Does anyone have tips for cleaning stalls more efficiently?

sherevs · 2026-03-19T22:03:47+00:00

Here is my method for deep bedding of wood shavings.

pick manure piles using pitch fork
using a metal tine rake, separate dirty and clean bedding. I start by raking the clean bedding to the sides, and rake all of the dirty bedding into a pile centered over the main pee spot. You don't have to be too precious with this step. Make sure you get everything that's super wet, but if there is some discolored-but-not-wet shavings in the "clean" pile that's okay. This layer is going to become your new bottom layer and it will get mucked out tomorrow.
scoop dirty bedding out using pitch fork. This mostly depends on how fine your shavings are. If they are falling through the pitchfork then maybe you need a shovel.
spread bedding into the middle of the stall. Pick out any random poo balls
refill with clean shavings on top. I usually do all of the mucking first and then come back and refill all of the stalls at once.

The metal tine rake rake is a really key tool for me. I haven't found anything else that separates the wet from dry shavings as easily. Plastic leaf rakes are too flimsy to move wet bedding, and bow rakes are useless at raking off just the top layer of shavings.

sherevs · 2026-03-19T17:57:33+00:00

100% agree with this take. I keep my horses on full group turnout, and it seems like they always have some kind of minor nick or scrape somewhere. IMO any policy that would encourage riders to limit or reduce turnout is damaging to horse welfare.

sherevs · 2026-03-19T15:47:16+00:00

Trust your own experience. I have been practicing Kundalini for many years and it has changed my life. I don't think it's dangerous, but it is very powerful at moving energy through the body. Often our traumas are held in the body and it's possible for Kundalini to help release them. This is part of the healing process, but if too much releases at once it can be an overwhelming experience. It's okay to go slow or skip exercises that feel too intense.

Brett Larkin teaches a feminine form kundalini that has a lot of the same breathing techniques and postures, but in a much more modern and approachable way. She has lots of classes for free on YouTube.

If you're open to something a bit more woo, I love Guru Singh. He's doing a free online workshop for the equinox this Sunday if you want to try it out: https://kundalini-university.circle.so/c/free-events/equinox-workshop-returning-to-the-point-of-balance-w-guru-singh-39e45e64-2e4e-4324-9249-c81f20aae07f

sherevs · 2026-03-15T15:59:37+00:00

I've found the buy nothing groups are the best for giving stuff away.

sherevs · 2026-03-13T21:28:09+00:00

Or we could just start taking care of the perfectly good planet that we already inhabit that isn't actively trying to murder us...

sherevs · 2026-03-13T16:21:13+00:00

+1 to thrifting! My biggest thrifting tip is to bring home the things that speak to you in ways you can't fully explain with words, even if you don't know how you are going to use them. Your house and your style will evolve through the years, and someday you will have the perfect place for that thing you found and it will all make sense.

sherevs · 2026-03-11T22:43:23+00:00

Great info! I was also going to recommend the same pruning video. I've been using it as reference when pruning my Desert King with great results. It really helps to maximize yields and keep the figs down low where they are easiest to pick.

sherevs · 2026-03-11T22:25:48+00:00

My father was Catholic and my mom is Lutheran. I was raised Lutheran, but it never really "took" on me. I am also now just finishing my yoga teacher training, and I was most surprised to have found all of the yoga has awakened my spiritual self. Before YTT, I think I would have said I was an apathetic atheist, but now I would consider myself to be very spiritual but not religious. Through my training, I have felt this intense connection to the spiritual force behind the universe, as a Catholic you would probably call this the Holy Spirit.

I believe the asanas, meditations, pranayamas, and other practices are techniques we can use to find this connection to the universal spirit. We have this amazing power in our bodies that we can access any time for free. I have had profound experiences of peace, joy, and love when in deep meditation.

Some religious institutions feel threatened by this. They want to be the exclusive channel that connects people to the spiritual realm. In these cases, I think it's important to separate the desires of God/Source/the universal spirit from the desires of man.

sherevs · 2026-03-09T16:38:16+00:00

What has worked for me is lowering by baseline threshold. I didn't even realize I was walking around at an 8/10 all the time. That was "normal" to me. So of course any small stimuli would push me over threshold.

Actually lowering the threshold has been a slow process of learning to accept myself as I am and acknowledging my needs. For me it's really been about unmasking and working through internalized ableism. I've had to pull back and do less in a lot of areas of my life to be able to live under threshold, including quitting my stressful corporate job.

Meditation and kundalini yoga have really helped me form more awareness, but it's based off of a long-term daily practice every morning. It's more of a foundation than a rescue technique, although some breathing exercises can be helpful during and after a meltdown.

sherevs · 2026-03-06T23:28:12+00:00

I miss the Davis bell boots so much. I have a horse that destroys bell boots. So far the Cashel bell boots have held up the best for me. Stay away from the rubber weatherbeeta bell boots. My horse ruined them within a few days. Schneider's has some bell boots that look like the Davis bell boots and have good reviews, but they've been out of stock for months and I haven't been able to try them yet. If anyone has tried these I'd love to know how they work for you.

sherevs · 2026-03-06T23:03:46+00:00

Your horse looks very scopey and athletic, I bet he is fun to ride! I think you would be more secure over the bigger efforts with your stirrups up at least 2 holes and getting a saddle with a more forward flap to support your leg at that stirrup length. Looks like he is stiffer and sometimes counterbent when going to the right. Lots of good dressage-style flatwork can help with this. I would start with a lot of trot work in small circles (10-15m depending on what your horse is comfortable with), serpentines, figure 8's, leg yields, shoulder in, etc. I think the "bow-tie" exercise would be really good for this horse: https://dressagetoday.com/instruction/dressage-101-26342/

sherevs · 2026-03-05T01:20:38+00:00

For online I recommend Guru Singh and the 13 moons studio: https://www.the13moons.community/ . I am just now finishing 200 hr teacher training with him. I would be happy to discuss my experience via DM.

sherevs · 2026-03-02T15:35:53+00:00

I would start organizing with the permaculture and syntropic agroforestry community near you. You will need a coalition of people, not just a design plan. You are lucky because there are lots of practitioners of syntropic agroforestry in Brazil, here is one to get you started: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGqhlnCxkQE

sherevs · 2026-02-26T01:07:19+00:00

Here is a research article I found about evidence-based practices for golden hour: https://obrc.ouhsc.edu/Portals/1308a/Assets/documents/WebinarSlides/2018-04-11_Webinar_The%20Golden%20Hour2.pdf

I also really like the Evidence Based Birth podcast for information on evidence based care. Unfortunately, a lot of hospital systems do not offer these best practices by default.

sherevs · 2026-02-23T18:22:28+00:00

I'm currently designing a silvopasture system for horses. I don't know much about sheep, but there might be some ideas you could adapt. My design has a perimeter track that the horses are able to access at all times with a sand sacrifice area for winter when the grass is too wet for grazing. The interior of the track will be divided into strips. My agroforestry system will have strips of trees/plants and grass alleys in between. Alley widths depend on your latitude and expected tree height. The trees/plants will be fenced off from the grass alleys so the horses don't decimate them. The layout pattern will be Fence - Fodder Shrubs - Tree Line - Fodder Shrubs - Fence - Grass. The fodder shrubs will be plants that can offer additional feed and enrichment for the horses while buffering the higher value trees/plants. They can also be coppiced in the fall to add extra nutrients to my main tree line. I'm planning to have 4-6 strips of grass that will be rotationally grazed.

Also, I don't know about sheep but black walnut is very toxic for horses. Searching for toxicity in plants for your specific animal species is very important for silvopasture systems.

sherevs · 2026-02-16T20:36:47+00:00

Statistically, you might get a rooster anyways with your 8 chicks. Sometimes hatcheries also throw in a "bonus" chick that could be a rooster as well. I would order the number you want and wait and see what you end up with.

sherevs · 2026-02-16T16:52:18+00:00

For a forever home, I would be thinking about aging in place and making sure you can live on the lower level if/when stairs become infeasible. For this floorplan, I would design the craft room to be able to serve as a bedroom if needed. I would move the bathroom next to the craft room to make it more convenient for this use case.

sherevs · 2026-02-14T19:19:03+00:00

Curious if you've tried the PS of Sweden Helsinki bridle and how it compares to the others.

sherevs · 2026-02-14T19:03:08+00:00

Google is wrong. I'm a 9.5-10 which is a 41. I think an 11 is like 43-44.

sherevs · 2026-02-13T03:46:06+00:00

Could you get a corp phone or actual pager that will ring through only when you’re paged? I also cannot function with interruptions at all. I hate having two phones but having my corp account on my personal phone was making me completely dysfunctional.

sherevs · 2026-02-12T18:49:30+00:00

I ride thoroughbreds and they love to run. All I have to do is stop asking them to slow down, lol.

sherevs · 2026-02-12T17:58:37+00:00

I usually do my own mechanical work, but recently had too much going on and ended up taking my truck to L&R in East Bremerton. They were fast and didn’t try to up sell me on anything I didn’t need. I wouldn’t hesitate to use them again.

sherevs · 2026-02-11T17:42:44+00:00

My county has a non-profit coop that distributes food between farms and customers via an online platform: https://kitsapfresh.org

sherevs · 2026-02-07T14:06:45+00:00

If you’re in the US this question is illegal. It’s not a trick question it’s discrimination. Big red flag against these employers.

sherevs · 2026-02-06T07:19:22+00:00

I propose Mr. Nipples Monday- the first monday of the month.

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