Air quality alerts and working horses

[Libby2563]

Right? My barn is deliberately well ventilated so I think the fans are the only possible difference in air quality. I did read an article about pets and wildfire smoke in the Washington Post that discussed livestock and they mentioned trying to find “microenvironments” where the wind direction is changing or there’s a lower elevation. I don’t think blowing smoky air down from the ceiling of the barn qualifies but .

I did leave my boys inside about an extra hour but that’s it. I think they’re better off grazing al fresco than eating hay from nets in a barn with bedding etc. My TB already has some nasal drainage going on. I wore my N95 during chores and driving to/from work and I still feel like crap.

[amymoyer1]

Do fans really make a difference, though? If all the surrounding air is bad, I’m not sure just speeding up the wind really would make a difference? (Not challenging, just wondering)

[Libby2563]

@amymoyer1

Do fans really make a difference, though? If all the surrounding air is bad, I’m not sure just speeding up the wind really would make a difference? (Not challenging, just wondering)

Yeah I don’t know, that was kind of my question too! Everything I could find related to fans was about indoor air quality.

[FjordBCRF]

@Libby2563

I did leave my boys inside about an extra hour but that’s it. I think they’re better off grazing al fresco than eating hay from nets in a barn with bedding etc.

We had an AQI of 315 earlier in the week and BO decided to keep everyone in. It was awful outside. I’m all for as much turnout as possible, and if the horses were calmly standing around grazing…probably not a HUGE difference outside vs in. However, if they decided to yahoo and run around like crazies and were really sucking in that air? That would definitely be worse imo. My barn now is the lowest dust barn I’ve ever boarded at though so that isn’t a huge concern for us.

Our bad AQ days are unusual to the area and more one offs, but I suspect this will become more normal as years go on. If it were everyday, I’m sure we’d have to consider things differently.