Mucking Fun!

Mucking out. What wonderful exercise, bending, stretching walking, pushing, pulling, fresh air, and lifting. I am a 5'3" light weight, but I am surprisingly strong, well I have to be or else I could never carry on the way I do cleaning the barn, baling hay and carrying 50 pounds of animal feed around. For some mucking out a stall or barn is a big chore, but for me it is a ritual. I clean wet and dirty spots every evening after work and then the weekend comes and I am out there doing a thorough cleaning and add new bedding to replace anything foul that I missed in the dim barn light. It is a part of what I do. This morning I woke up really quite tired and wondered how I was going to do my extensive barn cleaning, but once I got out there I forgot all about being tired. I feel very happy when I walk inside the barn after a thorough cleaning. What a great accomplishment!

Today I stopped to pick up some more bedding pellets and as I lifted the 40 pound bags I noticed they seemed lighter than before. It has been almost two months since I started using the pellets and when I first started lifting those bags they felt heavy, especially since I was lifting several in one session, but now my muscles have gotten accustomed to the weight making my life a little easier.

Velvet, my filly and the three goats love Saturday barn cleaning. First all four are sent outside to stay out until I am finished, otherwise I could not clean with everyone under foot. I tried that and it definitely does not work! They all take turns coming to the door and check on my progress. First the goats stand on the edge of the door frame and eyeball me until I pay some attention to them, then Velvet comes over, hangs her head over the door patiently waiting to come inside and roll. As soon as the door is opened they all rush in. The first thing Velvet does is lay down and roll, she really likes the pellets, apparently they make good back scratchers.

Overall of course I would rather be riding, but a clean barn makes for happy, healthy animals. Besides, I cannot ride the goats or Velvet for that matter being that she is just 9 months old. Don't forget the added bonus of mucking...focus and all your stress goes away!