Dusty boarding barns

[anon55755751]

Are there any requests/suggestions a boarder can make about dust reduction at a large boarding barn that are easy enough to not blow up the staff’s current schedule and way of working? Circulation in the barn is generally good, but some horses cough from it over the winter. I think the bedding is the biggest problem, which might not be easily changed, but not blowing the aisle when horses are in is a suggestion i am going to make. I am not sure if they have a way to water the arenas currently, but i will ask about that too.

I know dust is a perpetual issue at boarding barns, but i feel like it is a bigger issue at every place i have been to in this state than in any barn in the last two states i have lived in. I can’t tell how much is climate, how much is resources (dusty shavings and footing at all the barns) And how much is management. Maybe some is rose colored glasses? But i don’t think so, because it is not something i have ever felt like i had to worry about health consequences of before.

[FjordBCRF]

What kind of set up is it? Are the stalls open to the indoor? Are the aisle ways concrete or dirt? Does your barn sweep or use a leaf blower? Is your horse one of the ones coughing? How long have you been at this particular barn?

One barn I was at had a horrible set up for dust…well a great set up for dust I suppose. The stalls were down the length of the south side of the barn, then a dirt floor aisle, THEN the indoor which wasn’t watered nearly enough. And the shavings were pretty dusty on top of it. They keep the barn pretty tight in the winter too which didn’t help anything and was on the list of reasons why I moved.

[Scribbler]

@anon55755751

Are there any requests/suggestions a boarder can make about dust reduction at a large boarding barn that are easy enough to not blow up the staff’s current schedule and way of working? Circulation in the barn is generally good, but some horses cough from it over the winter. I think the bedding is the biggest problem, which might not be easily changed, but not blowing the aisle when horses are in is a suggestion i am going to make. I am not sure if they have a way to water the arenas currently, but i will ask about that too.

I know dust is a perpetual issue at boarding barns, but i feel like it is a bigger issue at every place i have been to in this state than in any barn in the last two states i have lived in. I can’t tell how much is climate, how much is resources (dusty shavings and footing at all the barns) And how much is management. Maybe some is rose colored glasses? But i don’t think so, because it is not something i have ever felt like i had to worry about health consequences of before.

It really depends as said above on the way the barn is built. The most the barn can do is sweep the aisles a couple times a day. If the aisles are dirt you are out of luck. It also depends on climate. Damp climate keeps dust down but can increase mold spores.

That said, chronic coughs or COPD can grow on any horse kept in stalls because that environment is inherently more dusty than the natural environment.

I kept my first horse in a pristine deep bedded stall with sawdust and realized in her mid teens after she’d been on field board she was going start chronic coughing if she went back in a stall.

Current mare, right after I took over her care and have her a wonderful pellet bedding, got cough in excercise. Took out pellets, no bedding for the summer, just her runout, issue resolved. Gave her shavings bedding in the winter, no issue.

So I’m alert to bedding itself even in very clean barns with ventilation being an issue.

Hay too, if it’s dusty and especially if it’s in hay bags that spray dust around

The question for you is why is your horse coughing. Not why is the barn dusty. You cannot change how the barn operates. You cannot suggest a magic fix. And likely if your horse has developed a cough or sensitivity to dust, nothing the barn can do will fix that.

Get your horse checked out by a vet. You may end up needing to move to pasture board if this is chronic.

But you cant change the barn. What are you hoping for, more sweeping? Pave the aisles? What?

Oh ok. Not blowing aisles while horses are in, and watering the arenas

Ok. If you have a barn where they don’t water the arenas and they blow the aisles while horses are in, I think you just need to move because this is likely not the only areas of poor practice and cutting corners.

[FjordBCRF]

@Scribbler

If you have a barn where they don’t water the arenas and they blow the aisles while horses are in, I think you just need to move because this is likely not the only areas of poor practice and cutting corners.

My thoughts too.

[EVneo]

Our barn does a great job of doing most the work while the horses are out (barring cruddy weather days). We do have iterations of suuuuper dusty bedding, and we’re lucky that they’ve been ok with boarders giving their stall a quick spritz down with the hose. Other than that, like others have said, I kind of have just had to adjust my doings, rather than expecting them to change. Our outdoor is BAD when it’s dry, so I either make a point to ride early when it’s freshly watered and dragged or if I have to ride after work, make it a grass work or trail ride day (or ride inside, but who likes riding inside when it’s nice out).

[clanter]

might need to pave over the Sahara Desert as over 100 million tons of dust is mostly blown across the Atlantic into North America annually, we often get warning

A Burst of Saharan Dust

[enjoytheride]

@Scribbler

Ok. If you have a barn where they don’t water the arenas and they blow the aisles while horses are in, I think you just need to move because this is likely not the only areas of poor practice and cutting corners.

While not ideal, this is not a deal breaker for me and does not necessarily indicate poor practice and cutting corners. Locally barns are extremely short staffed and multiple barns have closed in the last 2 years and been bulldozed over. Here someone may have to chose between a barn that doesn’t have enough staff to blow aisles while every single horse is out and not having a barn at all. Having heard of barns that didn’t bother feeding horses period blowing aisles is on the low end of my list of move worthy.

[LCDR]

I am not a boarding barn. I quit using my leaf blower for the barn aisle and feeding area under an exterior overhang last year. I bought a 6 gallon shop vacuum, rigged up a 30 foot long light weight hose and use a HEPA filter instead. The dust gets dumped into the manure pile. It takes me about twice the time to suck rather than blow, but the reduction in deposited dust over the whole barn is well worth it. The time actually is a break-even as I usually blew twice a day, and vacuum just once.

I gave my cordless leaf blowers to friends who run a boarding barn.

I also use the same shop vacuum for grooming the horses, which also reduces dust in the barn.

[FjordBCRF]

@enjoytheride

While not ideal, this is not a deal breaker for me and does not necessarily indicate poor practice and cutting corners. Locally barns are extremely short staffed and multiple barns have closed in the last 2 years and been bulldozed over. Here someone may have to chose between a barn that doesn’t have enough staff to blow aisles while every single horse is out and not having a barn at all. Having heard of barns that didn’t bother feeding horses period blowing aisles is on the low end of my list of move worthy.

It may or it may not. My experience was at a barn that was actively in a downward spiral with a BO that didn’t have the capital to maintain it (BO had a lease to own arrangement they could get out of after a certain time period if they decided not to buy). Staffing was a huge issue…couldn’t afford to pay a competitive rate so it was a surly college kid that did the bare bones things poorly when I moved in that turned into mainly boarders doing feeding/TO/stalls plus the arena water and dragging when it happened.

I’ve learned at this point, those types of things are the subtle signs of a barn going downhill and to keep a very watchful eye about what else can’t be done to a decent standard.

[trubandloki]

@FjordBCRF

It may or it may not. My experience was at a barn that was actively in a downward spiral with a BO that didn’t have the capital to maintain it (BO had a lease to own arrangement they could get out of after a certain time period if they decided not to buy). Staffing was a huge issue…couldn’t afford to pay a competitive rate so it was a surly college kid that did the bare bones things poorly when I moved in that turned into mainly boarders doing feeding/TO/stalls plus the arena water and dragging when it happened.

I’ve learned at this point, those types of things are the subtle signs of a barn going downhill and to keep a very watchful eye about what else can’t be done to a decent standard.

I find this interesting. I am not sure I have ever boarded at a barn where at least some portion of the chores was not done by boarders working off part of their board.
I admit that I have never been able to afford a high end place, so maybe that is why my experience does not find boarders doing chores as a red flag.

Edit to fix bad typing.

[anon55755751]

The staff are inexperienced, but want to learn and in good faith trying to improve their processes. Therefore i think are open to suggestions. Blowing the aisles was not the norm when i moved in. There was a temp bm last winter who may have increased the usage? Horses are a mix of in/out, but out more than 50% of the time when aisle is blown. The indoor was pretty good over the winter dust-wise.

I am not exaggerating when i say every barn i have visited in the area has been much dustier than expected, save one, which is no longer a boarding barn. And when their bedding wasn’t dusty, it was because it was wet. This barn, i would say, is better than average b/c the airflow in the barn is excellent. I wonder if they all have arena footing that was put in at the same time and it is now just universally pulverized and needing a replacement?

Options are thin. Barns are shuttering or selling, so care today may not be care tomorrow at a new place. We have a good group of boarders who i think would pick up chores (many already do stalls).

[anon55755751]

@trubandloki

why my experience does not find boarders doing chores as a red flag

Ime it is not a red flag when it is organized and part of the convo when you move in. It is a red flag if borders are picking up random chores like cleaning troughs in paddocks. That should be part of the overall routine. I would happily agree to doing chores like that on a schedule, even without board reduction, but i get edgy about the thought of a place expecting to run smoothly on boarders’ observational skills and good will. That level of boarders doing chores is a red flag. Reporting and triaging one off problems like a broken fence doesn’t count in my above statements.

[trubandloki]

@anon55755751

@trubandloki

why my experience does not find boarders doing chores as a red flag

Ime it is not a red flag when it is organized and part of the convo when you move in. It is a red flag if borders are picking up random chores like cleaning troughs in paddocks. That should be part of the overall routine. I would happily agree to doing chores like that on a schedule, even without board reduction, but i get edgy about the thought of a place expecting to run smoothly on boarders’ observational skills and good will. That level of boarders doing chores is a red flag. Reporting and triaging one off problems like a broken fence doesn’t count in my above statements.

I do not disagree.
I was responding to a post about staffing and every day chores being done by boarders.

[anon55755751]

I was agreeing with you and adding my experience

[FjordBCRF]

I am at my 4th barn in 3 years, and knock on wood should be a good spot for us for the foreseeable future. This is what Ive seen in my area at least.

Barn 1 July 2020 to May of 2022 $650/month (for the small barn I was in) plus annual $200 trail fee- Very nice trail barn, owned by a family with old money. BO left most of the business and barn management to the BM who was paid a salary, had benefits etc. BM had been there for probably close to a decade. Trails were meticulously maintained and one of the boarders does trail work so BO would contract them for improvements and new trails. The day to day barn operations were hit or miss. BM was great, but getting reliable staff was always tough. Full care was the only option there and no one worked to work off board in any capacity. There were some holes, but the small barn I was in, everyone had each others backs. I left due to no indoor and the desire to be able to consistently train a young horse and some of the inconsistencies; but they were no worse than anywhere really.

Barn 2 May 2022 to Dec 2022 $425 self care (stalls/grain) $550 full care - The barn of nightmares. This is the barn I am referring to in my comments here. I had heard that BO had a high standard of care from people who boarded with them in the past. As it turned out, in the past, this BO wasn’t fully responsible for the facilities as they were leasing stalls at places that had existing management and staff. When this BO took over the lease to own situation, they ended up in way over their head. BO has a real world full time job so they were very disconnected from the day to day care there. Advertised it as full care full service barn and it was far from it. In the few months I was there, there were several very bad pasture accidents, multiple breakouts, terrible pasture and herd management, improper hay storage, hay wasn’t being fed for a while because surly college kid couldn’t count the hay and accused people of stealing instead, moldy round bales, nails/screw in the indoor arena which injured a horse, poor communication and the list goes on. The staffing turned into a co-op situation after things with college kid are to a head which was better, but it’s only as good as the people. And the barn had a lot of turnover as you might imagine. My last straw was a slew of fire safety things when the weather got cold addition to everything else.

Barn 3 Jan 2022 to Feb 2023 $1200/month - This was a holdover barn that my first trainer trained out of. I knew that going in that it would be temporary, but wasn’t sure of the timing. Very nice training barn that was owned by a younger couple. The care and management there were very good, but the owners were going through some sort of changes and decided they didn’t want outside trainers there anymore. A lot of lessons happened out of this barn so getting ring time was obnoxious which I didnt like and the owners were very cold. This was also a lease to own deal and the trainers financial ability to buy it/keep it going was questionable as well.

Barn 4 Feb 2023 to current $850/month full care - Trainer and I moved to this barn when she left barn 3. The horses in her lesson string went to another barn that had more stall availability nearby. This has been a wonderful fit for us. Its owned by two retirees that both worked where I do and when they retired, built a beautiful new indoor where the outdoor was. They live on site. There are only 8 stalls on the property and 6 horses; they wanted to keep it small so they could handle the work if staffing was an issue. They take care of all the horses as if they were their own. BO is very involved in the local dressage organizations, is a judge and is very knowledgeable about horse things in general. There are turnout options, there are trails across the road, there are 3 parks with bridle trails within a 10 min haul, and I was able to spend the night in their learning center to be on vaccine reaction watch for spring shots.

Of the 4 I was at, the crappy one was the only one that had boarders working there reflecting back! Lessons learned though are to look at the little things and look at how long the barn with current management has been operating. It seems like there is a lot of “I think I can do this boarding barn thing” in my area and the people have no clue. There are a lot of places here that change ownership within about 5 years or so.

[trubandloki]

@FjordBCRF

Of the 4 I was at, the crappy one was the only one that had boarders working there reflecting back!

The crappy one appeared to also charge well under market prices (using the numbers you posted) so that should have been more of a red flag than the boarders working off board.

[FjordBCRF]

There are a lot to places around here that are at those price points of you want them, or lower depending on amenities. I thought the price was too low going in, but had (what I thought) was reassurance from a few people that I trusted, that the BO had it together. None of this people had been with BO in the new situation though.

[peedin]

I’m in northern Illinois and board at a full service barn with about 60 boarders and an active lesson program. Several years ago bedding was switched from shavings to chopped straw. Dust dramatically dropped. The aisles are concrete and the guys use a leaf blower in the morning after the horses are out and stalls are cleaned, and sweep after horses are brought in. Doors are open unless it’s raining or below 15. Fresh air circulates continuously. The indoor is dragged a few times a week and they don’t water. I do believe they use mag chloride for arena dust control.

As an aside, boarders do not do chores to work off board.

[enjoytheride]

I know several barns where boarders do chores, I don’t find that unusual or a sign of a down slide at all.

We have a local barn paying $15 an hour plus free board for 2 horses or $18 an hour without board plus time and a half over 40 hours plus lodging and they can’t find help.

[FjordBCRF]

That sounds like a good deal to me, but I am in a LCOL area so it may not translate. Most places here upped their minimums to $15/hour over the last year or two. The Red Flag barn was still only offering $12 so not competitive at all.

I think in my example with boarders doing the barn chores outside of feeding/TO/stalls, the difference is if the boarders didn’t do them, they would never get done. Scrubbing water troughs, fixing fences, dumping their own stalls water buckets even, watering/dragging the arena, dumping the shared muck tubs. I don’t mind helping out, and I did for a while there. I do like to know that my horse is going to have clean water buckets if I’m not there to do them, unless they are so bad that someone else gets pissed off enough to do them themselves. That stuff got better when the boarders essentially took things over, but the oversight was still incredibly lacking.