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How to Keep Horse Stalls Clean
by Lisa Parris
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Overview
Keeping your horse's stall clean is critical to their overall health. If manure and ammonia from urine is allowed to accumulate in the barn, your horse could suffer from hoof damage and respiratory distress. These situations can be easily avoided by cleaning the horse's stall every day. With a few basic tools and a bit our elbow grease, you can do an effective job of keeping your horse stall clean.
How to Keep Horse Stalls Clean
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Every Day
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Give the horse stall a basic cleaning every day. Before you start, put on suitable clothing for the task at hand. Wear gloves, old clothes and rubber boots.
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Remove the horse from the stall and lead him to the pasture. If the weather is unsuitable, lead the horse to an empty stall. Once the horse has been removed, take the water pails, feed containers and toys out of the stall.
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Gather your cleaning tools: wheelbarrow, pitchfork, shovel and stall broom. Since it is much easier to steer an empty wheelbarrow than a full one, you should park the wheelbarrow near the door of the stall facing the direction you're going to go once it has been filled.
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Using the shovel, scoop up the wet bedding and place it in the wheelbarrow. Use the pitchfork to sort through the bedding and remove the manure.
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Push the wheelbarrow to the manure pile and dump it. Do not fill it too high as this makes the wheelbarrow difficult to move with any degree of accuracy and can cause it to tip over. Fill the cart to just above the edge and make as many trips as necessary to remove all soiled bedding.
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Move all unsoiled bedding to one side once you have checked underneath it for hidden wastes. Pay particular attention to the corners and edges of the stall where bedding tends to be thicker.
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Distribute unsoiled bedding evenly over the stall area once all soiled bedding has been removed.
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Step 8
Replace soiled bedding with an equal quantity of new bedding. Fluff compacted material with a pitchfork and scatter it evenly around the stall.
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Step 9
Sweep up any stray bedding or spilled manure into the shovel and take it to the manure pile.
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Step 10
Rinse all your tools with water and put them away. Fill and replace the water pails, feet containers and toys.
Once a Week
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Scoop the stall until the floor is bare, removing all bedding material.
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Scrape any remaining bedding residue from the floor with the edge of the shovel.
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Sweep the stall with a broom until the floor is relatively free of debris.
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Disinfect the floor with a mixture of 3 ounces of pine oil with 1 gallon of water. Sprinkle it around the floor with a garden watering can. Allow the floor to dry.
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Cover the stall with new bedding.
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Wash the water pails, feed containers and stall toys in warm water and mild detergent. Rinse the objects well and allow them to air dry.
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Use the broom to remove any spider webs.
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- Gloves
Old clothes
Rubber boots
Wheelbarrow
5 prong pitchfork
Shovel
Straw or other bedding material
Stall broom
Mild detergent
Pine oil
Watering can with sprinkler
Household bleach
- Gloves
- Old clothes
- Rubber boots
- Wheelbarrow
- 5 prong pitchfork
- Shovel
- Straw or other bedding material
- Stall broom
- Mild detergent
- Pine oil
- Watering can with sprinkler
- Household bleach
- To lighten the cleaning load, the horse stall can be scooped twice a day, in the morning and again in the evening.
Household bleach can be substituted for pine oil and used to disinfect the floor of the stall.
- To lighten the cleaning load, the horse stall can be scooped twice a day, in the morning and again in the evening.
- Household bleach can be substituted for pine oil and used to disinfect the floor of the stall.
