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The tack room

Discuss horse riding and ownership on our Horse forum.

Original poster

How long does it take you?

35 replies

historyrocks · 16/08/2021 15:10

This is out of curiosity as DD tells me I’m really slow at mucking out etc. So how long would it take you to do all of the following?

  • tack up
  • ride (30-40 mins)
  • groom
  • muck out (shavings, Dhorse is messy!)
  • fill 3 hay nets
  • prepare feeds
OP posts:
Whitegrenache · 16/08/2021 15:22

Muck out do haynet and fill water 10 mins
Tack up 5 mins
Ride 40 mins , wait for horse to cool down, rug up then turn back out (20mins)

Whitegrenache · 16/08/2021 15:23

Hay nets 5 mins
Groom 10

Whitegrenache · 16/08/2021 15:23

My 15dd works in an event yard and does 8 stables including hay and water in less than an hour

Tuliptulip · 16/08/2021 15:26

Pretty much similar to @Whitegrenache, though I might ride slightly longer, walk the last 10 mins and thus avoid the cooling down period except on hot days when I’d wash him off (5mins). Grooming for a hack consists solely of hooves, the tack areas and any particularly obvious mud rather than the full shebang (5 mins max!)

NotMyCat · 16/08/2021 15:27

Tack up 5-10 mins if changing my boots etc
Groom - depends how muddy! 15 mins max
Muck out/haynet/water - 15/20 mins

Original poster
historyrocks · 16/08/2021 15:41

Grin I’m definitely slow.

Tacking up-20 mins (including walking back/forth to tack room). I don’t know why this takes so long, although she does have almost every bit of tack possible.

Groom 5-10 mins. She is never dirty.
Mucking out 40-45 mins, depending on how bad it is. Although, I have been told by others that it takes longer than normal to muck her out. This is where most of my time is spent
Hay nets-15-20 mins ( god, I hate hay nets. They take forever). DD has them done in no time.
Prepare feed, 5 mins

For context, I have a part-loan of a 16.1 warmblood mare who is the calmest horse I’ve known. I’ve had her 3 days a week since May. I had a pony as a teenager and never took so long back then., but he also lived out all year.

Overall, if I ride for 30-40 mins, I’m there for about 3.25 - 3.5 hours. I really need to get more efficient, but I can’t see how to speed up. (In fairness to myself, I have problems with joint and muscle pain so I think that slows me down a bit). It’s ok taking so long at the moment as my work is quiet, but that will change next month.

OP posts:
Pleasedontdothat · 16/08/2021 16:11

Do you have to do haynets? Can you feed from the floor (better position to be eating in) or would that be too messy? I’m allergic to hay so have to cut down the amount of time my skin’s in contact with the stuff…

horseymum · 16/08/2021 16:13

I would definitely do all that in less than an hour, but used to work in trekking centres/ riding schools. I see most of the liveries take a lot longer but it is partly their chill out time so if you enjoy it, don't worry. If you want to get faster, think about efficient ways, like as I arrive, I might bring the wheel barrow from the muck heap as it's on the way from the car to the stable. I might put the dirty buckets to soak whilst grooming, I would carry something each trip across the yard. Water to mix in the feed is in a watering can that gets changed every few days, I only use a splash so it saves a trip to the tap. Do more haynets at a weekend when you have more time. Get a sharer for a day a week to give yourself a break.

lastqueenofscotland · 16/08/2021 16:50

One of my mares, muck out in like 15 mins.
The other is fucking tramp and honestly it’s taken me an hour before Envy

changedusername2021 · 16/08/2021 20:00

It doesn't take me too long to do my jobs and ride but it did at first. Over time I fell into a routine so my feed bowls are soaking while I ride and I only groom tack areas for hacking.I'm lucky to have my tack next to my stable but I used to carry the saddle and hang everything else on my shoulders.sadly I've not yet found a shortcut to mucking out a messy horse if it's trampled in your going to be a while.

dunkaccino · 16/08/2021 21:17

Are you honest about chatting time? You must be doing something in the 3.5 hours that you haven't accounted for. I don't see how it could take 20 minutes to tack up unless the tackroom is a 7 minute walk away. Or do you keep forgetting things?

horseymum · 16/08/2021 22:15

Could you keep the tack next to the stable to save time. If you get sore or stiff, the less carrying you do, the better.

HighlandCowbag · 17/08/2021 08:14

It takes me about 2 hours to do 2, but riding time is probably 30 mins. I'm old and slow as well tho after a month (moved from full to diy livery at a new yard) I'm getting quicker at the jobs.

I give them their buckets, make 2 nets while they eating, plus a little breakfast net. Tie one up with net, muck out and put bed back down, swap over and do the other. Pick feet out and flick a brush over saddle area, tack up. Takes me as long to unzip awkward saddle bag as what it does tack up. Then ride one, put muzzles on, turn out (takes 15 mins due to distance from yard), check field water. Use leftover stable waters to start soaking nets, rinse stable buckets while filling trugs for soaking, put tools away and come home.

I am definitely slower tho, used to do 4 in that time, not including riding. Uni starts end of September and definitely need to get quicker.

Original poster
historyrocks · 17/08/2021 10:00

I think my mare is similar. The parting words of the person who had part loaned her before were ‘good luck with the mucking out.’ I have to clear out the entire stable, apart from banks, every day..

OP posts:
Original poster
historyrocks · 17/08/2021 10:17

Tacking up means a 2 min walk from car to locker to get gear, 2 min walk to the stable to drop it off, 2 min to collect tack and another 2 mins to get back to the stable. That’s a good 8 minutes, before I start tacking up. She has a breastplate, grackle noseband, martingale, boots on all 4 legs. She is also a bit head shy so getting the bridle on takes a bit of patience. Before I know it, 20 minutes have gone.. I have to do the reverse (inc the walk back and forth) after riding.

I have to keep hay nets as I have a share of a horse and obviously have to follow the owner’s wishes. They have to be full to bursting.

It’s the mucking out that really slows me down. I have a system where I clear one side snd then collect shavings on the walk back from the muck heap and put it in the corner and repeat. It is a 2 mins walk each way from stable to muck heap). I have to do this 4 times.

I am definitely quicker than I was at the start, but I see people around me being much faster. I’d be delighted if I could get it down to less than 3 hours.

OP posts:
Sarahlou63 · 17/08/2021 10:22

So glad my lot live out! Takes about an hour to poo pick for 5 horses on a 2km track. Great exercise in the spring/summer/autumn...not so much fun in winter.

If you're not under any time constraints then why rush? Time spent with horses is never wasted Smile

Original poster
historyrocks · 17/08/2021 10:33

I have her on a Mon/Fr/Sun. The weekend is fine and I do take longer as I chat a bit. During the week I’m under more pressure as I go up there during working hours and then have to make it up on a night.

I go up at 3. Going up after 4pm is a pain as it’s rammed with kids. There’s a shortage of wheelbarrows. You can’t access the indoor school between 4 and 7pm due to lessons. After that, the school is so busy it’s impossible to do much more than trot in a circle

I don’t want to make it stressful, that takes the fun out of it. But I could do with being a bit faster

OP posts:
welcome2021 · 17/08/2021 13:55

Groom five minutes

Tack up 3 minutes (saddle and bridle)

Muck out 30 minutes

Making up feeds and nets ten minutes

Poo picking fields 15 minutes a day

Water buckets ten minutes

FanFckingTastic · 17/08/2021 14:30

OMG, I daren't even answer this!! It seems to take me FOREVER to do even the easiest of task and I know that this is because I am terrible at a) chatting and b) faffing. If I sorted out these two things I'd probably be done with the tasks the OP describes in under two hours. As it is, it could well take me anything from 2.5 hours to all day, depending on the extreme level of faff and chat :-)

Touloser · 17/08/2021 14:38

Can you keep the bridle, boots, gloves etc in a bag, so you can carry all the tack in one trip.

I do this to pack the car up, the neighbours must think I'm mad as I'll often be wearing my hat + high vis + carrying the whip in mouth if my hards are full!

For hay nets, how do you fill them? We have barrels with nails around the rim which hold it the net open, meaning you can put the hay in with both hands - something like that could make life easier?

Original poster
historyrocks · 17/08/2021 16:26

@Touloser

Can you keep the bridle, boots, gloves etc in a bag, so you can carry all the tack in one trip.

I do this to pack the car up, the neighbours must think I'm mad as I'll often be wearing my hat + high vis + carrying the whip in mouth if my hards are full!

For hay nets, how do you fill them? We have barrels with nails around the rim which hold it the net open, meaning you can put the hay in with both hands - something like that could make life easier?

I have a 3 day share of the horse so all tack needs to stay at the yard for the other days. I could shuttle my hat etc in the car, but then I sometimes use DH’s car and knowing my memory, I would drive off without everything. It’s a big-ish yard with about 25 riding school horses and 30 or so private liveries. Everything (tack room, muck heap, hay, feed etc) is spread across the yard so there’s a fair amount of walking around that is unavoidable.

A barrel with nails would be great, but nothing like that for hey nets. It takes me forever to just get the bloody net open and untangled.

OP posts:
Deliaskis · 18/08/2021 13:16

This thread is making me realise how lucky we are! DD's mare is incredibly clean and tidy and always does her business in precisely the same spot, never anywhere else, so mucking out is super quick, and all stables have a locked walk in area inside them with enough room for tack, feed, grooming stuff etc. This all helps make it quicker.

OldSpeclkledHen · 19/08/2021 06:33

Time spent at the yard is a time warp 😂

Original poster
historyrocks · 19/08/2021 08:55

@Deliaskis

This thread is making me realise how lucky we are! DD's mare is incredibly clean and tidy and always does her business in precisely the same spot, never anywhere else, so mucking out is super quick, and all stables have a locked walk in area inside them with enough room for tack, feed, grooming stuff etc. This all helps make it quicker.
That sounds like a fantastic set up.
OP posts:
ImFree2doasiwant · 19/08/2021 12:08

You can carry the tack all together surely? Or hat on head, rest in a barrow. Should take a couple of minutes to tack up.

You take 4 barrow loads out every time you muck out or have I read that wrong?? I'd be asking the owner to demonstrate.

I think its nice if you have the time but I'm sure you could sgave an hour off at least! If riding for 40 minutes, I'd get the rest done in 30.