Apart from daily mucking out and regularly stripping and disinfecting your horse’s stable, a full, thorough clean should be done several times a year for the benefit of your horse’s health.

Firstly, remove all bedding and buckets. Once the stable is empty, if you have rubber matting, remove this too. Make sure you remember which piece goes where. It is a good idea to use duct tape to mark where each mat goes. Start from the top left and stick one piece of duct tape in the top left corner, then two pieces on the next mat and so on.

Wash the mats thoroughly with a hard brush, warm water and disinfectant. Do this on the front and back of each mat. This will help kill off any unwanted bacteria.

Leave the mats to dry outside and get to work on the inside of your stable. Work from the ceiling down.

Look up – are there any cobwebs or a large build-up of dust you should clean first? It is important to wear a mask when doing this if your stable is particularly dusty.

Next are the walls. If you have access to a power hose this is a quick way of washing your stable walls. If you don’t have a power washer, warm water, washing-up liquid and a hard scrubbing brush will do a good job of cleaning the walls, although this is very labour intensive.

Then do the same on the floor. Wash it either with a power washer or a stiff brush and disinfectant.

Once the stable has dried out you can give it a fresh lick of paint before putting your rubber mats back in.

Don’t forget your stable door too, wash and disinfect the door and apply a fresh coat of paint or oil. Lastly, make sure to also clean out the feeder and drinker.