# How long does it take you to clean a stall?



## ApuetsoT (Aug 22, 2014)

Dont remember exactly, but when I was doing stalls all the time I think I timed myself to about 7 minutes? Assuming I didn't need to go empty the wheelbarrow or the stall wasn't trashed. 

Otherwise, anywhere from 5-15min, depending how motivated I was that day. Lol.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

My horses are free ranged, with rugs on in nasty weather. So, the total amount of time I've spent cleaning stalls/replacing bedding since 2010 is zero; rugging during the seasons when I do takes less than half the time as stall cleaning, plus the horses can go where they please on 150 acres and are super happy and healthy with their new lifestyle - they were all stabled horses once.





It took me half my lifetime to be able to do this for my horses. Before that, to clean a lock-up stall, around 5-10 minutes each per day in sand-based footing, and 10 minutes + each on concreted floors with bedding, such as straw, wood shavings etc on top of rubber matting. Not concreting the floors of stables is common here because the ground doesn't freeze, and so it's softer for the horses and less work to keep clean. No additional bedding required, but clean sand will need to be topped up periodically. Horses can eat their hay off rubber mats etc, or out of big feeders.


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## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

For my neat horses that poop on one side and pee on the other, maybe 2 minutes. For the Boarder Beast and my stallion, who pee and poop wherever they are, then circle through to grind it up....about 15 to 20 minutes. Every time I think I got it all, I unearth another treasure!!


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## Woodhaven (Jan 21, 2014)

It all depends on how far the manure pile is, in winter have to shovel a path to it, how far to bring fresh bedding. but I would say for me about 10 min that includes a trip to the manure pile and bringing bedding from the back part of the barn 
If I do a very thorough job maybe a couple more min.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

To just clean a stall....average was 15 minutes figured at the barn I used to work at.
This did not include dumping the wheelbarrow, having to retrieve or put in fresh bedding...only to clean the stall.
We had 12x12 boxes. Bedding stall bottom was 8-10" deep and then banked on sides.
Each stall was completely turned and rebuilt daily...using mostly existing shavings.
When you do stalls of the same horses everyday you learn their stall habits.
Today if I were to clean stalls of unknown animals I guarantee you it would take me longer to find, and disperse those presents left than to do a stall of a horse I did 6 days a week for 6 months prior...
You learn your horses and they learn you.

So, faster or about average...personally, I want the job done right.
You get paid xyz to clean this many stalls in your workday.
If it takes you 8 hours or 4 hours, as long as they are cleaned properly I don't care nor is the pay scale different...
It is you who makes the $ amount per hour you receive by how fast you work. We were paid by the day and this work needing accomplished this day... = hourly pay made.
:runninghorse2:...


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

7-10 minutes.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

When I had stall to clean it would take me about 10 minutes to 15 minutes. My horse was one who love to twirl everything around in there. I think it took me longer because I would be careful not to wast shavings. I've seen people throw out half a bag of good shavings at a time. 

Just tell the ones who like to talk, "Quality over quantity".


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Can't really answer per stall as each horse is different. My stallion is a peach, poops in the same spot, has 1 pee spot, takes no time to clean up after. His son is a Kitchen Aid Mixer, poos & pees where ever and then walks around and breaks it all up and mixes it in, we put down 1 bag of pellets for him and mostly strip his stall daily. I do 10 stalls from start to finish, including dumping and refilling waters, putting up hay and spreading manure, mixing and delivering feed buckets and putting each horse in his/her own stall and raking the aisle in 2 hrs. And that's doing everything at the run because the barn help didn't show up that day and I just got home and horses are mad because dinner is late. Blanketing, stripping stalls, new bedding is all extra.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

For my two horses? Three to five minutes for the tidy pony who leaves a poop pile and a wet spot, fifteen minutes for the Giant Piglet, who never saw a stall that didn't need more churning. I bed thickly -- at least 4" of shavings -- and clean thoroughly.


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## pasomountain (Dec 19, 2018)

Just to clean takes maybe 3-5 min to pick poop and pee spots, fluff up the bedding and add some new sawdust that we keep banked in one corner.


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## SteadyOn (Mar 5, 2017)

Okay, phew! These answers are making me feel better. 

I probably average about ten minutes a stall, but it does depend on their condition. The tidiest horse I can do in about seven minutes. The WORST horse is frequently a 20 minute job -- sometimes even longer, with more than one wheelbarrow's worth of disaster -- but he tramples his poops into something resembling concrete, churns his hay up with his bedding, and pees on absolutely EVERYTHING. The other horses have fairly average mess levels, so about then minutes apiece for them.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

Oooh that's such a loaded question. 15 minutes taking my time and getting things perfect. <5 if one of those "bang them out" scenarios. Nowadays I'm happy to take my time. Definitely depends a bit on the stall/horse too. If I'm taking my time but also being efficient it's <10 with my current neat horses but I add in water/hay/shavings etc so literal stall time is a little less.

I CAN tell you I'm slow by most peoples standards, but I'm thorough lol. However, on the flip side, I've been cleaning stalls for over 20 years and could literally do it in my sleep...I probably have. So if you're new to it, or haven't done it in awhile it will take longer. I think I took literally an hour or two on this lady's stall with a foot of bedding and 4 foot banks, I hadn't cleaned stalls in a long time, she said wanted me to sift ALL of it...idk maybe I didn't understand...I've buried that memory away!! If you're volunteering, don't worry about it at all !

Ten minutes is completely reasonable!


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## humanartrebel1020 (Nov 12, 2018)

Three minutes to fill the barrow girl off one stall. Should be able to fill the bucket in one minute if your going "fast". Everyones different. Not including walking to the dumping area or kicking out new shavings.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

humanartrebel1020 said:


> Three minutes to fill the barrow girl off one stall. Should be able to fill the bucket in one minute if your going "fast". Everyones different. Not including walking to the dumping area or kicking out new shavings.



_I can't imagine...._
There is no way, no how I could do my stalls a complete a job as I demand of myself with a 3 minute timer on me...
Unless you have "0" shavings and just bare...even then it would take me longer...
How big are your stalls and how much bedding is in them?
Any barn I worked in...this fast a production and the boss would be in inspecting work done...it better pass muster or you was either redoing and being checked now or you was gone...fired!


_How...how do you clean thoroughly so fast?_
There must be a secret and I would love to know it...
Please share...:smile:

:runninghorse2:...


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

If it doesn't include emptying wheelbarrows then 10 minutes max., and I'm really fussy.
For Jazzy - 20 minutes on a good day! Even then I'm still collecting stray bits of poop when I'm putting her bed back down. 
There's always that ONE horse!
Even if we had a set up where she could just go in and out of a field shelter that was bedded down it would be no better - probably worse because left to her she'd spend more time in the shelter than she would outside. I'm sure she holds on to her pee until she comes in.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

BTW, I use the pelleted bedding, not shavings and my time earlier doesn't include adding a new bag, putting water in it and then letting it sit to fluff before I spread the new.


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## SteadyOn (Mar 5, 2017)

Today wound up being a twenty-minutes-per-stall type of day. They had churned things up really badly, there was a lot of vague medium-soiled stuff that wasn't quiiiite ready to come out (especially because we were running low on pellets to top up), but that still didn't look great, and whenever there's ambiguity I always take longer and overthink.  Took me an hour to do three stalls. :/


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*
However, the job was done and done right!!


That fact to me is more important than "how long it took", but that you were happy with the end result.
And...the horse has a comfy home, clean to rest in...:smile:

:thumbsup:...so much more important!​


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

SteadyOn said:


> Today wound up being a twenty-minutes-per-stall type of day. They had churned things up really badly, there was a lot of vague medium-soiled stuff that wasn't quiiiite ready to come out (especially because we were running low on pellets to top up), but that still didn't look great, and whenever there's ambiguity I always take longer and overthink.  Took me an hour to do three stalls. :/


I don't think 20 mins is too long under those circumstances. You needed to slow down to stretch the resources you had, rather than strip everything possible and have nothing to replace it with. Somehow I doubt it's as easy for your situation to replenish the bedding as it is for me. I noticed I was down to 2 bags of pellets yesterday, told the guy cleaning stalls to go ahead and use them and ran to town and got another pallet. It's easy and fairly cheap for me to grab a pallet or 2 because I'm not far from town and all 3 feed stores carry the pellets.


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## Dez4455 (Mar 14, 2019)

Hahaaaa, it normally takes me an hour and a half for each stall..... because I get distracted sooo easily LOL. 

*Cleaning out stall* "Hmm i wonder if my sharpies are still where I put them..." *checks*
*Gets back to stall* "Is the feedroom clean or does it need to be swept?" *checks, cleans feedroom*

And so on and so on LOL!!


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## Captain Evil (Apr 18, 2012)

I am really slow by anyone’s standard. 

When I used to work off part of my horse China’s board by cleaning ten stalls once a week, it took me 5-6 hours, no joke. A deeply bedded stall with my current stall-slob will take me at least 20 minutes and two muck buckets. Stall and paddock maybe 25. 

If I follow the vet’s directives and limit his hay and bed him thinly to discourage stall-rolling (he tends to cast himself), the work is literally cut in half: 10 minutes to do the stall and maybe five for the paddock.

I kind of backslid into free-feeding hay using a slow feed hay net for the winter... but summer is coming!


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## bayleysours (Apr 1, 2019)

I worked for a horse trainer cleaning 20 stalls and 5 pens for mares and foals. In the barn I'd be around 5 minutes per stall (unless they were very messy). The messier horses' stalls would take 7-10 minutes, then the back pens for the mamas and babies would be anywhere from 10-15. I also had to saddle, unsaddle, rinse, bathe when they were going to shows, Theraplate, and clean the automatic waterers, and help lope some, so I would usually work from 7am until about 3.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

It all depends....
It depends on how many different people are cleaning stalls during the week and their habits, the bedding material, what is under the bedding material, whether the stalls are cleaned am and pm or just one or the other depending on what is going on that day, the horse's habits - are they a Neatnick Nancy or a Dirty Gertie, do they churn their bedding, poop and cover or poop and flatten then hide the evidence, or let it sit in a neat pile waiting for pick up, is there a dedicated pee spot or are they a pee wherever the urge strikes type, how long they are kept in the stall, is there a pee line (where one horse drinks, triggering the autofill - which always gives the next horse down the line the urge to pee then once the one horse has gone everyone else has to go - get the water hog out to drink in the tank and avert the entire disaster) and whether there is a request to sift the entire stall to find absolutely everything. 



Years ago I worked after people in a large barn that would clean up the obvious only and never look for anything but the obvious. They were masters at making a stall look perfect on top while underneath there was all sorts of ugly happening. That meant on my days (end of week/weekend) the BO/Trainer was complaining about the condition of the stalls and smell because that was the only day they went to pull horses out for work themselves and I ended up with the heavy cleaning and somehow it was 1) My fault the stalls were so nasty and 2) I took way too long so my pay was "adjusted" to the amount of time it took the weekday help to clean and 3) I cost them a fortune as I took out way too much material..... It took a couple times of me showing up on a weekday after stalls were cleaned and the help had moved on to other chores or left for the day and pointing out what was left under that nice looking cover to get every one on the same page. I left not long after that as the weekday help did not appreciate their time saving measures being pointed out. 



So to answer, it depends, but 5 to 15 minutes is fair.


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## gottaquarter (Jun 8, 2012)

Count me in with the slower pickers.......I have a tidy enough mare (as in the piles are in one area but oh boy there are a lot of them) and a mixmaster gelding. I don't stall very often, but when i do i usually take a good 30-40 minutes for each stall; i have both pelleted bedding that has broken down to sawdust mixed in with very fine shavings, so the muffins are very easy to find......and i must have OCD because i really try to get as much as i can until the littlest pieces fall thru the pitchfork. I will say that when i was doing stalls more due to weather in the wintertime i was getting some pretty good toning going on in my upper arms- i use one of those larger fine tuned forks and that thing is HEAVY even without a pile on it. Once the bedding thats in there is low i'll put shavings in and skip the pellets because fans will be on 24/7- the sawdust becomes very dusty because the base is deep and unless i wet it down i am totally imitating pig pen when i walk in the stall for anything. I think once i am back to using shavings it wont take me as long to clean it, but regardless i am not a religious stall user unless there's lightning, cold wind and rain, or an injury to put a horse inside. I think the fact that my bedding is pretty deep has everything to do with my pace, but the floors are old concrete and my guys lay down so it has to be cushy lol


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## The.blue.heeler (Feb 15, 2019)

Ahhhh this post/comments make me feel SOO much better about my self. It used to take me about 3-4 hours to clean a 22 and a 8 stall barn, taking my time, including driving to the back of the property to dump and putting fresh bedding in each stall then raking the isles (which in the 22 was huge because the barn was along side the arena with 10 on one side of the arena and 12 on the other) and turning horses in and out most days. And they would somedays add other stuff todo. And they acted like I was soooo slow! But I only got paid $20 a day even for days with a couple hours worth of extra stuff. Which is it just me or is that ridiculous?!


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

My barn is in the pasture and the horses can come and go at will, so I'm never sure what I will find! 

In general they are very neat, but lately have been messier, so taking longer. 

Normally I can complete everything; picking, dumping and adding new if needed in 20-30 minutes for 3-4 stalls. Usually I can fit a days worth in one wheelbarrow.

But some days, like when there is heavy rain the horses will spend a lot of time in there, so sometimes have double the load = double the time. Also when I strip the stalls, usually every 3 months or so I take everything out, shift mats back into place, and sweep the entire stall really well including walls. That takes a bit longer. 

However, the queen of slow was a person who was a boarder at a self-care barn I was at. She spent 2 hours a day (sometimes more) cleaning ONE stall! How could it take so long? She didn't come out or take breaks or anything. I tried to help her at first, and she got really upset and said I was "doing it wrong". Weird.


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

[email protected] said:


> Ahhhh this post/comments make me feel SOO much better about my self. It used to take me about 3-4 hours to clean a 22 and a 8 stall barn, taking my time, including driving to the back of the property to dump and putting fresh bedding in each stall then raking the isles (which in the 22 was huge because the barn was along side the arena with 10 on one side of the arena and 12 on the other) and turning horses in and out most days. And they would somedays add other stuff todo. And they acted like I was soooo slow! But I only got paid $20 a day even for days with a couple hours worth of extra stuff. Which is it just me or is that ridiculous?!


$20 days for 30 stalls is ridiculously low! That isn't even $1/stall...


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