So the first thing I like to do when I'm mucking out is just clear the space.
So, feed bowls, haynets, water buckets, all come out so that I can see what I'm doing.
I think it's funny how mucking out is such a personal thing and everyone is so different.
Obviously, this is just the way that I've been taught, but everyone has their own style
and their own little tricks and once you've found your style, I find that you tend to
stick with it.
So, I start by removing all the poo that I can see and if you have a horse of your own
or you muck out the same horses regularly, you'll probably notice that they have specific
areas of the stable where they always wee and poo.
This actually goes back to their instincts and wild horse behaviours.
Wild horses use dung as scent markings, so, by repeatedly using the same spot, your horse
can create their own territory in their stable and this is also why horses will poo on a
fresh bed and we'll come onto that later.
So once all the poo is out, I'll move onto the wet.
I personally try to be really economical with my beds, which means I try to save as much
of them as possible.
You can get a feel for where the wet actually is from the weight and the colour of the straw
and often I find that the top layers are actually fine, it's the deeper layers where the wee
has sunk in which needs taking out.
As I sift through the bed, anything that's clean and that I'm keeping I'll just throw
up onto the bank which is the raised sides of the bed and anything that's dirty will
just go in the wheelbarrow.
I'll keep doing this until the whole floor has been taken up and I can see the floor.
I'll then go round my banks and I'll chuck them up which means I throw the straw up to
the banks as I go along.
What that allows to happen is the poo that's got stuck in the banks will fall down onto
the floor because it's heavier than the straw and then I can pick that up with my fork and
put it in the wheelbarrow so that everything is as clean as possible.
It's so funny now looking after one horse and having the time, I guess the leisure,
it sounds funny but, the leisure to muck out at your own pace.
When I was at school, on the weekends I used to work at a hunt yard with lots of hunters
and eventers and you'd be on such a tight schedule trying to get round them all quickly
and muck out fast before the riding and I used to be so much quicker than I am now!
I think if my old bosses saw me now they would hang their heads in shame but there is something
therapeutic about taking your time and really making a comfortable, cosy bed and not having
to worry about being really fast, so I love that.
So once the floor's clean, I'll just sweep it out and take out any of the extra dirt
and then I'll get my new straw and place it on a clean side of the stable out of the way
since I like to pull down the existing bed first.
Ted's bed actually has a pretty established set of banks so it's quite easy to pull down
the excess straw that I chucked up.
Banks are super important to a stable, particularly for horses who spend a lot of time in them.
It's really important to have banks because horses will roll or lie down in their stable
and if they get stuck on the edge of the wall or get 'cast' as it's called, these banks
will help them sort of roll back over, they give them something to roll against, so it's
really important that they're there just to look after your horse.
What I'm doing here is just going round and levelling out the bed.
Now that I have my existing bed I'm just running it round with a fork to make sure that there's
the same amount of bed everywhere.
I'll do the same with the new straw when I have this levelled.
This for me is one of the most therapeutic parts of actually mucking out!
I love getting the new straw and just feathering it and putting it all out all over the top.
Some people like to put the new straw underneath the bed and the reason for that is that the
new smell can make horses be messier but I find that it doesn't actually make a difference
with Ted and I just think it looks neater to have the new straw on top and it also gives
more of an established bed underneath for the wet.
Once I've set that up, I'll then go and make my haynets.
I don't see that there's much point in sweeping before I've made haynets since hay can drag across
the yard and make it look messy so I always do my haynets and then sweep.
I fill them up quite a lot.
Ted isn't greedy and he won't gorge on it but I like knowing that he has plenty.
I'll just tie these up with a quick-release knot.
We want to do that so that if by some horrible accident the horse gets stuck in them or anything
like that, they will fall down really easily.
They're not tied up really tight, they'll come undone easily if anything were to happen.
So once my water has started filling up I'll actually sweep outside and get that done at
the same time and just generally tidy up so that everything is really neat.
It's definitely a fine balance between the water overflowing, I've definitely had that
happen before!
Once everything's done, all that's left is making feeds, so I'll shut this for now, shut
it away with everything being tidy and go and make the feeds!