Horse Stall Mucking

Horse stall mucking is simply cleaning the waste products for the health and comfort of your horse.

How difficult is it to muck a stall?

With pitchfork in hand you start shoveling. Stall cleaning is basic to horse care if your horse is not out in pasture. It is a daily requirement in order to keep your horse and their hooves healthy. Mucking a stall is by no means a difficult task, but absolutely a necessary one, and there are many ways to keep the costs and time spent down to a minimum.

The Importance of Mucking Your Horses Stall

Keeping a stall clean and with fresh shavings is a vital component to your horse’s health. It keeps the fly population down to a minimum, avoiding the spread of worms and disease. It prevents the onset of thrush (see future article on thrush), a fungus that can eat away your horse’s hoof causing severe damage if not treated. And it keeps their respiratory system clear of the severe ammonia smell caused by urine, which can be damaging to their mucus membranes and lung tissue.

Cost Saving Tips

To keep your costs down it is important to sift through the dry shavings (only throwing way the manure “apples”) and not throwing away anything that is still usable. Another cost saver is finding the usual area where they urine and gently pealing away the dry shavings to only remove the wet urine soaked area.

The use of a product called Sweet PDZ, preferably the powder, not only eliminates the ammonia smell but helps to dry the area.This may be slightly more time consuming, but once you get a system down it will become quick and easy, as well as cost effective.

Depending on whether your horse is in a box stall or a stall with paddock attached, will determine how the winter months go with shaving use. It is very easy to save on shavings during the dry months of the year. However if the stall is open to the outside during wet months the shaving use becomes higher. The most preferable scenario is a stall with attached paddock AND daily turnout. This cuts down on the daily mess to be cleaned and time and money spent.

Remember, the more thorough you are on a daily basis, the more time and cost effective your stalls will be.

Tagged as: Horse Stall Mucking