Fresh horse poop in an urban yarden..

So Cincinnati has horse drawn carriages in the down town and I found their stable.
Lots of fresh horsepoop for the taking.
I have a 35 x 100 foot lot that has the remains of a houses foundation on it and not much else, that is the soil is poor and probably tainted.
I don't want trouble from the neighbors so I can't have it stinking.
Thus surface application is probably out of the question.
Would pits of burried poop be a way to use this resource efffectively without noticeable smell?
I know that wormers are also an issue, I'm not sure how much of one.
I have a source of well rotted manure, but it is hard to get to.
I am also pursuing woodchips from tree service and will be collecting fall leaves and will mulch with both.

yes you can add it...best time is in fall......I typically add mine in November and then till it in........the following spring it is pretty well broken down with lots of worms in it.....I dont think wormers are a big issue because it seems to degrade after a while.

Great soil builder but IMMENSE seed bank within. Once lost a beautiful strawberry bed to grass that way.

I'm not familiar with your climate; should I assume it's too cold to grow stuff over the winter?
I find even fresh horse and cow manure very...unstinky..., especially if it's not piled too high (say, 5 inches)
As it's from a stables, it also probably contains quite a bit of hay/straw/chipped wood which will reduce the smell potential further.
You mention tree mulch-if you can get some, I'd spread the manure, fork in some mulch, dump the rest thickly on top and leave till spring.
That's as long as you don't have dogs or other shit digging critters around

ragnar daneskold wrote:Great soil builder but IMMENSE seed bank within

yip, seeds seem to go straight through!
Thick mulch will stop the pasture plants germinating but they'll still be there, waiting...

William Bronson wrote:I know that wormers are also an issue, I'm not sure how much of one

From what I understand, wormers target parasitic worms and don't kill earthworms.
I've certainly seen worms in pretty fresh manure.

The stinking smell you refer to. Did you smell it when you went to where you would pick it up, or is it an assumption since it's poo?

I've had horses for 3 years. Never thought it stunk. be it in a stall, piled up to age/ compost, or taking it fresh and spreading it around.

Composting would help with any odors and eliminate the weed seed if hot composted. Also most valuable nutrients are chemically esters, meaning they gas off at a rate of 75-80% even if incorporated into the soil. Composting somehow changes the chemistry and locks in the nutrients. Maybe by converting them to amines. A temperature stable molecular state. Charles Walters (of Acres USA fame) book - A Soil Primer - is the best soil reference I've ever come across. Happy growing!

Theoretically, you can make a hot bed with fresh horse manure, for growing things in winter or to start the growing season early in spring. The main idea is that you bury a lot of fresh manure in a hole with a bit of soil on top, and an optional cold frame on top of that to keep the heat in. The manure composts under the soil and heats it up. I've tried it, but didn't have success--I think I didn't have enough manure to get it hot. I originally read about it in a gardening book, but I have also seen a couple articles online and a youtube video or two, so you can search 'hot bed' if interested. Here's an article from Mother Earth News: http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/how-to-build-a-hotbed-zmaz76mazhar.aspx#axzz3Dm3KPPrM

William B. : Two thoughts, take all the used bedding with this you can get this is nearly saturated with urine.

Google cold frames Now would be a good time to practice-start on a few of them, add even more in the spring as soon as the ground can be worked !
Remove enough earth to allow a deep layer of manure, you want the manure to work and heat up try finding a happy medium between Horse, cow,
and a mix of the two, just a little heat in a cold frame and you can be a month ahead of your neighbors !

Worming medicine, After you have taken your 1st load away, so that you have a reason to come back with a thank you gift, (beer always works )
flat out ask the head groom about worming, if there is truly a problem there probably is a time of the year for worming, probably when the horses are
turned out to open pasture in the spring ! By missing a week or two you will reduce the amount of possible contamination to a fraction ! Big AL

Thanks for the generous replies!
I may be foolish but the weeds don't scare me, as the lot is a sea of weeds anyway.
The stink is real, mind you I have spent the last two years as a drain cleaning plumber and am almost insensate when confronted with human sewage.
I suspect the conditions are crowded and less than ideal.
The whole opperation seems seedy, but who am I to talk?
I am wondering if cardboard over the poop would smother seeds and smell alike.
I ask because while leaves are easy to get in season,wood waste has been hard to come by but cardboard is always easy to get.
I do fear making vole havens as cardboard layers are sometimes said to do, but I fear not the tick....