How to clean a horse stall that's completely filthy?

Question

I have someone that cleans the stall...or is supposed to. I am new to the horse world and have noticed that my mare has been urinating excesively (which I am glad that she's drinking tons of water) But I am worried because her stall is just um well muddy in certain areas. Do you wait and hope it dries out? Can it make her sick if it doesn't?

Answer 1

u need more shavings to absorb the pee...

Answer 2

If you can't answer that question yourself then you aren't ready to own a horse. There is a lot more to horsemanship than just riding and if mucking out a stable is too much for you then I hope you sell that horse before you destroy it. I agree with Like A Fox.

Answer 3

There are 3 possible reasons why your having this problem.

1)  The stablehand is picking the stall, but not cleaning the wet spot.  It happens when people get lazy or the owner has told them to cut back on shaving use.  You'll have to speak to the stable manager.

2)  There is a drainage problem in the barn.  Sometimes stalls are dug down below the water table in low-lying areas.  This means the urine can't drain into the dirt at the bottom of the stall.  You'll need to request another stall and the stable manager should have this one built up.

3)  What you already suspect.  Your horse just urinates alot.  Maybe just because or sometimes a horse will only urinate in its stall and not the field.  These are often the horses that won't urinate when you travel for shows.  I assume your horse does not have a metabolic problem.  Check with your vet if this is a possibility.

In any event, the stall should be stripped and dried.  The products listed here will do.  If it's alot of urinating, you should request that the stall be stripped weekly.  It should be lyed daily.  You may want to invest in a stall mat.  It will mean less shavings and a cleaner stall.

Wet spots can result in thrush, soft hooves, and respiratory issues.  Not to mention stinky!

Answer 4

Yeah, it is not good for the horse when it is standing in the mud and pee all day. It won't dry out fast or some times at all. Shavings are the best for stalls because it soaks up the pee and won't be so bad, but it needs to be cleaned out a lot. Rock will hurt the horses feet and it is very uncomfortible for the horse. It will make the horse unsound and unhappy. Talk to the owner of the barn and tell her/him that you are paying a lot of money for your horse to be here and you need to have the stalls cleaned regulary.

Hope i helped!

Answer 5

get a shovel some boots and shovel it ALL OUT - urine build  up in the stall could cause problems with her feet. If she has a seedy toe that could progress into white line disease in her feet. I would clean her stall completely out and let air dry for a while

Answer 6

The stall should be completely stripped and dried before she goes back in.  You can get a product to sprinkle on the wet areas to absorb the excess urine.  I call it stall powder, but I'm not sure what it is really called.  You could also set a fan in the stall to help it dry out.

The fumes from urine can damage your horse's lungs and throat with prolonged exposure, so you should really keep the stall cleaner.  If she soaks her stall often, you might want to try extra shavings.  They will absorb better than straw or dirt flooring.  

If you can alternate her between two stalls so that one can dry out while she's in the other, that might work, too.

Answer 7

Strip the stall so that NOTHING's in it.  In the urine puddles, use Sweet Peez (It's a lime based product, designed for wet spots.).  Allow the stall to thoroughly dry then go to your neighborhood Home Depot and get some DG (Decomposed Granite) and use it to fill in the holes in your stall and pack it down.  Some stables have rollers for this purpose, if your stable doesn't, then pack it down as best by foot as possible.  On top of that, lay your shavings.  

IF you can afford it, lay some of those rubber stall mats down after the DG but before the shavings and that should help with the cleaning a LOT.

Answer 8

Yeh, you need a hard rubber floor, or one that is concrete or stone.

The  you need to get ALL of the bedding out.

Then wait for it to dry and replace it with new bedding.

Because she usinates alot, i suggest you use straw bedding because it is easy to muck out and not really heavy.

Its also quite cheep.

Newspaper/shavings/sand beds can get VERY heavy when you come to clean them out, espicially if your horse urinates alot so to save your back, use straw.

If she eats the straw, spray some Jays Fluid on it. It wont harm the horse but leaves a nasty tast in their mouth so they wont eat it.

Then, make sure you muck out often (skip out every day and completely replace bedding once a week).

I hope this helps, if you have any more questions, mail me.

Horses get an infection called Thrush if they stand on mud of lush grass for too long because of the moisture that seeps into their hooves and the mud/impacted grass gets bacteria in it causing the horses hoof to smell awful and making the horse go lame.

To avoid this, you NEED to keep her from standing for long terms on mud or very lush grass and that is why it is important to rotate her stall and pasture times.

you must fix this problem because cracked hooves can develop making her very lame and un-ridable.

Good luck.

Answer 9

I use hydrolyzed lime...it is available at farm supply stores.  It is like a powdered lime, that has been dried so that it is amazingly absorbant. I spread it around in the urine and it soaks it up.  It can just be thrown out on the driveway or wherever you need lime.  It also neutralizes the ammonia odor, so it functions in getting rid of the mess and the odor.

It sounds like the stall needs to be dug up and some ag lime put down...at least 6 inches...then some rubber mats over that for cushioning, then bed with shavings.  

Yes, the ammonia given off will damage her respiratory system, and the mush in her stall will harm her hooves and contribute to dampness in her environment which can lead to various problems.  

Stripping the stall is removing everything in it....but it does little good if you don't do something to create drainage in the stall.

Answer 10

A shovel and some elbow grease instead of being lazy and having someone else do it for you.

You do not wait until it dries out, would you sleep on pissed on covers? No.

Stripping the stall is taking out all of the bedding, if you know so little why do you even have a horse?

Answer 11

you cannot wait for it to dry out, most likely it won't dry out by itself (she will keep peeing there or pee will keep sitting there) It can cause thrush if your mare stands in it for too long.  to clean the stall..strip it. (completely take all the bedding out). Sweep out nicely.Sprinkle some lime (white powdery stuff you can buy) around the stall, then put fresh, new bedding down. Make sure you have enough so it absorbs the pee. Bedding should be a few inches thick. It might be a good idea to get stall mats, so there will be no mud. It's alot easier to clean and the odor won't be as bad. If your stall isn't level for the stall mats i recommend leveling it out by filling in ditches with stonedust..and then putting the stall mats down.

good luck!

Answer 12

Has your mare always urinated a lot? If not you my want to get her checked by a vet. That's what I would do first just in case she might have something wrong.

Another good thing you could do is keep her on pasture 24/7. The fumes can cause a lot of lung damage if they are exposed to it for a long time. It's also bad on their hooves and can cause thrush or other bacterial infections. But I know that a lot of places can't have horses out all the time.

If possible clean her stall well everyday. Clean every and all wet spots and replace with fresh new bedding in the morning. You didn't mention is she was out on pasture at all, but if she was now would the perfect time to do it, right when she leaves her stall. Then allow it to dry as long as it can.

At night do the same thing that you would do in the morning. If she can't be out all day then maybe you could even muck it out during the day as well. Hygiene is very important with horses. Try getting some lime to put on the wet spots to help reduce odor. And if she is stalled on ground floor with shavings, see if you can invest in some mats. They will help with the stall being muddy. If not just add more shavings than what you normally would to absorb more.

Hope I could help (:

Answer 13

You need base rock if it gets consistently muddy.  If your barn owner doesn't want to do that, put in lots of shaving and replace them as often as possible.  You don't have to fill the whole stall with shaving, just where she pees most...lots of horses will actually purposely pee on the shavings.

If horses stand in mud too long they can get thrush or mud cracks...so it is important that she has a clean stall.  You also wouldn't want her to roll in it!

infections and parasites can become an issue if her stall is not clean.  

if shavings don't work there are also other things like wood chips or small rocks made for horse stalls...or even sand

good luck!