Managed a single swipe yesterday, for a small tidily deposited pile. Two hands on shovel. One boot-toe rescue ball.
OK single-swipers, but can you do it with one hand???
Knew a former racetrack guy who could do that.
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I’ve used just about everything imaginable to Do the Doo, but my preferred tool is a Durafork with the ergo aluminum handle. A Durafork with the standard broomstick is #2, and anything else is a distant 3rd. Last place is awarded to the metal Durafork; an instrument of torture IMO.
If you use the Durafork, when you eventually need a replacement head, get a black one; they seem to outlast the colored ones two or three to one. I keep a replacement head in stock. A head missing a tine or two makes a dandy, light-weight pitchfork for managing loose hay.
In my experience, manure is best addressed daily. Then the piles are mostly intact, and can generally be picked in one go. Once the critters spread things out, it takes raking, multiple scoops, and at least twice as long. If you have to pick up frozen-to-the-ground piles, go around with a pickaxe first, and use the adze end to break the pile loose from the ground. A carefully placed wack right where doo meets dirt will generally free the pile intact. Saves on profanity, and on muckfork heads.
Trust me on this; I have a PhD in Manure Management. “Piled higher and Deeper” 
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@George_T_Mule That is an amazing overview tutorial on manure forks, with awesome handy tips on top! 
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No.
Absolutely, with the ergonomic handle fork ahead by a mile.
Will say that it may take a person a few days to become accustomed to the ergonomic handle, but after that there’s no turning back.
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My “dowry” when entering this boarding relationship included nicely painted ground poles, lettered dressage cones, and another set of cross ties. I should have involved the shovel back then because it would have seemed more natural! I do fear causing offense but…I think I’m going to go for it. 
The support on this thread has given me the confidence.
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I have those ergo forks too. They are so much less fatiguing, at least to me.
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This is just cracking me up - I have honestly thought many times of starting a thread to ask how many of get so exasperated trying to pick up the last ball of poo that we resort to just picking it up with our hands? I use a Durafork too, and sometimes those tines Just. Won’t. Push. Through whatever thick grass or rutted clay surface I’m trying to pick it up from… or it’s just full enough that one single turd falls off the side every time I go to pick up another one. No, I haven’t picked one up yet, but have been tempted to many, many times. I have, however, resorted to the toe blocking move - just don’t roll away, you turd!
I graduated from Texas A&M in 1985, and still have (and use!) the giant scoop of a shovel I bought to clean stalls at the Equestrian Center while I was there. I’ll let y’all count the years to figure out how old it is.
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Tangentially to the original post, a week or so ago I found two women, one older and one younger - and three little kids feeding my horses at the fence line that borders the road past my place. They had parked their car across the road and had brought a whole bag full of carrots. I spied them while I was mowing, and raced across the pasture on my tractor to see what the heck was up. Once I got there and they told me they “just feeding them carrots,” I kind of lost it. I forget exactly what I said, something about what if one them got bitten, they didn’t even have the courtesy to ask, they had no right, blah blah blah - and the women hastily gathered up the kids and took off. But after I had a little time
and cooled down from my indignation over the what-ifs, I regretted my reaction. Why did I have to be such a bitch about it?
In retrospect, I could have gotten off the tractor, gone over to where they were (I stopped a short distance away because one of my mares isn’t fond of loud rolling things and I didn’t want to cause a wreck), spoken to them in a little more rational tone, explained why it wasn’t a good idea to feed other people’s animals - or any other number of ways to educate and emphasize safety and respect.
So instead of making friends and possibly encouraging a horsey crazy kid (like Happyhooves story, so awesome), I did the exact opposite. I mean, they weren’t really hurting anything, although I’m glad my old man with few teeth didn’t choke on a piece of carrot - but it pissed me off to no end that they were there feeding them. And I don’t want to be that person. But still - AITAH?
At least they didn’t decide to jump the fence and try riding them!
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I respect all of your reactions and thoughts on the matter.
Although you now regret your method of intervention, on the other hand, we can hope that it is unlikely they ever again buy a bag of carrots and take the kids horse feeding – someone else’s horses.
I am not sure why so many non-horse people think all the horses are theirs. To feed treats, to ride … I have never figured that out. Do they do the same thing with other people’s pets? Other people’s children? Other people’s motorcycles and cars? Maybe they do.
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When I was six, I went for a sleepover at a friend’s house and they had a beautiful collie. I got up before anyone else, hooked up her leash, and took her for a walk. I was made to go home immediately!
I think some of these people must be mentally age six.
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I would have lost my temper in that situation, there is no doubt. Making friends might have been effective, but I bet you made more of an impression.
Rebecca
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Re: poop, my favorite thing is when I am cleaning my horses’ stalls and they decide to poop while I’m doing it. It’s so satisfying to catch it all on the pitchfork and just toss it into the manure bucket without it ever hitting the ground
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Hey I have even kept a pee bucket! (Esp in the aisleway!!) Nice to have handy for farrier time.
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If one of your horses is choke prone or has cushings, this would not be an over reaction. Hopefully they think before feeding someone else’s horses.
Many of us would have reacted the same to seeing someone feeding our horses. As someone else pointed out, most people don’t randomly feed dogs or children. Why is it supposed to be okay to feed horses without so much as saying high to the owner?
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I once had a discussion with my PT on the skill needed to muck a stall. He thought I was thinking along the lines of shoveling snow - lift with your legs, not your back. No, more the skill to pick a stall and leave the clean bedding. My niece had been cleaning stalls with me the weekend before and managed to impress me with how good she was with an apple picker.
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I had a couple of neighbor boys who were picking grass for my guys and when they got bored with it, started throwing rocks. You can bet I didn’t regret going after them guns blazing. Their parents got a talking to as well.
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Good on you Spuds! The rest of it? Meh. We are so blessed to be able to afford these wonderful, mystical animals. I just divert those who don’t know, with a simple, “My horses aren’t those kind of horses,” repeated as needed.
Then actually, I DO have a Quarter pony I’ll put little ones on and lead around in a heartbeat, because every. single. kid. should have a story about riding a pony once.
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I just heard a story from a Farmer’s Mkt vendor that when she was a kid they lived on a farm abutt of the city boundary so she and her friends would ride their ponies to the local Dairy Queen and offer people pony rides for their kids in exchange for an ic treat for themselves. Those were the days. Back when kids were little scrapers.
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I also totally understand your upset and anger. We have a horse at my barn who has no teeth. Even with a big stall sign, NO TREATS, people (usually parents of younger students) will feed her huge carrots. She will take them, promptly gnash her gums and choke/drop carrot chunks all over the floor while the onlooker laughs, not realizing how close they are to causing an emergency. It makes me livid. Same to the people who try to slip my dog a treat or piece of their sandwich, not knowing she is highly allergic to several proteins, including the most common one: chicken. I have to watch her like a hawk and when I ask someone to please not feed my dog, they look at me like I’m the bad guy, no matter how nicely I ask. So now I don’t worry about how nice I sound!
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I’ve had a few people ask and, as my eldest is a saintly 18yo gelding, I’ve had no problem to give a kid or a relative a pony ride. However, a colleague did take the cake not that long ago.
She knew I’ve got horses and asked (politely, initially) if I’d agree to give her two youngest kids a pony ride. Sure, why not? As long as she tags along and supervises, I’m okay with it.
But could I also give her eldest kid a riding lesson? She’s experienced, had a beach ride a year ago! And could she (herself, the colleague) go on a trail ride unattended - and go fast? No riding experience shouldn’t be a problem, as my gelding is calm! So, two pony rides, a riding lesson and a trail ride - all in one day!
Oh, and after that, could she leave her kids with me for the day? They won’t be a bother and, after I’m done, I could just take her three children, ages 4 to 15, back to my home, give them lunch and wait for her to pick them up!
She still doesn’t really talk to me. 
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