From: Tamsin
Dear Jessica, I am so confused right now and my Mom said I ought to write to you because you have good "horse sense" (ha ha, joke) and you will be able to solve my problem. Here it is.
My horse Snickers (I didn't give him that name, he had it when I bought him) is boarded at a pretty nice barn. At least, I used to think it was nice, now I don't know any more. The horses are in their stalls all night and then in the morning they eat breakfast and then they go out into the paddocks for about two hours and then they come in again and then at five they eat dinner. Then they just stay in their stalls all night, except for when we come to ride them and take them out of their stalls.
My Dad always takes me to the barn at 6:30 so I can ride for one hour every night. Then he waits for me to clean out the stall and then we go home. The other night the barn owner was there, and she told me I should not be cleaning my stall because her girls do it in the morning. I said that it was night and Snickers doesn't like a dirty stall and I always took out the daytime poos and wet spots whenever I came to ride. She got angry with me and said WELL DON'T DO IT ANYMORE.
I told my Dad and he said to do what she says. Then I told my Mom and she said to write to you because my Dad doesn't really know anything about horses. He is a really great Dad anyway. But I know my horse and Snickers doesn't pee until he gets back into his stall in the afternoon, then he pees a lot and the stall has a bunch of wet places. I don't think that Snickers should have to lie down in all that wet stuff, and it gets smelly too. If I want to clean up after my own horse, why is that a problem? I think that the owner should be grateful and my Mom thinks so too. What do you think?
Respectfully yours,
Tamsin
Hi Tamsin! Personally, I like your attitude -- a lot of horse-owners never even look into their horses' stalls, they just assume that the stalls will be kept clean. It's always better to check. I think that you and your Mom may need to have a chat with the barn owner, but here are some things you should think about first.
Stalls should indeed be kept clean, and usually that means cleaning them more than once each day. But a lot of barns don't have the staff-time to do this, so they clean stalls ONCE a day, usually in the morning when the stalls have been occupied all night and early morning and are therefore likely to be their dirtiest. If you think about it, this iS the best time to clean the stalls -- after the horses have made them dirty over many hours, and while the horses are outside in the paddocks, so the stall-cleaners can do a good job.
At many barns, the owners are delighted if the boarders want to help. At some barns, the owners are NOT so happy. Sometimes there are good reasons for having a rule that boarders can't clean their own stalls. Here are a few things that can happen when boarders decide that they need to help out:
1) some boarders just take out the wettest spots, or just take out piles, and leave all the wet bedding
2) some boarders make an enormous MESS when they do this -- leaving a trail of dirty bedding on the way out of the stall 3) some boarders don't empty the wheelbarrow -- they leave it full, which is inconsiderate and rude
4) some boarders DO empty the wheelbarrow, but not in the right place -- just outside the barn door is usually NOT an acceptable place, whereas on top of the manure pile usually IS an acceptable place 5) some boarders like to fill their horses' stalls with fresh bedding, either on top of the old bedding or or to replace the old bedding that they took out; not all boarders know how much bedding should be in a stall, or which bedding really needs to be removed. Bedding can be expensive, and manure piles eventually have to be hauled away -- and that costs money too.
6) sometimes tools are left in the aisle for people (and horses) to trip over 7) sometimes tools (pitchforks, rakes, wheelbarrow handles) get broken and nobody says anything to the owner
8) sometimes the doors between the stable area and the manure pile don't get closed after boarders use them
I'm sure you can think of a few other things too!
This doesn't mean that it would be wrong for you to clean your horse's stall at night, or at least to pick it out, if you can find a way of doing it that doesn't conflict with the barn owner's wishes and routines. Here are some ideas on that:
1) Perhaps the owner would be willing to leave ONE wheelbarrow or ONE muck basket near the barn aisle, so that boarders who ride at night would have a place to put new piles of manure.
2) Perhaps the owner would allow boarders who ride at night to pick out their horses' stalls IF they followed clear rules about what materials should be removed from stalls, how much bedding could be added to stalls, where the manure and dirty bedding should be placed, which doors should be opened and closed and fastened afterward, and where the (empty) wheelbarrows and muck baskets and (clean) pitchforks and rakes and shovels should be placed after use.
For the barn owner, here are a couple of thoughts:
Boarders who want to keep their horses clean and comfortable are likely to be GOOD boarders. Instead of saying "The stalls will be cleaned once a day and that's that," it may be possible to work out an arrangement whereby your staff continues to clean stalls in the morning, but the boarders can clean their stalls IF they remove only dirty bedding, put it where YOU want it to be put, replace it with a set amount of clean bedding, leave no trails of ANY bedding, and always close doors and replace tools. If you make it clear that it's a privilege and can be rescinded if it's abused, most boarders will be glad to comply.
Boarders who want to be able to clean manure out of their stalls at night aren't necessarily saying that you are a bad manager or that your staff doesn't clean the stalls properly. They are just boarders who know horses well enough to understand that excretion, like eating, is an around-the-clock routine for horses, and that horses in stalls should be as comfortable and as clean as possible. If there is some way to work things out so that the boarders who want to clean stalls can remove some manure and wet bedding from their horses' stalls at night, this may actually save your own staff some time and effort in the morning. It's much easier to remove piles and clearly-marked wet spots than it is to deal with a stirred-together stall many hours later.
Tamsin, have a talk with your barn owner and ask her to think about the possibility of setting rules that would let you clean your stall in the evening. If she still says "NO", remember that it's her barn and that she really DOES make the rules, and that she may have reasons that you don't understand (previous bad experiences, insurance considerations, etc.) for wanting things to be done only in one particular way. Be as grown-up and polite as you can possibly be during AND AFTER the conversation, no matter what the outcome. It's always best to be on good terms with the people who are responsible for your horse during the 23 hours a day that you AREN'T there.
Good luck!
Jessica
Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE is a free, subscriber-supported electronic Q&A email newsletter which deals with all aspects of horses, their management, riding, and training. For more information, please visit www.horse-sense.org
Please visit Jessica Jahiel: Holistic Horsemanship® [www.jessicajahiel.com] for more information on Jessica Jahiel's clinics, video lessons, phone consultations, books, articles, columns, and expert witness and litigation consultant services.