So sad about how we still house horses

[Zipzop]

So a couple of days ago I did a day helping out on a yard. It involved all the general stuff turn out, muck out etc.
it's been a long time since I've had to do this kind of stuff as mine doesn't live like this but it made me absolutely despair and made me so sad.
Now, this is just a normal livery yard no different to any other but the thing which hit me was the amount of dust the horses are living in.
The dust covered everything, the horses and their rugs were covered in it, there was a layer of it on their water, the windows, the ceiling beams etc.
when I took the rugs off the dust that flew up into the air was just awful and by the end of the day I was coughing and my nose was running like a train.
I cannot believe we still expect our horses to live like this. I don't believe there is any bedding which is completely dust free so all these stabled horses are just living in different degrees of a dust bowl.
I do have asthma so I know what it's like to feel below par if I'm having a bad day, BUT, imagine being a horse and having to live like this everyday from 4pm until turnout the next day. How crap must they feel because without fail this will have an impact on their respiration however small and they won't feel or be in 100% health. Then we expect them to BE AN ATHLETE with impaired breathing (however slight) and we wonder why half of them are miserable, grumpy, cranky or can't perform the way we want or think they should be able to.
I looked around and noticed that half the people on the yard who were in the stables mucking out, doing chores etc where coughing or blowing their noses so the dust obviously affects them too but we just expect the horses to live like that and then get the vet out to treat respiratory problems and can't understand why we are getting problems when the cause is right there under our noses. Or getting up ours and our horses noses should I say!
I understand horses cannot be turned out all the time for various reasons but there must be a better way. What about open yard systems or runs attached to the stables to allow outside space. We must improve things for our horses sake!

 

[Damnation]

That amount of dust cannot be healthy!

My mare's stable opens straight out onto the yard, fresh air galore

She is also turned out daily.

 

[Zipzop]

That amount of dust cannot be healthy!

My mare's stable opens straight out onto the yard, fresh air galore

She is also turned out daily.

Mine too, so he is never shut in his stable, i am very lucky!

 

[Luci07]

Thought provoking. Mine is turned out daily. Clean water buckets are returned after mucking out so no dust and bed fully mucked out daily. There is dust on rugs hanging up. I use hunters shaving so not dust free. However I am sensitive to dust and am not reactive though! Stable is in a small barn open fronted with 3 others so is very well ventilated .

 

[Shay]

Not all horses kept stabled live in dust - in fact I should think this was very much the minority. I have been on a number of competition yards with horses who have limited or no turn out - and for that matter a couple of London riding schools with the same constraint. None had anything like the dust you describe. Yes you do get a bit - just as you do in a house. You can't stop that. But you also sweep regularly, hoover or steam clean regulalrly, wipe up etc. All the things to keep your house clean. My horses are on an "ordinary" DIY yard and turn out for a few hours each day. They do not by any means live in dust; no more than I do.

If you didn't clean your home then it would end up like this. Don't blame all those whose horses need to be stabled for whatever reason just because you have seen one place with low standards.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I always keep my horses in clean stabling, no idea how folks think dirty and no ventilation is OK for any animal

 

[sport horse]

My 25 year old ex show jumper is allowed to do whatever she likes. She is turned out in the morning and if the day is pleasant she might stay out till mid pm. If it is wet, windy, cold etc she will stand at the gate and whinny, bang the gate etc etc till she is brought in. She then eats hay, has a siesta and starts to look for supper.
I have consistently found that the competition horses and warmblood youngsters do not like to be out in all weathers and do in fact prefer to be in a sheltered stable/barn.
No they do not need dust and that is just bad management but equally it is, in my opinion, bad management to leave a horse out when it craves shelter. A cold,wet,muddy field is no more pleasant for a horse than a dusty environment,

 

[Overread]

Honestly it shouldn't be that dusty and it sounds like they need to adjust management at that yard; changing the bedding material and/or improve the through-flow of air to carry what does is there away. There might also be other methods they could use to reduce the dust levels - heck something as simple as a couple of doors/windows being left open to allow air to move.

Changes coupled with a huge clean-up to remove what layers of dust have currently built up should clear the dust out. Of course that requires enough people to complain and to ensure that its sorted; sometimes things that cost get put off and put off and put off. Until someone makes enough fuss about it.

 

[Zipzop]

Not all horses kept stabled live in dust - in fact I should think this was very much the minority. I have been on a number of competition yards with horses who have limited or no turn out - and for that matter a couple of London riding schools with the same constraint. None had anything like the dust you describe. Yes you do get a bit - just as you do in a house. You can't stop that. But you also sweep regularly, hoover or steam clean regulalrly, wipe up etc. All the things to keep your house clean. My horses are on an "ordinary" DIY yard and turn out for a few hours each day. They do not by any means live in dust; no more than I do.


If you didn't clean your home then it would end up like this. Don't blame all those whose horses need to be stabled for whatever reason just because you have seen one place with low standards.

Good point about if a house wasn't cleaned it would too end up dusty.
However this is not the only yard over the years I have worked out with this problem. I did a stint at a event yard using wood pellets and that was just as bad. Everything turned brown with the level of dust in the place. And generally these two particular yards I have mentioned do not have low standards.

 

[Asha]

No dust in mine. But then mine where built with ventilation in mind. They have Windows to the outside, and two large openings at either end. The only thing in the water buckets other than water is haylage , as my horses like to dunk it. I've been on a livery yard like the one you mentioned, and I agree it is not good enough.

 

[conniegirl]

NO Dust in my stable either.
We use shavings straight from the saw mill and even rugs stored in stables dont have dust on them

 

[Zipzop]

I won't believe there are some who claim their stable is entirely dust free until I see it! My horse lives on the yard at night with his stable door open allowing him to come and go. He has some damped down aubiose in his box for toileting or laying on and his hay is out on the yard not left in his box. And his water still has a slight film of dust on it in the,morning and he spends very little time in there. His box is also completely separate to any others on the yard so no contamination from other bedding etc.

 

[Rollin]

Where does the dust come from? I too have asthma and sometimes the hay and straw make me sneeze. We bed on straw as shavings are very expensive in France. All my horses get at least 4 hours T/O even in winter in Scotland!! More likely 9.00am-3.30pm in December/January.

As I write I am half way through pressure washing ALL the loose boxes, as I do the minute our horses are turned out for summer. Their rugs are not dusty either because I wash them.

We semi deep litter, that is droppings and wet straw are cleaned out every day and boxes deep cleaned once a week. We also use rubber mats which are rolled back and washed under at least once a week.

 

[EmmasMummy]

This is something my dad has been going on about for years! He used to try to make us wear a mask to groom!

I admit that I REALLY want to dust down the yard I am at. I do over clean certain areas but I think a scrub out at least twice a year is a good idea.

 

[Zipzop]

This is something my dad has been going on about for years! He used to try to make us wear a mask to groom!

I admit that I REALLY want to dust down the yard I am at. I do over clean certain areas but I think a scrub out at least twice a year is a good idea.

This is an extremely good idea, masking up for grooming and mucking out!

 

[rowan666]

No dust in any of our new or old stables!! (ours all mostly live out so stables not often used either)

 

[GirlFriday]

With stabled horses I've seen some with dust (any thing with straw, shavings to a lesser extent) and some with much less (rubber mats with / without shredded paper, deep littered various substances). I do believe there are significantly less dusty options. BUT all the less dusty ones I've seen have basically involved the horses standing in damp filth.

Better ventilation can blow the dust away but I'm yet to see any bedding substance which keeps the horses well away from damp and aren't intrinsically dusty. Worst and most widespread thrush I've seen at any yard was a low turnout / low dust set up. Skipped out many times per day but dust extracted shavings and, for the copd types, paper bedding on rubber mats. Stinky feet (and grumpyness) on everything in the yard pretty much. Not sure how related that was to constantly standing in pee, be interested to know.

 

[EmmasMummy]

This is an extremely good idea, masking up for grooming and mucking out!

I think he was also partly fed up of me sitting picking the dust boogies out my nose
But on a serious note. I groomed our older pony inside the other day due to the wind and he was dusty and the pony started coughing. The dust cloud lingered even though the stables had a draught.

I prefer to groom outside usually with the wind blowing over the ponies to carry dust and hair away.

 

[Nicnac]

Dust is inevitable with horses - straw, hay, bedding, grooming etc. I vacuum my stables at home twice a year in spring after they are turned out 24/7 and again just before they start coming in overnight in the winter and it removes all dust and cobwebs which dust sticks to. (I do the walls and ceilings too).

I wouldn't be happy paying for livery if the stables are as bad as you describe.

 

[Feival]

Deleted, can't be arsed to row with some so judgemental on one experience.

 

[Merlod]

I'm 50/50 - my own horses live out 24/7 from march-oct, in the winter they are only stabled overnight. In a perfect world they could live out all winter but my big boys feet do not cope well when they are constantly in the mud, plus they live in a herd so I can't put hay out and be sure they'd get to eat it and the grass just isn't enough. I also work with horses, and the work horses are stable kept during the winter and go out overnight when the weather is good in the summer.. I don't know where you got this idea about dust but I muck out a row of 15 stables in the morning and I don't cough, the horses don't cough and there isn't dust everywhere.

 

[Nappy Croc]

No where near that level of dust here- we're a private yard but not a posh one with pleasure horses that compete. They have dust extracted bedding, 2 windows in the outside stables to get a through flow and we don't groom in the stables. Nothing like rugs lives in the stables and they're de cobwebbed regularly. They have small automatic waters so a few cycles of water per day. I think pollen is more of an issue for ours!

 

[conniegirl]

If you a have decent ventilation then bedding type is largely irrelevant, we have no dust because the barn is very well ventilated so the dust gets blown away.

 

[Overread]

Just a point but I don't think anyone is saying that their stables are 100% utterly dust free; but that levels are nowhere near as bad as those described in the original open post; which I also take to read as a post expressing frustration more at their own stable experience rather than stables as a total whole- even if its worded slightly poorly and thus curries the tone of expressing the latter more so than the former.

 

[PollyP99]

Our vet hospital is pretty much dust free, they use cardboard shredded as bedding and I never saw any dust at all during my mares stay. Her own stable does have dust, it's actually caused by the farm vehicles mainly and like others requires a spring clean down of walls so that it can't stick to anything. She's out around 12 hours in winter and in summer, especially at harvest time , I make sure she's out when the hays coming in or there is high traffic at the farm.

 

[Kylara]

I had a horse prone to chest infections and had to seriously consider any and all methods of reducing dust. He was moved onto haylage and his stable was pretty dust free (with usual twic yearly deep clean) - top door always open and rear slatted windows always open.

I moved him (and others) onto hemcore and was amazed at the difference it made to the dust. Deep litters brillantly and also semi-deep litters (so wet out every week/every other week) without being damp or gross. I'm looking for a new yard at the minute and will put everything on hemcore as it is so dust free (and smells divine!)

I hate straw and normal shavings as so dusty, even on minimal beds on matting, and if I ever need to hay again (use haylage now) I'll buy a haygain steamer as I temped on a big stud and they are amazing. Stud also had the worlds biggest duster on a stick to get the dust from the tops of the stables every day. Barely any dust other than during morning muck outs and then it was got rid of immediately by sweeping and vacumming it up. Hardly any dust!

Ventilation is so key and trying to remove as much dust as possible. I think masks for mucking out stuff like straw and shavings are a good idea, especially people who do many stables a day every day. but I don't think many places are as bad as OP experienced.

 

[cobgoblin]

That livery yard sounds like a disgrace.

I've never seen dust on my horse's water. Grooming and rug changing should be done outside precisely because of the amount of dust. Stables should be well ventilated.

It's not sad ' how we still house horses' ....its just sad that some people don't know how to house them properly.

 

[Crackerz]

Our straw is so dust free that it looks like it has been washed! I love it

 

[ShadowHunter]

Its not the norm you experienced. My stable isn't dusty either, plenty of ventilation though with her being in an agricultural building with yorkshire boarding. Don't let one or two bad experiences cloud your judgement.

 

[Antw23uk]

Yeah have to agree its a very sweeping statement to make. Not all yards and private stables are like that. I do think there are a lot of bone idol lazy people out there who could do at least one spring clean a year to keep on top of it without going OCD (like I probably will be when I get my own stables, lol)