For those that stall board your horse, if the horse has to stay in all day or most of the day due to inclement weather, how often does your barn clean the stalls?
Is it normal to expect stalls to be cleaned twice a day if your horse is stuck in their stall for 19-20 hours?
My horses are in a run-in and I clean them 2-3 times a day, but I use pellet bedding and I’m very particular. If they were in all day I’d probably be cleaning about as often.
Most boarding barns will clean once a day. Expect your costs to go up if they have to clean more than that.
If you do your own work you are free to clean as often as you like.
My horse has a runout so her stall stays very clean. I pick put the runout once a day and sometimes “tidy” a second time, flipping poop into the corner where it won’t get walked on it rolled in.
We do twice for inclement weather! Just once and a tidy as needed for days when they can go out.
My horse’s stall is cleaned twice a day (one in the morning when they go out, and again in the afternoon before feeding) on a normal day and more frequently in inclement weather. He is boarded and in a premium barn.
My barn cleans once a day, in the morning. Usually horses are out during the day. If my horse stays in due to injury or weather then I try to come clean it in the evening if I can (but I usually go to the barn in the morning, after work is more difficult)
I have mine at home. I clean once a day if they are on a turnout schedule, twice if they are in.
When mine was in training and away, stalls were done 2ce a day for the same reasons above.
Most barns around here are once a day, with the 2 higher end barns being 2ce a day and a stall pick at night.
At home I clean twice a day (inside or out, I clean the paddocks too).
When I boarded all the barns in the area that were not very high end premium barns only cleaned once per day, even if the horses stayed inside.
With my horses at home, I clean AM and PM if they’re in all day.
When I boarded, stalls were cleaned once, even at the high end facility. Can’t think of a single boarding barn over nearly 20 years that cleaned the stalls twice a day, regardless of weather.
Once a day @ the boarding barn I’m at. You are welcome to do your own and it is strongly encouraged if your horse is in for injury or show reasons.
At a boarding facility twice would be real nice if they were stuck in, but once is typical and OK.
If the barn said they would clean more than once a day if the horse is in, yes. If this was never promised to you, then no. I have worked at other people’s barns and we would sometimes do quick pick if they stayed in all day but not all the time, it depended if we had extra time in the afternoons. If they were turned out it was only once a day. The only barn that regularly mucked twice was a high-end Grand Prix barn where the horses only went out for an hour regardless of weather. Those stalls were done twice with a pick at night check. Since it is extra labour and material costs, I wouldn’t expect any barn do to stalls twice unless it is explicitly stated in the contract. Some may not mind you doing it yourself as an owner, but check before you do it.
I am BO of a private boarding barn now, and if I have time and the horses come in super early for bad weather or are in for an injury, I will try to pick in the afternoon just so the stalls are less disgusting the next day but I don’t promise this as I won’t always have time. Keep in mind that I do not leave horses in all day unless it is vet prescribed. Even in bad weather everything is going out for at least a couple of hours to stretch their legs. Everyone has appropriate blankets and I have plenty of outdoor boarders who are outside all the time, so if they can live outside in bad weather, the stalled horses can certainly get turned out for a bit in it. But that is just my opinion.
Depending on my time, I usually clean twice a day if the horses stay in 24/7. If not, definitely once per day.
But I wouldn’t consider twice daily the “standard” for boarding barns. The vast majority of places where I worked and/or boarded, once a day was the norm. Twice a day was a nice bonus, but definitely not something to be expected everywhere.
For weather, our barn tries to do at least a second quick pick of the stalls. How quick or how thorough depends a little bit on if you get your horse out at all (staff will take the empty stall opportunity to maybe do a little better second clean) and how much other work they have to do. If it’s slippery from rain, more likely to a quick second pick. If the guys are plowing a lot of snow so that they can get all of the regular chores done, less likely.
The barn I board my horse at cleans the stalls twice a day, but that seems to be rare, especially since I wouldn’t rate it as a premium barn. Horses are only in turnout for 2-4 hours a day, so it’s a nice service to have in a barn that doesn’t do long turnouts.
Similar situation for me re: pretty brief turnouts, but stalls are done 1x a day and it could definitely be considered a premium barn
The contract where I board states once a day. However, when the horses are stuck inside due to inclement weather (Snowstorms that bury the pasture gates halfway so they can’t be opened - Thanks, WNY :sigh:), stalls are cleaned AM and PM.
Once seems standard at the barns where I have boarded. If the horses are in, some barns did another pick - mostly to make the next day’s work easier. If I came to ride in bad weather (indoor) I would pick my horse’s stall Actually learned to clear this with management as some barns found owners wasted too much bedding in their attempts to clean.
When I boarded it was always just once per day. I knew of higher-end barns that would clean twice per day; they were always out of my price range. If the horses were stuck in for abnormally long periods of time, I cleaned my own stall a second time that day if the barn allowed.
I now have my own barn and my personal horses live out. I clean my boarder’s stalls once per day. If a horse is on rehabilitation board and in 24/7 or nearly that, I will clean it twice per day, as that is part of my rehabilitation board fee. Otherwise, I typically will not.
I am on the same wave as Princess. Horses should be out, not in. One reason I got my own farm - just could not stand the lack of turnout provided anymore.
Twice a day, plus an extra pick at lunch if they are not going out at all.
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