By Jerry Tardif
A question that seems to be asked quite a bit recently is "How many calories are burned cleaning stalls?"
Of course, when you think about it, this inquiry makes a lot of sense.
After all, we've got to clean the abrn anyway, so if we can identify some ways it does us some additional good other than equine hygeine for our horses, that's an extra plus.
So I went about quantifying the energy used so we could have some insight into the health benefits.
Calories burned is a function of the task you're doing, your weight, and how long you perform the task.
Also, how long does it take you to clean a stall?
Do you do a thorough job or a superficial and quick one?
Finally, how many stalls do you have to clean?
This is not something that I've seen written about before, but by using some proxies, I think we can get a fair estimate.
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For Most, It's Not Fun — It's Better Knowing It Helps Us To Stay In Shape.
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Let's assume you clean the way you shovel snow, that you do a fairly good job, and that it takes about 10 minutes per stall.
This includes removing waste products and soiled bedding, replacing the bedding and spreading it around the stall, at least emptying and rinsing the water pail and then refilling it, and then placing a couple of hay flakes in the stall.
That should at least get us into the "ballpark".
Look for your weight below to see the calories burned per stall:
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Your Weight
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Calories Burned per Stall
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90 lbs.
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41
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100 lbs.
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46
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110 lbs.
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50
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120 lbs.
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55
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130 lbs.
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59
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140 lbs.
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64
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150 lbs.
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69
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160 lbs.
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73
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170 lbs.
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78
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180 lbs.
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82
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190 lbs.
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87
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200 lbs.
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92
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210 lbs.
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96
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220 lbs.
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101
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230 lbs.
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105
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240 lbs.
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110
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250 lbs.
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115
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Multiply the number of calories times the number of stalls you're going to clean to get an estimate of the calories you'll burn.
So if you weigh 130 pounds and clean nine stalls, you'll burn about 530 calories in 90 minutes.
Of course, if you take a more leisurely approach and do fewer tasks than outlined, the number of calories burned will be less per stall.
Generally, the number of calories burned per stall will be about the same whether you work quickly or slowly; you pace will just determine how long it takes you to do all the stalls you have to do.
Besides being an avid trail rider, Jerry Tardif is a computer consultant and a horse and nature photographer in SE Connecticut — see his work at: www.jerrytardif.com.
He is also co-founder and President of QueryHorse, the largest equine information resource on the Internet.
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