Keeping and maintaining a proper stall is imperative in horse care. Dr. Karen Hayes is an expert in the area and has written seven Horse Care books, including The Perfect Stall Series, as well as over 700 articles.
Hayes says windows and doors need to remain open in order to guarantee proper ventilation.
“The most important thing right now for horses that are going to be brought in for the winter, would be to make sure that the air they breathe in the stall is as close as possible to the air they breathe when they are outside,” explains Hayes. “So, we don’t want to close up the barn, that’s thinking like a human – we need to think like a horse.”
Hayes says there are many items that contribute to the need for good ventilation, but one of the major factors is ammonia.
“Ammonia fumes are a significant problem for horses that live in stalls,” Hayes says. “And because we tend to think of the time we spend with horses as our down time – its our time that we’re away from the hustle and bustle and the stress of our work day lives – we sort of associate all of the things about being in the horse barn with positive things, including the way barns smell.”
Just like humans, high levels of ammonia are very dangerous to a horse’s health. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) restricts employers to not allow an employee be in an environment where ammonia fumes are as high as 50 parts-per-million for longer than 2 hours during the day. These restrictions are to ensure safety in the work environment because research has found that high amounts of ammonia can burn a person’s lungs and may even cause them to get respiratory infections. And as Hayes explains, its the same case for horses.
“Now think about your horses who aren’t in an ammonia laden environment for two hours – they live in that stall. I have tested ammonia fumes in fancy show barns as well as humble backyard shacks and everything in between with the same instrument OSHA uses and found ammonia levels as high as 450 parts per million.” So, Hayes says with the proper ventilation, the ammonia count will decrease significantly.
Another housekeeping tip Hayes has for horse owners is to use bedding that will not only absorb the urine, but provide support to the horse’s feet.
“A lot of people don’t realize that horses don’t actually bear all of their weight on the edges of their feet,” Hayes explains. “When the rims of the hoof kind of dig in a little bit to the turf, then what is underneath bulges up and provides support to the cup that’s inside the horse’s foot. And there is supposed to be support to that as well.”
There are several ways for horse owners to learn more about the proper housekeeping techniques. Besides reading her books, she suggests visiting two websites, www.perfectstall.com and www.integralhorse.com
