Mucking Out and Deep Littering - Equestrian Care

Mucking out is probably one of the first things that, after riding, any horse enthusiast becomes familiar with. Both processes are a form of removing excrement etc from the horses stable, shelter or barn in order to keep the horse kept in a clean and sanitary state of indoor living.

Mucking Out is the process of removing the horse's droppings and urine from the stable. The most common ways of doing this is with the use of stable tools. Some people use rubber gloves and a bucket to manually remove the droppings with their hands from the stable, leaving them the task of removing the urine. Other people use shavings forks or pitch forks (bedding dependant) to make their way through the bed removing the droppings and urine whilst banking the rest of the clean bedding up the walls in order to differentiate from clean and waste.

This form of stable cleaning leaves the horse sleeping on a completely clean bed and keeps bad smells to a minimum. There is a downside to this; you get through more bedding that you would due to the removal of large sections of urine soaked bedding each day. There is an alternative for those wanting to keep their horses on bedding.

Deep littering is mucking out, but without the removal of the urine each day. This in turn means that over time the horse developes a layer of urine soaked bedding on the base of their stable. This gives the horse a solid footing for those that can sometimes roll and scrape down to the cold hard floor. It also means that bedding costs are reduced. Having to only maintain a sensible height of the urine under fresh bedding on top, means that less is thrown away and a shallower top layer can be used. The downside to this method is the smell and urine stains that can sometimes occur. A professional should be consulted if horses have feet sensitive to wet / damp conditions as this method could exasserbate any problems they may have.

Tammy is a passionate equine rider who loves to promote the best ways to be looking after horses. Tammy works part time for anythingequine.co.uk who specialise in equestrian boots as well as horse riding hats and safety helmets for equestrian use in the UK.