# How often do you strip stalls? How much shavings?



## pony jasper

I just got a new mare and I'm keeping her at my friend's brand new little farmlet. The horses are in stalls at night and turned out during the day, unless it is super cold/wet/snowy. So they're either out for about 14-16 hours overnight or they're in 24 hours, depending. We might change to a little more time outside, after we transition from old barn owner to new barn owner, but that's the routine the old barn owner (the person I bought my horse from) had established. 

I'm trying to figure out a good routine for cleaning and stripping. Problem is my mare seems to be a bit of a pig! She is pretty active and I think she paces around the stall a lot, which tracks the pee and poo everywhere. She's been in since Christmas (besides a few hours of turnout yesterday) due to a series of storms, and I'm finding I need to strip her stall every 2-3 days. Day 1 I can pick the poops and scoop the wet spots, day 2 the shavings are all brown and I need to scoop a lot more wet out, and day 3 it's just gross and imho needs to be stripped. 

The only other time I've had a horse stalled was at a big boarding facility with full care, and so I don't have a frame of reference for how often I should be stripping and how much shavings I should expect to go thru. FWIW, the old barn owner goes light on shavings (1-2 bags per horse per time she strips, I think the stalls are 10x10) and the other horses only seem to need their stalls stripped 1x/week. Would it help to put in more shavings? Is it just natural that some messy horses will need it more often than others? And how many brown poopy shavings are too many? Obviously I wouldn't want her standing around in wet stuff, but I don't know if I'm overreacting to the poop getting all mixed in by day 2.


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## Corporal

I use Equine Fresh, pine shavings and wheat straw.
We are damp in the winter in IL, so it depends. If it's dry I can go one week before I strip any stall.
My routine is to put one 40 lb bag of Equine Fresh where my horse prefers to pee. Then it's different for each of my three horses.
My 1,450 lb, 16'3hh KMH gelding gets two bags of Equine Fresh, then one 35 lb bag of fine pine shavings, which goes into a pile next to it. By the next morning he has spread the shavings everywhere in his 12 x 12 stall.
Then, I spot clean his poo, shovel any pine pellets that are soaked, take my foot and kick over the pine pellets that were pushed to the edge of the stall, and sweep any slightly soiled shavings to the corner and south side, where he likes to poo.
For my mare, I always cover her pine pellets with straw bc she likes a very clean stall and will pee and poo in the same spot. If I don't cover the pellets I waste them. By sweeping old straw on top the poo sticks to the straw and I can just clean up the soaked pellets.
For my other 1,100 lb QH gelding...it's a process bc I just got him a stall about a week ago. I use an apple picker to clean up his poo and I have to work a little bit harder to fine soiled pellets bc they will soak up urine 2x before that are completely soiled.
The whole idea is to keep the stall as dry as possible, and to prevent your horse from reinjesting any parasites passed in the poo when he eats.
You will blow your budget if you totally strip the stall every day, so don't. Also, don't leave it damp and dirty when you can keep it dry and pleasant. It's ok to miss some poo, but feed hay and grain in the area in his stall that he doesn't pee and poo. I use both a plastic, hanging feeder and 24 inch diameter, 6 inch high rubber feeding pans for their grain. Buster Brown has a rubber pan and he and Cup & Cakes play with it and it ends up on Cup & Cakes stall the next morning.
You'll figure it out.


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## jenkat86

I have a mare who likes to spread her mess all around too. It drives me nuts because her stall opens up to the pasture...she could just do her business outside but I'm sure she loves to watch me clean up after her. I've found that shavings are a pain with messy horses, especially if the bedding is deep. They are hard to pick through and you get a lot of waste. I like the pelleted bedding or just plain sawdust best. You can scoop the poop out a lot faster, and the wet spots tend to stick together a little better than with shavings. I like to have deep bedding, so I dump a lot of pellets but it lasts so much longer. I would strip my stall every three to 4 days before and now I just add a bag of pellets a week.


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## Saddlebag

Why not leave the horses out 24/7 except for bad weather?


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## verona1016

pony jasper said:


> Is it just natural that some messy horses will need it more often than others?


It's definitely dependent on the individual horse as to how messy they are, but it also depends on how thoroughly the stall is being picked. Since it seems to get progressively worse each day and not just getting trashed right away, I'd be willing to bet the stall just isn't getting picked out well enough. I find it's nearly impossible to do a good job of picking up wet spots without a shovel (manure fork just doesn't cut it!) If that's the case then you could either ask about doing a better job removing waste, or just strip more often.

If she's just a messy horse I'd lean towards using the bare minimum shavings and stripping every other day (unless the stall isn't matted, in which case you may need a thicker layer of bedding for cushion)


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## IndianaJones

Are your stalls matted? (rubber mats under the shavings)


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## pony jasper

Saddlebag said:


> Why not leave the horses out 24/7 except for bad weather?


Not possible or desirable for a variety of reasons. Days out/nights in is the setup I have access to at this facility (and since they have no winter coats, they are completely inside when it's -2º like today!) 

This is a situation where my friend bought one of the old barn owner's horses and then decided to buy her property, and I bought one of the old barn owner's other horses.  It's a really lovely setup with a nice indoor arena, and I feel so lucky to be there! My last (leased) horse was out in a muddy, yucky pasture at a place where "stall" was a dirty word and "shavings" was another language. I'm thrilled to have indoor stalls and a place to ride in the winter! It's just a bit of a learning curve for us with some of the barn management stuff – we're mostly adopting the routine that's been established and that the horses are used to, but I think there's room for tweaks. 

There are nice mats in the stalls. Feeders are on the other side of the stall, which is good. 

I've never heard of Equine Fresh/pelleted bedding! I'll totally try that out. It sounds like it might help with soaking up the pee, and I wonder if it would get tracked less. 

I think I am doing a pretty good job of picking the stall, she just tramples the poo around everywhere so you can't pick it out easily. I clean her stall every time I'm there which is almost every day — I'm not able to go every day tho so the new barn owner will do it on days I can't as part of my boarding agreement. But it's possible that at the moment, the old barn owner isn't super invested getting things perfectly clean on the days she's cleaning. She's in the middle of moving out after all.


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## Yogiwick

There are different kinds of bedding.

I find you can put in a little and strip every day. Or put in a lot and it will stay cleaner. Some horses just do not work with "medium".


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## clumsychelsea

I agree with Yogiwick there. ^ We have horses at the barn that are horrid with having a lot, or a medium amount of bedding. Generally the horses come in at night (unpredictable weather that drops to a windy snowy -30C in a heartbeat) and are out from 4 am to 8/9pm ish. Some of them are fine for a week just picking out the nasty stuff and stripping just once a week and leaving a medium or deep bed. 

We have one mare in particular who we give a light bedding and strip daily. There's just no other way to keep her stall liveable. Sigh.


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## Horseychick87

Typically I only do a 8'x8'x4" deep bed, regardless of stall size, I've found this is typically all that a pony or average sized horse needs to be comfortable. I will however put in more if the horse is on stall rest or is elderly and has joint issues, or very thin rescue types with no meat on their bones.

I like pelleted bedding and fine flake shavings, the FFS is cheaper here so that's what I used to get. (Horseless atm.) I mucked 2 or more times a day and didn't have a issue with the stalls getting filthy, but I've never had to deal with a messy horse either.

I would however strip the stalls about once a month in winter as the horses were in more and I didn't want ammonia build up. Other than that, I only ever stripped as needed, which varied from stall to stall.


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## STT GUY

Our barn has 12x12 stalls with attached 12 x 12 pea-gravel pens which have sliding doors that we close in inclement/windy weather. The horses can come and go at will out into an arena and pasture area totaling about an acre and a half.

We have stall-savers and put cedar bedding down, about 1-1/2 bags per stall. We spot clean poops and any urine soaked shavings as needed. I "toss" the shavings in the stalls each day and add as needed.


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## Delfina

With a 12x12 matted stall I would start with one bag of pine shavings spread completely for pigs and mounded in the middle for the rollers (my gelding LOVES to roll in fresh shavings and it spreads them out). 

Day two I would scoop out the wet spot and all poop I could, I would then add more shavings. If the horse had a predictable poop or pee spot, I would shuffle existing shavings towards that area and add the new ones away from it. That way it was a cycle of the slightly "used" shavings being the next to be shoveled out and the fresh new ones being laid/rolled on. 

Some horses are flat out PIGS and I would strip their stalls on day 3 no matter what I tried because they were flat out gross.


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## DarElBeck

If I'm being honest I'm mildly horrified that stalls are only done once a day if that. But y'all probably don't have anyone who can and can't yourselves. (I like to muck twice a day and pick at least once in between). I also think that you can't beat sawdust. You can find local companies and order by the truck load which is much cheaper and its easier to sift through than shavings and pellets. Guardian bedding was pretty good too though I've only seen it at one barn. You don't have to ditch the wet spots every time. You break it up and mix it with the dry bedding and only remove it when its clumped together. You only have to add a new load every so often because its reusable. 

(Look at swift pick)

Guardian Horse Bedding.com/horse bedding.html


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## Yogiwick

^Most places only do once a day and most horses are outside all day. No point in cleaning a clean stall.


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## HombresArablegacy

"If I'm being honest I'm mildly horrified that stalls are only done once a day if that. But y'all probably don't have anyone who can and can't yourselves. (I like to muck twice a day and pick at least once in between).If I'm being honest"

I'm just astounded that you have to muck your stalls 2 to 3 times a day. My goodness! My horses have been trained, (using NH techniques, of course) to poop only on command. NH Level 3251. I go into their stall, hold a manure fork under their butt, give the command, and Viola!! Their poop never even hits the ground. I immediately take said poop to a compost pile, where in the Spring it miraculously turns into butterflies and rainbows. 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## DarElBeck

Keeping them out is my preference but where I'm working they stay in all day if not all night due to weather, hence the maybe excessive cleaning. If the horses are in all night and day one good cleaning in the morning and then pick once or twice throughout the day while checking hay and water then another full clean after turnout/after dinner. The extra picking keeps the poops and pees from being trampled and mixed with the good bedding, hence saving more and clean, tidy stalls. I could clean anything you like all day long if you let me though so maybe I'm just weird. Woops.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians

I love the combo of pelleted bedding and extra fine shavings. I put 4 bags of pellets in the stallions stalls, dampen so they'll fluff and then a layer (2 wheelbarrows) of fine shavings over top. In the other stalls, 2 bags of pellets, layer of fine shavings, and one mare is HUGE so she has a double sized stall and gets 8 bags pellets and 4 or 5 wheelbarrows of shavings. I pick 2X/day and any time I think of looking especially in the big mare's stall. That mare can poo 100 lbs/day all by herself. By cleaning that way, I can keep things from getting ugly and I can add 1 or 2 bags of pellets/week for about 1 month and then I strip down to the mats in every stall. Pull mats, rinse and deodorize and start all over again.


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## Horseychick87

HombresArablegacy said:


> I'm just astounded that you have to muck your stalls 2 to 3 times a day. My goodness! My horses have been trained, (using NH techniques, of course) to poop only on command. NH Level 3251. I go into their stall, hold a manure fork under their butt, give the command, and Viola!! Their poop never even hits the ground. I immediately take said poop to a compost pile, where in the Spring it miraculously turns into butterflies and rainbows.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


 
ROFL!
If only it were that easy, especially their poop turning into butterflies and rainbows


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## verona1016

Yogiwick said:


> ^Most places only do once a day and most horses are outside all day. No point in cleaning a clean stall.


Most places around here have pretty limited turnout and still do once daily cleaning. It's not enough :-|


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## Delfina

DarElBeck said:


> If I'm being honest I'm mildly horrified that stalls are only done once a day if that.


I've never left horses in stalls more then overnight unless the weather was beyond foul or for stall rest. For stall rest or foul weather I cleaned 2x a day (morning and evening).

There's no way I would EVER not completely remove wet spots. Nothing worse than a barn that reeks of ammonia! :shock: I'm anal about clean stalls, in Winter I could throw everyone out, close up the whole barn so there wasn't any sort of breeze and had no smell issues whatsoever even before I cleaned the stalls.


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## Yogiwick

HombresArablegacy said:


> "If I'm being honest I'm mildly horrified that stalls are only done once a day if that. But y'all probably don't have anyone who can and can't yourselves. (I like to muck twice a day and pick at least once in between).If I'm being honest"
> 
> I'm just astounded that you have to muck your stalls 2 to 3 times a day. My goodness! My horses have been trained, (using NH techniques, of course) to poop only on command. NH Level 3251. I go into their stall, hold a manure fork under their butt, give the command, and Viola!! Their poop never even hits the ground. I immediately take said poop to a compost pile, where in the Spring it miraculously turns into butterflies and rainbows.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Well that's a full time job!


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## DarElBeck

Now that the weather is getting better only the horses that are being ridden are coming in so I go through and pick once then clean after turn out. I just think that picking a couple times when you get the chance saves you a lot of hassle and makes for lovely looking stalls(and less poop stains on those stubborn greys/bane of my existence!).

My excessively clean tendencies is why I'm planning to open up a boarding facility. Certainly not anytime soon e.e. I have college debt to pay off e.e but working as a stable hand and hopefully in a few years as a barn manager will prepare me a bit for the job while I save up money anyway.


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## pony jasper

I forgot to ever come back and give an update which is that pelleted bedding (2 bags) under 2 bags of extra fine shavings is helping immensely!! Thanks for the suggestions. I'm consistently making it a week now. 

I did have a super hard time finding the pellets here. None of the horse brands seem to exist so the feedstore people had me try wood stove pellets, which are basically the same thing (and luckily nice and cheap).


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## Saddlebag

I tried the woodstove pellets and found they didn't absorb moisture even after 24 hr. They are a very hard, polished pellet designed for slow burning. They are sold in different qualities, so perhaps these were the best. A bag had ripped so the lumber yard gave it to me to try.


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## canterbury

I have a very large gelding and I strip my stall (10 x 14) about once every 8 weeks. He is on the same schedule as your horse where he is out most of the time. I think the key is a good foundation of quick pick pine or wood pellets (about four bags for me). I have a stall mat where he urinates and I basically only have to pick up the manure out of the corners and clear the wet off the mat. I go through about two bags a week and clean once daily.


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## jaydee

I never totally strip a stall out. My horses are stabled at night in the winter. I remove all the poop and wet patches in the morning and cover the wet areas with Stall Dry granules or Sweet PDZ and leave them exposed to the air. The beds are put down before they come in and I replace whatever I've taken out with fresh shavings every day. The horses are settled down by about 6pm and then checked at 10pm and any poop and wet patches taken out before they get hayed and watered for the night.


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## Saskia

When stabled I rarely did full strips. Each morning (the horse was out in the day in at night) I'd pick all poo and wet spots completely, turning over the entire bedding to check for wet spots. Then, depending on where it had been wet I'd either bank the bedding to each side or high on one side, sweep the exposed floor and leave to dry during the day. Then in the afternoon I'd spread it all out again, with it thicker in the middle (my horse tended to make it back on the sides). As need I'd add more. If the bedding was looking a little worse for wear I'd often take the worst and add a couple wheelbarrows more, rather than doing an full strip I'd replace as I went along. 

I used sawdust, which is the standard in my area. For most of it I used a multi pronged rake but for wet patches a shovel was better.


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## Larissa

I buy large flake pine shavings from TSC. I put three bags in my 12x12 stall, which covers the floor nicely, and gives me a little bank. My horse and her mini (ha), share the stall and are in there 11-12 hours every night. I clean it very very thoroughly, I go through all the bedding, and get all the poo, pee, and tiny pieces of grinded poo out of the stall. The bedding will be in piles by the time I am done. Any missed poo rolls to the bottom. When I am done, it all gets laid back done. This does take a good amount of time though, it takes me about 35 minutes to do this. But done every day, and not slacked on, the bedding lasts a long time. And stays clean looking and smelling. If your horse pees a lot, I would add another bag every week to ten days.


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## budley95

I'm not sure what you mean by stripping stalls if I'm honest. But for my horse, if he's in 24:7 for a period of time, he's fully mucked out twice a day and skipped out if I'm walking past and notice a bit of mess, when I was on Hunter woodshavings, he'd go through 1-1.5 bales a week, now he's on paper (breathing problems!) at least 2 a week, 3 or 4 if in 24:7. But then I have a 14ftx15ft stable that's concrete and he gets a BIG bed, 6 bales to start with. The lady I muck out for, the horses are fully mucked out AM and are skipped out 3 times throughout the day afterwards, they go through 1 or 2 bales of shavings a week.


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## amberly

At our barn we clean it when it gets pretty dirty or if it could use a touch up. Usually they can go a few days though.
But when they get cleaned then they either only get picked at the dirty spots, if the horse likes to urinate and such in the same place. But usually we clean them when they are kinda dirty - and then we take all the shavings out and replace it again with a new load of shavings.


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## natisha

I never strip a stall unless a new horse is coming in. Daily cleaning & adding shavings as needed keeps them clean.


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