My Job: Mucking Stalls and How-To

Okay, fine- it isn't quite a job. More like, I get paid by the hour (ranging from $6-$10) for cleaning stalls down at the stables. Pretty exciting, and this way Mom and Dad will probably be more lenient towards me going down there more often. Before I explain it all, here are some of the commonly used tools that come in very handy.

For those who have never cleaned a horse's stall, it is not hard. Yes, sometimes it can take awhile if it is only one person working, and hasn't been cleaned for awhile. But that doesn't make it hard. In case you're wondering how it all works, below is the process.

1. Lead the horse out of the stall. In my case, the horse either goes in the outside pen attached to the stall, or in the indoor arena.
2. Gather the equipment. On an easy stall, this is just the picker and cart (for now). On a packed stall, you'll end up needing a pitchfork.
3. Start removing contents of stall and putting in the cart. There are two ways you can do this.
1. One is just picking it out, which means removing the wet shaving area (it is very handy when the horse has a specific area for this) and the piles of muck. For both of these sub-tasks, one just needs a picker. For the latter task, it can take some time to sift out the clean shavings (if they're clean- keep 'em).
2. The second way is just to do what is termed as "strip" the stall. Basically, user picker, pitchfork if needed, and a broom if you like, strip the stall of all shavings. Occasionally, around the edge of the stall there will be clean shavings, and those may remain.
4. Sweep out the stall, if you like. Stiff bristled brooms work best, and aluminum square shovels (such as what you use to gather shavings) work splendid.
5. Empty the cart as you go. On a particularly bad stall, one may have to empty it three or more times.
6. Once you're done with all that, take the empty cart and fill it with shavings. Dump in the stall, and spread with the picker. Usually, it's preferable to not spread within a 2 ft. radius of the stall door, as this way not so many shavings will get out.

And, that's pretty much it.

 Tl;dr version: Fill the cart, dump, continue until stall is clean, and go get more shavings.