Equestrian Network Magazine


	Create A Safe Barn
	by Tamara Watson

	Look around your barn. Is it excessively dusty (duh, it's a barn)? Are the aisles cluttered? Are there cracked boards you have yet to fix? Any nails sticking out? If you answered yes to any of these questions your barn is not as safe as it could be and it's time you do something about it. Barn safety doesn't necessarily require a complete remodel. Assuming your barn is of sound construction - no roofs falling or leaning walls - the things you do on a daily basis can boost the safety level of your barn.

	A tidy barn is a safer barn

	An experienced "car guy" once told me that keeping a car clean will extend its life substantially. Being the clean freak that I am, I easily bought into this and have integrated this concept to barn safety. The excessive dust and cobwebs which gather in barns are fire hazards. Dust settles into electrical outlets and lighting ballasts. In time this can short-circuit wiring and pose a fire danger. For under $20 you can purchase a dusting Webster ® which you can use to clear out the dust and cobwebs every couple days. In addition to being safer, your barn will look better.

	Stalls need to be cleaned every day. Tossing a couple bags of shavings on top of soiled shavings is not a substitute for picking out a stall. Being forced to live in a dirty stall is bad for your horse's health. Urine is ammonia based and having high concentrations of it in your horse's environment is no good. Breathing such air has been proven to compromise the health and performance of humans and animals. Would you want to eat dinner in a bathroom where the toilet hadn't been flushed for a day or two? Yeah, I didn't think so. Additionally, standing in urine and manure degrades the quality of your horse's hooves, resulting in thrush and weakened hoof walls.

	While you have the rake and broom in hand, clean up the excess hay lying around in the aisles - they too are fire hazards.

	All this cleaning gives you the perfect opportunity to inspect stalls for possible hazards such as nails poking out and loose or splintered boards - hazards you must always be on the look out for. When you spot such hazards, don't assume that your horse will recognize these as hazards. In fact they will likely view such protrusions as good scratching tools, that is until they have gouged their neck.

	It's how you store it

	Barn aisles are not storage locations. Ideally barn aisles should be a minimum of 8-feet wide. When you add tack trunks, wheelbarrows, and the other horses stretching over their stall doors to say "Hi", you are left with little room to safely maneuver yourself, much less your horse. A tack room is called a tack room for a reason - it's where all your tack belongs. Saddles and bridles left out get knocked over, chewed on and stolen. If you don't have a tack room, then designate a corner in your barn for saddle racks, tack trunks, and grooming equipment.

	On more than one occasion, I have had to assist a horse "stuck" in a wheelbarrow - an easy way to tweak a leg. Wheelbarrows, rakes, and brooms need to be kept out of the way when not in use. Other tools should be stored in locked containers or sheds.

	Horses are bound to "let themselves out" for a night loose in the barn every once in a while. Grain stored in tubs, accessible to the carousing horse, is asking to be eaten and a stomach ache waiting to happen. All grains need to be stored in designated, horse proof areas.

	Of ultimate storage concern should be where hay is stored. Besides providing rodents with a central place to meet and eat, storing hay in a separate building is your first defense against fire. Hay has a reputation for spontaneously combusting. Uncured hay undergoes a chemical reaction while curing which can reach combustible temperatures (i.e. fire risk). Even properly cured hay is a fire risk if one is careless, for instance, the heated exhaust of a hay truck parked too close to the hay stack can ignite a fire.

	A bit more about fire...

	Fire prevention must be taken seriously. Horses die horrible deaths in barn fires every year. In addition to the suggestions already made, here are more options to consider regarding fire prevention:
	-- Install a heat responsive sprinkler system. Smoke detectors aren't very effective in barns because of all the dust.
	-- Install fire extinguishers and have them serviced yearly.
	-- Limit electrical appliances being used in the barn - do you really need that coffee maker in your tack room?
	-- Make sure that all electrical fixtures and wires are not accessible to horses.
	-- If you use fans during the summer, install them high so horses cannot chew on the fan or the cord. Clean the fans regularly and never leave them running when you are going to be gone for hours at a time.
	-- Flammable materials, such as paint, cleaning solutions, oils, etc... should be stored in a secure cabinet away from heat sources.

	It's a maintenance thing

	Take care of repairs immediately. Deferring maintenance is a dangerous game against time. Deferred maintenance is like a disease that spreads rapidly. The stall door that needs the hinges remounted, if left in disrepair, could in time weaken the frame to which it is mounted. Then as the frame weakens, a gap grows between the supporting wall and the frame. Just when you were getting around to fixing things, you find your horse with his leg hung in the gap. If the needed repairs are beyond your scope, hire only licensed and insured professionals. You will pay more in the short run which will save you in the long run.

	Beyond the scope of this article are countless measures one can implement for the sake of safety. When attempting to make your barn safe, you have to imagine the unimaginable happening. Just when you think there is no way your horse could hurt himself, the next day he will have a mysterious cut above his eye. One morning I was doing a barn check and found a horse with two inches of the inside of his nose torn out. After calling the vet and getting the horse settled, I checked every inch of the stall for a splinter of wood or a rusty hook - nothing. When there aren't hazards to be found, a horse will bring their own (B.Y.O.H. - Bring your own hazard).


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