Stable & Yard Forks, Shovels & Brooms

Whether you have one horse, or a whole yard full, keeping their stable clean and comfortable involves regular mucking out, so your yard equipment needs to be durable, practical and fit for purpose.

There are plenty of different bedding options to choose from, and Fynalite has a wide range of specialist equipment to deal with whatever product you use, from shavings and pellet forks, rubber mat forks and manure forks and shavings shovels for skipping out, to hay forks, horse poop scoops, and the all-important yard brooms.

Of course, it’s not just the stables and yard that need maintenance, our equine’s paddock also requires attention. As well as the regular poo picking, there’s also weed removal, which is made easier with the weed, or more importantly, ragwort forks.

While the style of fork, shovel or broom you choose is down to personal preference, and dependant on what type of bedding you use, the comfort of use is also an important consideration, after all, your fork, shovel and broom will be used more than once, every day, every day of the year! Some of us prefer the straight handle; others work better with the D shaped handles. The length of the handle is also important, using a handle that is too short or too long can cause back problems.

The Fyna Lite range of stable and yard equipment is available to buy online, with free delivery within the UK.

Stable Yard Equipment: The Essentials

Horses are sensitive creatures, so it is important that their environment is a calm, clean and relaxed place for them to be in. Having the right equipment will make the mucking out, and general maintenance of your yard run smoothly and give you more quality time to spend grooming and riding.

Obviously, you will need either a wheelbarrow or skip bucket to take the dirty bedding away to your muck heap. Depending on what bedding you choose to use, you will need the specialist fork(s), and shovel, along with a good broom to ensure removal of all dirty or damp bedding.

Any yard equipment used for mucking out should be kept separate from the food or hay areas, so you wouldn’t use the pitchfork you use to move your horse’s hay to skip out his stable, as this could spread germs and dirt. Horses can be fussy, and won’t eat hay if it smells soiled.
A good yard broom is another essential, as no matter how careful you are, mucking out is a messy business, and you will need to give the yard a good sweep when you have finished skipping out.

Forks

While choosing what colour stable fork you want is down to personal preference, deciding which type of fork you buy is dependant on what bedding you use, for example, a muck fork won’t be much use if your bedding of choice is shavings or pellets, but ideal for straw beds.

Another consideration is what length of handle is best for you. We spend a lot of time maintaining our horse’s stable, and the wrong length fork can make mucking out an uncomfortable experience. Those of us who are vertically challenged would find it uncomfortable using a long-handled fork, and for those taller equestrians, a shorter handle would be equally problematic. Sounds obvious, but stable management involves a lot of time and physical effort, and the wrong equipment can cause back strain.

We all have our own way of holding the fork when skipping out, so deciding which handle is best for you is another consideration. If you hold your stable fork lower down the handle, the straight handle style would suit. Those who like to hold their fork at the top would probably prefer either the T or the D handled forks.

Whether pitching hay or mucking out, it is important to make sure that you have the right fork not just for your bedding of choice, but also one that suits your own physical needs. Whether you prefer the standard or lightweight models, and the length and style of the handles that best suit you are also important considerations.

Shovels

Whether you have just the one horse, or a yard full, keeping them on a farm or in a livery yard, the shovel is an essential piece of equipment when mucking out, sprucing up the yard, or tidying the muck heap.

There is no ‘correct’ shovel for use on a stable yard, as with any piece of equipment, it depends on what you are comfortable using. Some are specifically named shavings or grain shovels, but they are all multi-purpose, (although you obviously wouldn’t use the same shovel for mucking out that you use for dishing out your horse’s grain!), and it’s really up to you if you prefer the broader shovel, or the narrower style shovelhead.

As well as the different shaped shovel heads on offer, they are also available with either heavy duty metal heads, or the lighter, but also very durable plastic heads, these can also come in different colours, which can be a useful way of identifying your own equipment when on a shared yard.

A shovel is equally as useful a tool for those who perhaps don’t stable their horses all year round, the essential poo picking of the paddock is a lot easier, and less backbreaking with a shovel than a fork. No prongs to get caught up in the grass!

As with any yard tool, as well as deciding which shaped shovel head you prefer, don’t forget the importance of having the right handle length and grip handle, shovels are capable of carrying quite heavy loads so making sure you are comfortable using it is essential.

Brooms

Every stable yard, no matter how small, needs at least one good broom! It is probably the piece of equipment you will use more than any other. Much as we love them, it seems that whatever you do with your horse is going to involve some sweeping up. Even if you are just bringing him onto the yard for a good groom, or for his regular shoeing, hair, dirt and clippings are left behind, so a good yard broom is essential.

Brooms come in various shapes and sizes, and materials. Ideally, the broom you use for the stable should be washed regularly as it will be dealing with the urine and soiled bedding, which not only builds up a strong smell of ammonia but can also cause the brush head to rot. It is recommended that you have two separate brooms, one specifically for use when you are mucking out, and tidying around the muck heap, and a separate one for sweeping out the utility areas like your tack room, hay barn or feed bins, this is to stop the spread of contamination.

The standard shaped broom is perfect for most jobs, but the smaller corn broom or sweepster brooms are excellent for reaching into the corners, especially in the tack room or when cleaning out your horse trailer.

Mucking Out

If you keep your horse in a stable for any part of the day, it’s important to muck it out regularly. If the stable is dirty, it will become unpleasant for both your horse and yourself. If you only use the stable at night, then you will only need to muck out once a day when you have put him out in the paddock, but if he is stabled for longer, then you will need to do it more frequently.

An unclean stable will attract insects, and standing on soiled bedding can cause some serious problems with his hooves like thrush. If the bedding is left saturated in urine, your horse will be breathing in ammonia which can be harmful to his lungs.

It’s easier to muck out without your horse in the stable, so if he isn’t going to be turned out, tying him up on the yard, or putting him in an adjacent empty stable is advisable. Remove any water buckets and feed bowls before you start, they’ll only get in the way.

Standing in soiled bedding can rot the stitching on leather boots, so it’s advisable to wear rubber boots when you are mucking out, and wearing gloves can be a good idea, especially if you have more than one stable to clean.

If you muck out regularly, and with the right tools for the job, it should only take about twenty minutes, although we’ve all known a horse who, overnight, can create a stable looks like it hasn’t been touched for days!

A Stall

When you are mucking out a stall, gather all the necessary forks, shovels and brooms together, remove any water buckets, and feed bowls, then place the wheelbarrow in the entrance, pointing in the direction you want it to go.

If you use straw bedding, remove all the soiled straw and manure with your pitch or muck fork, and put all the clean bedding to the sides of the stall, this sifts any dirt out. Using the broom and shovel, remove all the residue from the floor. Then add the new straw, shaking it up with the pitchfork.

With shavings or pellets, use the shavings or pellet fork to remove the manure, again sift through all the bedding to make sure you remove all the soiled material, Use the shavings fork or a shovel to take out all the wet bedding, and sweep the floor before adding fresh shavings.

Once the stall is done, sweep any corridors and the yard to remove any debris.

A Trailer

Although your horse doesn’t spend much time in the trailer, it will still need to be cleaned out thoroughly after every use. Any urine or droppings left in will cause erosion, as well as smell bad, and hay droppings will cause dust which can cause breathing problems.

A good yard broom and shovel will be required, as well as a fork. The manure is often trodden into the floor and can be difficult to remove, so a broom with integral scraper would be useful. To get right into the corners, a corn broom would do the job.

After you have cleaned the trailer as much as possible with the broom and shovel, it is advisable to either jet wash or hose down and sweep the interior, paying particular attention to the edges where the floor and walls meet.

A Paddock

Maintaining your horse’s paddock is another of the jobs which have to be done regularly. Horses are very fussy eaters, and will not eat grass around their droppings, so regular poo picking is required. Depending on the size of his paddock will depend on how regularly you need to do this, although the longer you leave it, the longer it takes! The tools required for this are a good wheelbarrow and a muck shovel and fork.

Another equally important task is the removal of any harmful weeds, especially ragwort, and a weed fork makes this job far less backbreaking. When removing the ragwort, make sure you gather up all of the plants and ideally put it on the bonfire. After dealing with the ragwort, make sure you wash your hands before dealing with any feed.
Whatever fencing you use, electric, stock or post and rail, you will need to check it regularly. Although most horses are wary of electric fencing, any pony will know when the power is off! Standard stock or post and rail fencing can be used as rubbing posts or get damaged, so it is advisable to walk around the paddock daily just to be sure it is all safe.

The Muck Heap

If you have a horse or horses, one thing is guaranteed, you will have plenty of manure to deal with - on average a horse produces around 50 pounds of the stuff every day. If you stable him, then there’s also all the used bedding too, so maintaining a tidy muck heap is very important.

Obviously, you don’t want your muck heap to be miles away from the stables, but it is important not to have it right next to them as the manure inevitably attracts flies and insects which can cause problems.

You will need to regularly level out the top of the muck heap with a fork, and sweep up and shovel any mess around the edges. It is advisable to have some kind of edging to stop messy spreading.

Depending on the size of the yard, you will need to arrange for your muck heap to be cleared periodically either by a local farmer or contractor.

Whether you have one horse, or a whole yard full, keeping their stable clean and comfortable involves regular mucking out, so your yard equipment needs to be durable, practical and fit for purpose.

There are plenty of different bedding options to choose from, and Fyna Lite has a wide range of specialist equipment to deal with whatever product you use, from shavings and pellet forks, rubber mat forks and manure forks and shavings shovels for skipping out, to hay forks, horse poop scoops, and the all-important yard brooms.

Of course, it’s not just the stables and yard that need maintenance, our equine’s paddock also requires attention. As well as the regular poo picking, there’s also weed removal, which is made easier with the weed, or more importantly, ragwort forks.

While the style of fork, shovel or broom you choose is down to personal preference, and dependant on what type of bedding you use, the comfort of use is also an important consideration, after all, your fork, shovel and broom will be used more than once, every day, every day of the year! Some of us prefer the straight handle, others work better with the D shaped handles. The length of the handle is also important, using a handle that is too short or too long can cause back problems.The Fyna Lite range of stable and yard equipment is available to buy online, with free delivery within the UK.

Overview

Used multiple times a day, every day of the year, forks and shovels need to be strong and durable to handle all types of loads. Shovels and forks are used to clean stalls and trailers/horse boxes. Forks are also used to pitch hay. Both pieces of stable equipment are made from either metal or a type of strong plastic, such as PVC.

The type, style, and colour of shovels or forks that you use around the stable are really personal preference. Some riders find it easier to handle one style of shovel or fork than another. Whatever model(s) you select to use, keep those used to feed hay separate from the ones used to clean stalls or to do other dirtier work. This way you will keep your horse’s hay free from dirt, mud, and manure.

Even if you only have one horse to take care of, you should have two shovels and two forks available in the stable at all times, as well as two of each if you travel to horse shows or events available to use a back-ups if needed.