The Clean Barn

This is not an instruction manual on how to muck a stall! Every person has their method, and if you ask a dozen people how they muck stalls, you will get a dozen different answers! If you need a tutorial and don’t have anyone to show you how to do so, go to YouTube as there are hundreds, if not thousands, of videos showing one how to properly (and probably improperly) clean a stall.

There is no right or wrong way to muck stalls, as long as the stall is cleaned correctly with wet spots (urine) and manure removed. Some prefer a deeply bedded stall with banked walls, others prefer straw over shavings, and others would rather use pellets for bedding. But regardless of what type of bedding you choose, if using stall mats under the bedding, stalls should have enough bedding to soak up urine and to prevent hock sores. Rubber mats should never be used without bedding.

Dirty stalls, especially with strong urine odor, can pose a respiration issue with horses. Cobwebs and dust are combustible and are a fire hazard if they cover electrical outlets and light bulbs. Dirty aisles and barnyards are an invitation for pests and rodents, and unnecessary items littering the aisle can pose hazards to horses and humans alike.

The importance of cleaning stalls, buckets, and troughs, sweeping barn aisleways, picking up items, and raking the front of the barn is not just about first impressions for a potential boarder but it is also about safety and good health. These are chores that should be done daily without fail. Maintaining the barnyard area, whether it requires weeding, mowing, or raking, should be done weekly. Any bushes near a barn should be maintained regularly, as they are a potential fuel for a fire. Tack rooms should be swept, and tack and supplies should be kept in trunks or lockers. Scattered feed on the ground in the feed room should be swept up daily to prevent rodent or pest infestation, and the hay room should also be kept in good order. Nobody wants to risk putting on a helmet that is infested with roached, or stick their foot into their boot, only to discover a spider is lurking there. Similarly, there have been stories of rats and mice nesting in the seats of expensive saddles, not to mention the disease threats that they pose.

From a potential boarder’s point of view, a clean barn signifies that the owner or manager cares about how their barn looks and will most likely care about the rest of their horse management.

Many will agree that mucking a stall, while it is work, is mindless work and a great place to solve the world’s problems! It is peaceful, and you are exercising your body as well. Stalls should be cleaned daily, and good barns will perform a light cleaning several times daily. If manure is picked up at bedtime, it usually makes the stall easier to clean in the morning, especially if the horse is particularly messy. Horses on stall rest should never be standing in dirty stalls. Their stalls should be cleaned throughout the day, which is why a barn owner may charge extra for stall rest. Likewise, if the weather is not conducive to a horse going outside, then his stall should also be picked throughout the day.

There are a variety of tools and equipment which can be used to make mucking easy. Long gone are the days of using a pitchfork. With the invention of manure forks, stall cleaning became easier. The question remains as to what then to do with your manure. Do you use a muck bucket, a wheelbarrow, or a spreader? People trying to improve the cleaning process have invented and devised an array of gadgets, although whether or not they save time is debatable. Some of these devices include:

• Power wheelbarrow

• Central vac/manure suction system

• Conveyor belt

• Vibrating tables that separate the manure from the shavings

• Barns that previously served as dairy barns may have wood slats on the floors, which allow manure and urine to fall to a bottom level to be collected.

Just as there are different ways to muck a stall, there are different ways to bed the stall, with a variety of bedding material options. They all have their pros and cons, which may include availability, price and storage features. Some types of bedding may be more common in certain areas as well. For example, straw is a popular method for bedding in the north, but rarely used in the south. Different bedding materials include:

• Pine/wood shavings

• Pellets

• Hemp

• Straw

• Sawdust

• Shredded paper

• Peat moss

• Sand

• Husks or shells

  **Cedar or black walnuts should never be used for bedding due to their toxicity. Cedar shavings contain a significant oil content within the wood, which can irritate horses’ lungs. Black walnut is highly toxic and will result in a horse foundering. Even small amounts of black walnut will result in a horse becoming ill.

Your bedding storage must be considered when deciding what product to use. Straw comes baled, just like hay. Shavings can be delivered in bulk, which will require an area to store the pile where it is protected from rain (if a building is not available, tarps will suffice), or the shavings can be purchased in bags, which will also require a dry storage area. Ideally, shavings should be stored in a separate building, away from the barn, as they are combustible.

Good horse-keeping skills mean keeping barns clean. By getting into a routine, performing the chores daily will become second nature. Clean barns are essential for the health and safety of both horses and boarders.

Next week, I’ll discuss ways to dispose of all that manure!