How to Muck a Stall (or Kyusha, As It Were), a Ten-Step Program

First, walk the pony out of the stall and put it somewhere else.

Mumin (or Moomin) kinds of rotates stalls each day, so he just went down the way a bit. The other horses are put in the cross-ties where they are also groomed and tacked up.

Second, get down to business with the wet and heavy stuff.

Mumin's stalls are the only dirt floor ones, which are also totally uneven. Since he spends so much time wandering loose around the farm, I guess it's not such a bad deal, but it can't be too good for his already gimpy self. It's definitely not too good for trying to pick up wet straw with a shovel.

Third, pile it up in the wheelbarrow.

Since Mumin's stalls are at the far end of a separate building, you have to wheel the wheelbarrow out, through the other barn, around the back and out to the dung heap. Not wanting to do that so often, you try to pile on as much as you can at once.

Fourth, wheel 'er out.

Fifth, try not to hit any bumps that would cause your overloaded wheelbarrow to spill, thus requiring you to rescoop and repile.

Sixth, trek through the mud and the muck to the dung heap.

Seventh, use your mad skills to flip the 'barrow in one motion, avoiding having to touch the poo legs.

Eighth, return through the mud and the muck... and the pee lakes.

Ninth, before returning your horse or pony to the stall, pick its feet to relieve it from the pressure and funk of packed-in dirty bedding and dookie.

Ninth, watch for Butt-Sniffers. And farters. And pooers. I learned those last two the hard way. My mouth was open and everything.

Tenth, return your horse or pony to its stall, give it a pat and move on to the next one.

The pony barns were much more straight forward in terms of shovel-out, pour-in, but they were harder because they use straw for bedding, the shoveling of which is like trying to eat julienne carrots with a spoon. Mornings had us in the horse barn, where the bedding is rice husks, which is easier to shovel. But the folks up at the riding club have a special system for getting all the poo balls out, with its climax being a giant cone of relatively clean husks which you then kick down again. It was a little weird at first, but it ended up growing on me, especially once I modified a couple steps with my own variations.

And there you have it. Stall mucking made simple, Towada-style.