Keep a Fresh, Clean Barn

What’s that sweet smell? With a little planning and ongoing effort, it can be the inside of your barn.

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A clean, sweet-smelling barn makes for happier horses— healthier, too, as muck that causes bad smells can, over the long term, also damage equine respiratory systems and hooves. Here’s what you need to consider to ensure you’re maintaining your barn in as fresh a condition as possible.

Regular cleaning. When left overlong in your horse’s stall, the naturally occurring ammonia and other substances in urine and manure can irritate his lungs, contributing to respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia and heaves. It can also weaken his hooves. So muck stalls out at least daily, and when you do, dig for urine spots, using a broad shovel to scrape out all wet bedding. Rubber stall mats will enable you to economize on bedding while still keeping your barn nice and clean. (Just be sure mats are installed properly, so urine can’t collect underneath them.)