Stall Cleaning and Shavings

[Mako]

How often does your barn gut the stalls and put in new shavings? My barn recently started to bed the stalls and only pick them out and not add new shavings for a few days. I have a big problem with this, since my horse is not clean and her stall gets dirty quickly. There might not be poop in there but it’s milled in with the shavings, which are a brown color not white. I’m worried about flies and thrush and just general cleanliness.

They have always had clean shavings in the stalls every day in the past. I’m not sure why they have gone this route.

Does anyone else do their stalls like this? Why do you do it?

[trubandloki]

[QUOTE=Mako;8596507]
How often does your barn gut the stalls and put in new shavings? My barn recently started to bed the stalls and only pick them out and not add new shavings for a few days. I have a big problem with this, since my horse is not clean and her stall gets dirty quickly. There might not be poop in there but it’s milled in with the shavings, which are a brown color not white. I’m worried about flies and thrush and just general cleanliness.

They have always had clean shavings in the stalls every day in the past. I’m not sure why they have gone this route.

Does anyone else do their stalls like this? Why do you do it?[/QUOTE]

Did you ask the BO how stalls and bedding were handled before you decided to move there?

Most of the barns I have boarded at do not specifically add shavings every day. Very few barns worry about the shavings having to be perfectly white all the time. If the horse is the type that pulverizes their stall their stall frequently looks darker than others.

How often do I gut stalls - One horse I have gets her stall stripped daily. She is a total pig. The thing is, I bed her VERY lightly (pellet bedding and sawdust) so stripping is easy and I do not feel like I am wasting good bedding.
My other two horses pretty much never get stripped, they get picked daily (twice daily if they are in because of weather) and more bedding added as needed, which is at most every four or five days, usually once per week.

If you are worried why not have a polite conversation with the Barn Owner or Barn Manager?

[Tiffani_B]

I pile a bag or two in the corners of the stalls and pull them down as needed. My theory is that whatever you take out, you replace with new. It amounts to about a half bag per day per stall, on average. I never need to strip my stalls to bare floors because I take everything nasty out every day - the stalls are always fresh and clean. I also put limestone down on the wet spots and let them air dry before putting shavings back over top.

ETA for my pig horse, he gets pellets on the wet spot. He tends to walk around more in his stall and I’ve found that the pellets keep the wet in one location instead of letting him spread it around. I pick his manure out at night, too - if I just clean his stall once a day, it’s a lot messier than if I do a picking before bedtime and then clean in the morning.

[Tornado_Run_Farm]

I do pretty much as trubandloki. I isolate the wet spots, shovel those out down to the mat with a snow shovel, then put down layer of pellets where the wet spot was - pick the rest. Then I flip the whole stall to fluff up the shavings and make sure I don’t leave “buried treasures.” I go through one bag of pellets + one bag of shavings/stall every 5-7 days.

In fact, someone came in my barn last week and couldn’t believe the stalls were on day 6 of bedding - they thought they were fresh beds. If the wet & really soiled spots are removed, the bedding stays fresher, longer - no need to completely strip out good bedding - too expensive.

[beowulf]

I would ask the BM. There is likely a good reason, you just don’t know of it yet.

Maybe it’s because your guy is messy/piggy, and they are trying to find the best way to manage this.

For instance, when I took care of a “stall churner”, I found adding a fresh bag in the back corner every few days as was custom with other horses was a huge waste - he would pull the clean bedding down and churn it right up with the dirty bedding to the point where I was stripping the stall daily… So instead, I pulled all the bedding right into the middle and swept off the side so that his churning track was swept clean, and only added as needed. Looked bizarre for an outsider but worked well for him. Perhaps management is just trying to find a way that works for your horse and their management regime.

[Highflyer]

It’s not easy or cheap to strip a shavings stall on a regular basis. The odd small piece of manure that is so chopped up it falls through the fork is not the end of the world.

[TrailRides4Fun]

I also find that rotating between pelleted bedding and fine shavings, keeps my stalls drier, than if I just used the shavings alone.
I do think pelleted is dusty, but mixed in with regular shavings bedding,
it definitely helps keep the shavings drier, and the wet spot areas, drier as well.

[Wonders12]

How long have you been at this barn?

Once a year, we strip the whole barn, power wash, and re-bed every stall. For the few days leading up to the cleaning we add little to no bedding to the stalls, since it’s all going to get thrown out anyways. Is your barn planning something like that?

For individual stalls, some stalls get stripped daily/nearly daily (those are bedded lightly) and others get stripped once per year during that big cleaning (those are usually bedded deeper).

Is the stall wet? If it’s clean, but just not that pretty light color, I wouldn’t worry about it. As silly as it is, I have our staff sprinkle fresh bedding on the top of boarders’ stalls even if they don’t need bedding added because it makes the owner feel better. We don’t do that for our horses, because it really doesn’t make any difference to the horse. (Assuming the stall is cleaned and bedded appropriately.)

If they’re not preparing for a one time cleaning, and the stall is still wet, I would talk to your BM and politely ask what’s up.

[SquishTheBunny]

I strip my stalls once or twice a year so I can wash the mats. I have one horse who gets half bag of shavings daily, and stall nearly stripped every day. He’s a pig. The others get deep bedding aND add a bag of shavings every week or so.

[Simkie]

I try to strip the stalls NEVER, but probably wind up doing it once or twice a year for assorted reasons. It takes so much bedding to start from scratch.

I use pellets and generally add bedding once a week, but more often if needed.

[ElementFarm]

depends on the horse and the weather.
In summer, mine are out 14-18 hours a day, and so I bed a little skimpily and add in new shavings as needed, and never strip.

In winter when they are in 14 hours a day, or all day, depending on weather, I bed more deeply. A couple horses are neat, and I never strip – just add in a half bale of shavings ever other day or 3 to replace what I take out. One or two are pigs, and either live out, or if they are in, they get the stall near-stripped every day, but just 1/2 to 1 bale of shavings added, because if I’m throwing them all away, I don’t want to waste a ton.
We have mats over dirt floors.

We do STRIP once a year, in the spring, where we sweep out everything, pressure wash the floors and walls, and disinfect. Other than that, I just take out what I need to, add what I need to, and don’t worry about a certain “amount/day” or number of days. It’s highly dependent on the horse. I don’t need my stalls to look like magazine-barns, just want it to be safe and sanitary and comfortable for the horses.

[Tory]

This always seems to be the “hot button” subject at a boarding facility. And I have to admit that I am on both sides.

I have my horses at home and I have one mare that is VERY tidy. I bought a pallet of stall pellets (50 40lb bags) and this lasted for 2 YEARS!!! Now she has an all weather paddock attached to her stall. So she will do all her urinating and pooping outside. She only goes in her stall when the weather is extremely bad. And when she does, she never disturbs any of the piles of manure (doesn’t churn the wet spots either).

A friend kept her horses at my place and she purchased her own bedding. At first she bedded her mares stall fairly deep. But after a month or so she cut WAY back. Why? Because her mare was a complete pig in the stall. Unfortunately this horse would make such a mess no matter how many times a day you picked out the stalls. She was going through at least 8-9 bags of pellets a week in the beginning. Doesn’t sound like much, but at $5+ per bag that is $45+ per week or $180 per month!

She ended up bedding lighter and using about 4 bags per week (saving around $100 per month).

It is amazing how your attitude changes when you are the one buying the shavings.

Stalls MUST be clean, but if a horse is going to trash the entire stall, they don’t need to be deep. JMO:)

[cayuse]

I never strip the stalls, just do a thorough cleaning and replace what is removed with new shavings.

[Crazy4aOTTB]

I clean stalls at my barn and we hardly ever strip a stall completely. We pick the stall and only add a bag or a half bag as needed. We probably put a new bag in once to twice a week depending on how neat/ clean the horse is. It sounds like your horse might be a pig. For the messy stall keepers at our barn we pick well and let the shaving get a little low before we add more shavings. Those horses usually get shaving two maybe three times a week.

The “white” shavings you speak of is really just matters to you! I doubt if the stalls are cleaned well and the small pieces are all that are left that it is a health concern. IMO shavings are just to soak up the urine and not so that your horse will have a nice fluffy “mattress”. Think about it they lay down out in the pasture all the time on hard ground. It sounds like the stalls are being cleaned well and that your horse just is a little messier than others. I would suggest that you maybe clean your horses stall for at least a month and pay for shavings so you can see what the barn is doing what they are doing!

[OTTB2]

At my barn we use both bags and when we can get a bulk load we put 5-6 wheelbarrows in each stall (being we have big stalls) and pile them up in the corner in which we feed hay and grain so they don’t get soiled and then pull them down as needed. Flies come from your manure management not a feel piece of crap left in a stall. Liming your stalls also helps with smell for horses that pee a lot. And as long as you pick your horses hooves regularly thrush shouldn’t be an issue.

[Hilary]

You don’t mention if the stall is wet or if there is any odor. If either of those 2 situations is occurring then that is a problem, but if it is just not bright white, it’s aesthetic.

[DHCarrotfeeder]

We use the mini-flake wood shavings on interlocking 3/4" rubber mat (on top of stone dust). It would be very wasteful to strip each stall each time.

We don’t strip the stalls, we just excavate any urine patches and pick the manure. Some of the shavings darken as they get walked on and not picked, but we spray with the ammonia absorber and it seems to make no difference vs. new. Also I see little difference in fly attraction whether the stalls are spotless with fresh shavings vs. experienced shavings.

We have one horse that attracts flies like crazy. I suspect it’s his feed but it’s hard to know.

IME, it’s the ammonia that builds up. Just spray the ammonia neutralizer and that will stay under control, and strip the stall every week or two if the “old” bothers you.

[mvp]

[QUOTE=trubandloki;8596597]
Did you ask the BO how stalls and bedding were handled before you decided to move there?[/QUOTE]

OP didn’t change barns, rather, her barn changed their cleaning technique.

So, OP, you’re saying that they no longer take out the pee spots each day but just pick up the manure and then strip the whole thing sometimes? That seems like a bad/expensive plan. But that is what’s happening? I just want to make sure I understand.

[atlatl]

At my barn, the stalls have mats are well cleaned daily with manure and any wet stuff taken out. Typically shavings are added once a week, however when the head barnman was on vacation for a week, the stalls were not cleaned to his satisfaction so the first day he was back they were pretty much all stripped and rebedded, I’m talking roughly 50 stalls.

Ou norm is that there is sufficient bedding so that when “shavings day” rolls around, there is still plenty in each stall, just not deeply bedded.

[fordtraktor]

I rarely strip the stalls, I just add as needed when I take out the wet spots. Periodically the stalls that don’t get used very often (some horses just come in to eat) get a bit dusty so I rotate that bedding into the stalls that get used daily, and put new bedding into the seldom used stalls to keep everything fresh.

I don’t necessarily require the stalls to be bright white. Some horses are just pigs who churn stuff around, splash their water, dunk hay, etc. and won’t keep a stall white. Not everything wet is pee. My filly makes a mess around her water bucket every day. I am satisfied with a little discoloration in those stalls as long as there is no smell. a light tan is appropriate. I usually put some pellets in the bedding of those horses to suck up the moisture and create a comfortable cushion as they suck out the mess from the dampness the horses have made by churning everywhere, and make sure I keep some lime on the base of the mats. I take out all the pee spots that are identifiable as wet but the tiny flecks distributed everywhere that are not really damp but are still not perfect I don’t strip out, I neutralize. You can manage it to make their stalls nice. Those horses are more expensive to keep, for sure, but they deserve a nice stall too. I don’t care that it is full of fluffy white shavings though. I do care that it is odorless and full of dry, light tan comfortable bedding.

Some barns use a deep litter system which can be very nice and soft if done appropriately but that is not at all what OP’s barn is doing. It’s not what I do but it’s not wrong if done well. Deep litter is very different than letting things get nasty and then taking it all out, though.