. If left swinging, it could hit a passing horse or person, frighten a horse or be broken. Always secure doors.
b. The positioning of the wheelbarrow requires some thought. If the
horse is not in the stable there is no problem and the wheelbarrow
can be brought into the stable to save making a mess on the yard.
If the horse is in the stable, you must take care that the wheelbar*
row is not protruding into the stable where the horse may swing
round and catch itself on the handles, for example. So, depending
on the size of the stable and where the horse is tied, either place
the wheelbarrow across the doorway, sideways on, or just inside
the doorway with the handles away from the horse.
c. Throw away as little bedding as possible. It is expensive and cost
should always be considered. Disposal of bedding can be diffi*
cult, so don't add to the problem unnecessarily.
d. Choose a different wall to pile the clean straw against each day.
In this way no part of the floor goes unswept for longer than a
day or two at a time.
e. Keep yard sweeping to a minimum by loading your wheelbar*
row correctly. As you muck out, fill the four corners of your
wheelbarrow first. This creates a dip in the middle into which the
last shovelful of droppings can be placed. In this way, you will
not leave a trail behind you as you take your wheelbarrow to the
muck heap.
/. f/ the horse is in the stable while you muck out, safety should be yout first thought. The stable tools have the potential to injure the horse and the horse could then injure you. The horse must be tied up. However well behaved it is, it may be startled by exter*nal influences. This could lead to it barging into you and the tools or perhaps trying to jump out over the wheelbarrow - a poten*tially disastrous situation!
g. While working around the horse, make sure you keep the tools, especially the fork, well away from it. Move the horse over to stand on the opposite side of the box to the one at which you are working.
h. If the horse is going out of its stable to work or to be turned out, the bed could be left up to allow the floor to dry or be disinfected.
i. If the horse is staying in its stable, the bed should be put down. Lay the remaining bedding evenly over the floor, then top up with approximately half a bale of fresh straw/shavings. Build banks around the edges to prevent injuries or the horse getting cast and to minimise diaMgVite. t\n& bed s\\ould be thick enough to protect the horse from the concrete floor. If the flooring is easily exposed when the horse moves around, the bed is too thin. Overly thick beds are wasteful and time consuming.
j. Some owners prefer to use a "day bed" and "night bed". After mucking out some of the bedding is laid, to make a slightly thin*ner bed that can be easily skipped out during the day. In the evening the rest of the bed is laid and fresh bedding is added, to make a thick night bed.
k. If the bed is skipped out frequently throughout the day, and again at evening stables, the job of mucking out the next morn*ing is much easier.
Full Mucking Out Procedure for a Straw Bed
a. Assemble the tools: four-prong fork, broom, shovel and wheel*
barrow.
b. Remove the horse from the stable or tie up securely in the stable.
Hook back the door and place the wheelbarrow across or just inside the doorway, with the handles pointing away from the horse.
d. Remove the obvious piles of droppings with the fork. To do
this, lift the straw under the droppings with the drop*
pings on top, then tip the droppmgs mto the
wheelbarrow and replace the clean
straw in the bed. Alternatively, put on rubber gloves and remove the droppings by hand.
e. Next choose one wall against
which to put all the clean bed*
ding. Work around the stable,
tossing all the clean straw into a
pile against this wall and placing
all the soiled straw and droppings
in the wheelbarrow.
f. Use the broom to sweep the floor clean and then shovel up the
remaining debris.
g. "Now put fee straw back down as a bed,
h. Top up with fresh bedding.
i. Empty the wheelbarrow and put away the tools.
j. Untie the horse and check that it is securely bolted into its stable
Variations for Full Mucking Out of d Shavings Bed
a. Wearing rubber gfoves, remcrc^? &e<5&>}?£>us drqr>pings by hand, placing them straight into a skip. If you prefer, this can be done witfi a sAavings fork.
b. Work throug/i the whole bed wjth a shavings fork, removing the soiled patches and putting the clean bedding to one side.
I just pick the poo out with rubber gloves then sort through the rest with a shavings fork, taking all the wet out and throwing the clean up against the walls.
