# How often do your stalls get completely stripped and re-bedded?



## Delfina (Feb 12, 2010)

Horses are in about 8-10hrs per night. 

Stalls are stripped and re-bedded weekly if not more often. If the horses are stuck inside during the day due to inclement weather, I go light on the shavings and strip every 2-3 days depending on the piggishness of the horse.


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

Mine are wusses when the rain makes the dry lot muddy, so they spend quite a bit of time indoors during the wet weather, though they have free access to the main pasture. They go out on grass for 3-4 hours a day this time of year. 

I pick out twice a day and strip every three days. Three of my four horses are stall pigs, and being someone who's anal about clean bedding, it gets stripped and rebedded whenever they get a darkish tint. We buy in bulk, which is a lot less expensive.
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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

It depends on the horse where I board. 

We use sawdust-type bedding that is bought in bulk and the horses are currently inside about 14 hours. The stalls are cleaned every morning and bedding is added as needed, usually, on top of older bedding. There are a handful of horses that are just disgusting and get new bedding daily, if not stripped daily, and some that go several days without needing. 

It really just depends on the stall habits of each horse.


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## JustWingIt (Jul 29, 2012)

At my boarding stable my guy goes out during the day 7-4 and in all night so his is cleaned/fresh shavings added every morning and stripped/limed every other week


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## wetrain17 (May 25, 2011)

They get cleaned everyday, but stripped once a week.


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## GhostwindAppaloosa (Jun 3, 2011)

I personally dont strip bedding that isnt spent. When it gets brown i move it to the area where the horse pees/poos the most and add new in front of or behind it. Manure pile is big enough as it is i hate to add bedding to it that is not spent.


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## faye (Oct 13, 2010)

Mine are out from 1st light to 30mins before it goes dark.

My stables never get stripped out completly. every couple of years i pull the bedding out into bags, power spra under the rubber matting, let it dry, then put the matting and bedding back in (same bedding as we had before.


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## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

Thanks for the input  I was trying to figure out what was 'normal' before approaching my BO about my horse's stall. 

A few times in the past couple weeks when I've gone to see him there's been a very noticeable ammonia smell. His stall is very well ventilated, so I know that's not the issue. I suspect there's either a different person mucking out the stalls in my end of the barn now or the BO has asked them to use use less shavings. Either way, his stall needs to be cleaner than it is!


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## Joe4d (Sep 1, 2011)

never, mine are only in there when its really nasty, and they come and go as they please, plus they almost never poo in the stall.


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## Sunny (Mar 26, 2010)

My horse is a PIG. She is in for about 14 hours overnight. She pees and poos everywhere, and to make it worse she grabs a bite from her hay net and then goes to look out her window, so she kicks it everywhere! The ammonia smell was awful.
It was being stripped about every 3 days or so, and new bedding added the days in between.
We decided to add some stuff called Sweet PDZ to her stall under the bedding. It is pretty much like cat litter, supposed to absorb. It has made a HUGE difference in how long her stall stays clean, and we only add half a bag per strip.

For other people with piggies like mine, I recommend giving it a shot!


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## Gremmy (Feb 17, 2009)

Routine stripping isn't the norm at the barns I've been at. All wet bedding is removed, leaving dry shavings with more shavings added as needed. If the horse is a pig then the stall is pretty much a full strip anyways. An ammonia smell is a problem though, for sure.


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## caseymyhorserocks (Apr 5, 2010)

Well I don't ever replace the bedding. Horses aren't stalled year round, just overnight in winter, they are out about for 10-12 hours. I replace the bedding if it gets old, but it just seems pointless to replace it all. If you clean the stall well, there shouldn't been any pee soaked or pooy bedding so why replace it all every week?


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## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

Gremmy said:


> Routine stripping isn't the norm at the barns I've been at. All wet bedding is removed, leaving dry shavings with more shavings added as needed. If the horse is a pig then the stall is pretty much a full strip anyways. An ammonia smell is a problem though, for sure.


Good point. I guess I don't really need the whole stall stripped. My real problem is that they either don't seem to be taking out the wet shavings in the middle, or they're saturated again by the time I get there at night (I'm not sure what time of day the stalls on that end of the barn usually get done...). My boy is pretty neat with his poo- always along the back wall- but as a gelding he doesn't have much choice but to pee in the middle


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## Delfina (Feb 12, 2010)

Oh they don't have to pee in the middle!

Mine poops along the back wall and pees right next to a side wall.

He likes rolling in fluffy shavings, so he makes sure the middle is dry and clean for rolling and sleeping.


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## texasgal (Jul 25, 2008)

stalls??


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## Maverick101 (Nov 8, 2009)

I never strip my stalls either. They get cleaned daily w all poo and wet spots tossed. The wet spot is then scraped to floor, lime or stall dry is added on top, then shavings left are pulled away from walls etc back into middle and spread. Then new shavings are added ontop as needed.
I only ever strip a stall if it is a pig of a horse and needed, or if its a mare n foal. As they tend to be quite gross w 2 bodies moving around, but again its only warranted.....
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## TrojanCowgirl (Jun 1, 2012)

When mine are in a stall, stripped once a week. Cleaned daily. But my horses rarely see a stall anymore.


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## GhostwindAppaloosa (Jun 3, 2011)

verona1016 said:


> Good point. I guess I don't really need the whole stall stripped. My real problem is that they either don't seem to be taking out the wet shavings in the middle, or they're saturated again by the time I get there at night (I'm not sure what time of day the stalls on that end of the barn usually get done...). My boy is pretty neat with his poo- always along the back wall- but as a gelding he doesn't have much choice but to pee in the middle


 is the bedding wet in the middle? It might only be cleaned in the am... I would ask about options to have more bedding put in or puchase pdz and put it in there as needed when your there. Im sure the barn has a set amount of bedding they allocate per horse.. if your horse is messy and is going through more than that i'd ask the cost to add more on.


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## Reno Bay (Jul 8, 2012)

I don't think the stalls at the farm ever get stripped fully. Though sometimes I really want to just turn Reno's upside-down and shake it clean...he's a pig.


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## mvinotime (Mar 5, 2010)

I dont have bedding in my stalls, they are just rubber matted wall to wall. My horses have a pasture each and free access to their individual stall at any time they choose. I have ever seen them lay down anywhere except outside. I have a question though for those of you who have horses that are stalled for a portion of the day or at night and you keep bedding for them to lay down on, what size are your stalls? I am just curious what a good size would be to allow comfortable lying down without the worry of casting??? I just never seen that just heard of it happening when lying down in stalls and was curious.


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## faye (Oct 13, 2010)

Minimum stable size IMO to avoid all sorts of things like getting cast etc are
10ftx10ft for a pony and 12ft by12ft for a horse.


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## Cruiser (Aug 28, 2011)

My mare doesn't have a stall, but she uses her 10 by 10 run in as a stall, she spends the night in it. She's a bit of a pig, or use to be. Now she backs into a corner and does all her business there, unless I wasn't able to clean it daily and than she doesn't want to go there because it's dirty already. 

I put in about 6, 40 kg feed bags full of course sawdust from the local mill in her run in, bank it in the corner and sides. Clean all manure and wet out of the middle and push clean down at night. If we don't get a rain storm usually it lasts over a week. If there is a lot of rain and she won't go outside it lasts four or five days. Usually I don't have to strip her stall, if the good bedding runs out, I just add more to my bank.

The owner of the mill lets you take as much sawdust or shavings you want for $10, usually we get 40 plus bags. Or a packed truck load.


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## mls (Nov 28, 2006)

mvinotime said:


> I am just curious what a good size would be to allow comfortable lying down without the worry of casting??? I just never seen that just heard of it happening when lying down in stalls and was curious.


Size doesn't matter as much as where they lay. We've had horses cast themselves in turnout. Lay too close to the fence and go to roll when they get up - boom - cast.


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## caseymyhorserocks (Apr 5, 2010)

mvinotime said:


> I dont have bedding in my stalls, they are just rubber matted wall to wall. My horses have a pasture each and free access to their individual stall at any time they choose. I have ever seen them lay down anywhere except outside. I have a question though for those of you who have horses that are stalled for a portion of the day or at night and you keep bedding for them to lay down on, what size are your stalls? I am just curious what a good size would be to allow comfortable lying down without the worry of casting??? I just never seen that just heard of it happening when lying down in stalls and was curious.


Generally 14+ horses are best in 12x12 stalls, horses below 14 hands in 10x10 stalls. Horses over 16 hands are best in 14x14 stalls and minis are fine in 8x8 stalls.

My new barn will have 10x12 stalls leading into 16x10 runs. My horses are 13.2 and 15.2, and the bigger horses stall will not have a wall between the run and stall.


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## Chardavej (Mar 13, 2011)

mls said:


> Size doesn't matter as much as where they lay. We've had horses cast themselves in turnout. Lay too close to the fence and go to roll when they get up - boom - cast.


I had one cast himself against a TREE! Scared the crap out of me to come and see that. He was fine once I pushed him back over. At least against a tree easy to get to him to move back over.


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