Danada Equestrian Center: Stall Cleaning

Volunteer Team Talks

Reasons for keeping a stall clean

For the aesthetics Ð horses and their feet stay cleaner in a clean stall
A clean stall is essential for protecting a sick or injured horse
A clean stall also helps a horse from getting infections & diseases
For the comfort of the volunteers who care for the horses, and the public who visit (less smell)
Keeps down the amount of flies and parasites in the stall

Equipment for Stall Cleaning (with straw)
Use proper tools for cleaning a stall. You will need:

Remove the horse to another stall or tie him up in the aisle before cleaning the stall.

Remove the water bucket(s) from the stall, and empty them out and scrub them and stack them upside down to dry.
Back the wheelbarrow in the door way to the stall, handles in towards the stall so horses and people do not tip the wheelbarrow as they pass. If there is a horse tied next to the stall to be cleaned, be sure the wheelbarrow is parked against the opposite wall of the doorway that the horses is tied to prevent the horse from tipping the wheelbarrow.

Using the Wide tined pitchfork

Find a clean dry corner or wall (usually by hay feeder) and sift out in layers as much CLEAN straw as you can to the designated dry wall/corner FIRST; do not disturb wet spots and expose the manure piles. Only pick up piles necessary to create a clean dry corner/wall for clean straw.
Once all clean straw is moved out of the way, start in one corner and move around the edges and walls of the stall pick up all exposed piles. Pick up all droppings & wet spots, as you sift the remaining clean straw into a clean dry corner or wall of the stall.

Pick up the droppings by scooping a nest of clean straw from under the droppings to keep them from falling through the tines. Put the droppings in the wheelbarrow leave the wet straw for last. DonÕt be wasteful with the straw. If the straw is not dirty or wet, toss it in a clean area next to a wall in the stall.

Keep moving around the outer edges of the stall, eventually moving to the center of the stall, all the while separating droppings and wet straw from the dry straw and putting the dirty straw in the wheelbarrow. (Watch how much straw you take out of the stallÑitÕs not how much straw you put in, itÕs how much straw you take out! This helps with conserving the straw for the whole barn.)

Using the Rake

Go back around the stall, raking the leftover clean straw to the banked piles of clean straw; and wet piles out the stall door to pick up later with a narrow tined fork.
Leave the floor exposed to dry by leaving the clean straw banked (or up against the side walls) for airing out the floor.

Disposal of Manure and Straw

Take the full wheelbarrow of dirty straw and droppings and dump it in the spreader behind the barn. Take the fork next to the spreader and spread out the dirty straw in the spreader. Make sure you clean the fork.
Take the wheelbarrow, the wide-tined pitchfork, and the spring rake and return them to the tool room. Make sure the rakes are cleaned of all debris before hanging them back in their proper places.

Every so often, sweep the walls and ceiling of cobwebs.

Bedding the stall

After raking and fluffing the clean straw back over the floor, check to see if you need more straw. Typically _ bale of straw is added
Put the "old" straw more in the middle, and add new straw along the walls.
Form banks of straw along the walls and add about 1 or 2 flakes of fresh straw to the middle. This gives the stall a thick, sweet smelling bed for the horse.
The bedding along the walls should be about 2 feet high, and about 5 to 7 inches in the middle. This helps provide the horse with a springy cushion under his feet. The banks of straw along the wall will prevent him from lying too close to the wall and getting cast.
Keep a clear area around the stall door to keep straw from being dragged out in the aisle. Also clear a small area under the water bucket and hay feeder of straw.

If you need to, put the horse back in his clean stall.