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Introducing Perfect Stall-Live! January 2007 Perfect Stall-Live! is a group of small businesses that have two things in common: They all have innovative horsekeeping products that they invented, developed, patented and marketed themselves, and those products were chosen by Dr. Karen Hayes for the Perfect Stall project. It's an exclusive club, and Hayes doesn't charge them a dime for her public praise of their wares. "It's not uncommon to get a good idea. It takes incredible courage to develop that good idea into a product that betters the lives of horses and horsekeepers. I encourage that kind of bravery, but only if the products are great. I'm adamant about not doing paid endorsements so I'm free to tell people exactly what I think about what products have performed well, and which have not. These products are outstanding in my professional opinion." Perfect Stall - Live! companies have banded together at horse expo trade shows, forming one large booth with all the exclusive Perfect Stall products on display, so horsekeepers can start to get the feel of a Perfect Stall. The PSL booth has purchased Hayes' Perfect Stall series books and offers them for sale at expo trade shows. However, there is no business arrangement with Hayes. She has permitted them to use her trademarked "Perfect Stall" name in order to make her contribution to the better horsekeeping cause for which she is a staunch advocate. "I am an enthusiast," Hayes says. "With these products, the horses in my care are healthier and more comfortable, and my staff and I spend less time doing horsework and more time engaged in horseplay." Visit the Perfect Stall-Live! website at http://www.perfectstalllive.com.
January 17, 2007 12:03 PM By The Perfect Stall staff |
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"Almost Perfect" bedding alternative For those of you growing tired of waiting for Equidry, many are having good luck with the system I implemented 15 years ago and which I have begun using again, in the stalls from which I’d removed my Equidry for foaling season. I call it “STP” bedding -- Screened Topsoil and Peat. Here’s how I’ve done it.I aim for an 8-inch bed, 60% peat and 40% screened topsoil. Nothing scientific about that because soil in your area may be different from soil in my area, and may have a different "perc test" score. The depth must be sufficient to accommodate the gush of urine without allowing any to get away; that way, you can be assured that the urine is contained within the bed, within reach of your tiller, where it can be agitated and aerated. The percentage of peat (or other soil amendment material) should be sufficient to keep the bed from compacting beyond your tiller's ability to refluff it each morning.You may find a better soil amendment than peat, and I would encourage you to experiment, but for obvious reasons I'd stay away from sand. I put the peat down first, then I put the topsoil on top and rototill them together. When I first started this 15 years ago I used my enormous Husqvarna garden tiller, which is much too heavy and difficult to maneuver even in my larger stalls. Now I use one of the lightweight electric tillers, such as what I recommended for use with Equidry, only it is not necessary to take off the sharp tines and replace them with blunt paddles. For the STP bed, the original tines are perfect. There are many models of the electric tillers available everywhere. Toro, Troybilt, Mantis, I think the DR Trimmer people make one, I think Sears has one... in other words there are many to choose from. They weigh about 20 pounds, they'll till to a depth of 10 inches, and they cost about $300. Because they're electric, starting them in the winter isn't an issue. Install an extension cord on a retractable wheel overhead for each stall (I got mine at Home Depot for about $30), and it'll take only a couple minutes to do the daily tilling. You maintain the bed just as I've outlined for the Equidry bed -- remove the manure, till the wet spots into the dry spots while you till the entire bed to keep it from compacting and to infuse air into it, so the bacteria that consume the urine will metabolize it aerobically, which will not produce ammonia. You must till daily. Even so, your daily labor will be a fraction of what it takes to muck out a conventionally bedded stall. Will sustainable bedding freeze in the winter? Usually not, but it is possible, if the temps drop below zero and stay there for any length of time. It depends on the level of moisture in the bed, and on what's beneath it. This is true of Equidry as well as STP. I find that my stalls that are over dirt/clay floors do not freeze significantly (you can still refluff each morning), but the stalls over concrete sometimes do. I don't know what the effect would be of putting rubber mats over the concrete first. My guess is that they would help insulate the bed from the negative thermal mass of the concrete and help keep the bed tillable all the way through the winter. But I can't say from personal experience. If your bed does freeze hard, rather than try to break it up with the tiller (which would create a bed of fist-sized chunks of frozen soil), it's probably better to surrender for the three months or so it'll take for the spring thaw to come, and in the interim, put a disposable bedding (aaargh!) on top. At any rate, if your STP did freeze, you'd have to play catch-up for a few weeks in the spring thaw, to aerate and evaporate the urine from the bed. I've found that there is no accompanying ammonia cache because the bacteria that produce ammonia freeze when the urine freezes. As soon as they thaw, they'll get to work, so there is some urgency to getting them out. Like Equidry, STP is a "sustainable" bed, not a disposable one. There are obvious advantages to this. Much less time and expense. A significantly smaller manure pile. Fewer flies. Plus, if you maintain it properly, you're cultivating a population of beneficial bacteria in the bed, millions of little stall-cleaning helpers, free of charge. A sustainable bed will not work well if your stalls are small (12 x 12) and/or if you leave your horses in the stalls 24/7. To work best (and to be healthier for your horses, no matter what bedding you use), at least one dimension of the stall must be 20 feet, and your horses should be outside at least 12 hours per day, preferably longer (for their own health). You already know all of this, if you read the book, The Perfect Stall. In the hot/dry times of the year, dust may become an issue. Just sprinkle the bed with a hose and till the moisture in. You want it to be just moist enough to briefly form a ball if you squeeze a handful of dirt, then the ball should quickly fall apart in your hand, and when you tilt your hand, the dirt should fall out with little or no dirt sticking to your palm. I recommend you try this in ONE stall first. Some people don't like the idea of putting their horses on "dirt." Some people don't like the idea of having to use an electric appliance in their stalls every day. Some people have a high turnover in their stables and need a product that can be sterilized between horses. For those people I can only cross my fingers and hope the Equidry folks get their issues worked out before all the good, forward-thinking folks who are interested in Equidry run out of patience and go back to shavings. Good luck to you. If you decide you don't like it, the used STP will be a lovely amendment to your garden. Nothing wasted. Sincerely, KENH Karen E. N. Hayes, DVM, MS, PLLC Author of: The Complete Book of Foaling Emergency! The Active Horseman's Book of Emergency Care Hands-On Horse Care Hands-On Senior Horse Care The Perfect Stall November 28, 2004 09:31 AM By Dr. Karen Hayes |
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Equidry Company returning to life I have been informed that the Equidry company's new management is nearly ready to resume production and sales. I even have a new, toll-free phone number for anybody interested in contacting them: 866/378-4379. Stay tuned for further updates.June 28, 2004 10:01 AM By Dr. Karen Hayes |
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Propanel Update I have an updated website address for Propanel, the maker of The Perfect Stall's choice of stall feeder. Those of you who have the book, The Perfect Stall, please make this change on page 99. The new website address:www.propanel.com April 07, 2004 05:33 PM By Dr. Karen Hayes |
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Equidry Update I have recently learned that production and sales at Equidry are temporarily on hold, until the details of a change of management can be ironed out. Stay tuned for further developments. I will keep this site updated as the Equidry company's situation is resolved.April 07, 2004 08:02 AM By Dr. Karen Hayes |
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The Perfect Stall Updates
November 07, 2003 01:58 AM By Dr. Karen Hayes |
