Do-Do

[dice]

Of course composted is best but free horse manure is usually not composted.

My experience is that it usually is composted. When gardeners
come around to pick it up in spring, it has often been piling up
all winter in preparation, composting the whole time. You may
get some recent, fairly fresh manure with it, but the bulk of the
pile is normally fairly well composted.

I have not had significantly more weeds in the beds where
I have used it than in beds where I have not. There does not
seem to be significantly more weed seed there than what
drifts in on the wind, is dropped by birds, etc.

The lasagne bed technique works fine with horse manure. You
probably would not need the bagged compost (although every
little bit helps).