If you board at one of those super fancy barns that always looks super clean (at least in pictures), how does your barn do it? What extra steps do they take to really maintain and keep up the appearance of your barn?
I board at a pretty nice dressage barn with a lot of nice amenities and the owner is looking for new ideas on how to spruce up the inside of the barn & indoor to make it look like an even nicer, first-class type of place. Think, Riveredge or Hilltop Farm clean.
Hire excellent staff. Pay them. Stay on top of everything.
Jan Tops personally employs lots of people and still constantly walks around looking at everything. Think that scuff in the paint next to a light switch? Why the hell is that there!? Get someone on that immediately.
most places simply don’t have the funds or often the interest to be that dedicated to upkeep, especially those issues which may be purely cosmetic but make a big difference when it comes to attracting clients.
but if your barn owner is really interested, every minute detail counts.
Billy Goat vacuum cleaner!!! Worth every cent. You can vacuume in just a few minutes 3 x gpdaily and the floors look awesome
As a barn owner that has a dusty barn with cob webs, I’d say have a staff of people that just keep the barn clean. Have a barn that has a ceiling you can reach without needing a cherry picker! Don’t bed with anything that will create dust. I could go on but really, it’s just about impossible to do unless you have people going thru daily and cleaning just the barn (not including stalls). I sweep the aisle twice daily, try to knock down cob webs that I can reach. I used to clean and polish the grills on the stalls but that went South quickly, shavings create dust as do the attached paddocks, it was doomed from the start.
Just try to minimize clutter. I have a nothing in the aisle way rule, it makes it easier to clean and sweep, I have a little alcove that is a designated sitting area.
That is awesome! Thank you!
What model do you use? And approximate cost?
The barn owner mixed a spider killing additive into the wood stain and painted every wood surface (above what the horses could reach to chew on). No spiders, no cob webs, and the lower parts were pressure washed once a year.
That barn also had water piped to each stall’s water bucket, so no leaking hoses in a tangle, and the stall cleanings, (and manure from the paddocks) was put in a dumpster and regularly hauled away.
There was one period where the horse I was half-leasing from my trainer was boarded at a very nice, upscale barn and I was able to continue riding him there. Here are my observations based on comparison to a typical boarding barn.
They had wonderful staff who cared about the horses and appearances - they did things properly, didn’t cut corners and took pride in their work. I don’t know what they were paid, but it is probably safe to say they were paid well as they did a wonderful job and had great attitudes.
They had rules regarding use of the cross-ties (cleaned after each use), no tack or supplies left out, the barn (no clutter, halters hung a certain way), the ring (clean up piles) and this is important people followed the rules. All the people - beginners to GP riders and trainers as well as staff.
Most of the horses were in full groom service, so fewer people in and out of tack rooms, cross ties, etc leaving stuff around. Horses and tack were immaculate before they were put away. They also had onsite laundry, so there were always clean pads, wraps, towels, coolers, etc readily available.
I believe they had a dedicated staff to barn upkeep - trimming grass, sweeping cobwebs, barn and fence maintenance. I saw them working, but don’t know if they had other duties as well.
Well I can tell you exactly how Hilltop maintains its facilities since I was there for 8 years. First, we had a great staff- dedicated and detail oriented. Then we routines and procedures for pretty much everything. Barn aisles got vacuumed twice daily and horses had hooves picked before leaving stalls and upon returning. A big plus was the way hay and straw was distributed to stalls- there were over head lofts and an opening in the loft floor to each stall. This was very helpful that straw and hay weren’t being brought through the aisles. Also there is a dedicated house keeper that keeps the offices and lounge areas clean. For each public event (clinic, breed inspection, judges’ forum, etc) all of the wood, metal and glass surfaces in the barn and indoor are cleaned.
AKA- it’s a lot of work lol 
I just looked this up. This might be the best invention I have ever heard of.
I would be happy to get back to you with the model, it’s about 1200 Canadian. I hunk quite a bit less in the US… best advice… don’t get self propelled. It’s will climb your walls. Ask me how I know?. My next one is manual propulsion and much easier to manage. Love it!!
Thanks! That is perfect! Those are the exact things we are trying implement in our cleaning routine.
Do you know what kind of vacuum was used?
Did you guys use a specific cleaner for the wood?
How did you go about cleaning the wood & stall bars?
I am not expert in uber fancy barns, but I have always used diluted Pinesol to clean wood. Stalls always look shiny and new again, the barn smells good, and it’s disinfected.
I just saw one of these (Billy Goat Vacuum) for the first time recently … available as a rental from the local True Value. And I’m not in a fancy schmancy kind of an area. Point being that might want to rent before buying, to assess the real value of the thing.
Won’t kill horses that lick or chew on the wood? Care to share?
I have no idea, and it was my first thought too. I probably wouldn’t use it on the stalls, but on the rafters it would be great! I HATE spiders!
Good idea!
I had the privilege of working and riding at a very, very nice barn (people were incredibly cool and nice, too!) and after working at more average type places, the management here, and attention to detail, blew me away.
I was usually the first rider there at 7:30 am, and by that time all of the horses had been fed, all of the stalls already mucked, and aisles vacuumed (no blowing). I’m pretty sure they stripped and re-bedded every day, and they bedded DEEP. Likely they skipped out the stalls again after everyone went home, but you never saw anyone doing it, or where the equipment was stored, or where the waste went. Poof.
The barn was designed to be a showcase, as well as a working training facility, with the chandeliers in the aisle, rubber brick pavers, dark and nicely stained wood with a lot of brass accents, and large, framed pictures of the horses and riders. The tack room was floored with this beautiful, plush carpet, because you never had a chance to get dirty…everyone groomed their own horses when getting ready to ride, but the horses were given a quick curry and brush before getting turned out, curried and vacuumed when brought back in, and almost always at least rinsed off after a ride, if not given another good grooming, and were only turned out on grass so the horses were insanely clean. Path from barn to arena was gravel, and you mounted in the paved parking lot, so you never really stepped in anything. Getting back to the tack room, there was a big, beautiful desk with show forms and snacks, bridles were always cleaned, bits too, every ride, and figure 8-ed, hanging on brass brackets. Saddles all on brass racks, covered in the same dark green cover, and that was it. Besides more photos, there was nothing else in the tack room. It looked like an art gallery.
All other tack, pads, wraps, etc were always stored out of site, in cupboards. Wraps, boots, and pads were white, and washed every use. Sheets, all the same, washed weekly. Part of my job was to vacuum the aisles (was it a Billy Goat? Not sure), wipe off trunks, and vacuum AND DUST the tack room and lounge areas daily. If someone tracked in dirt from outside (must have come from their home!) we vacuumed mid-day, too. We dusted the photos, trophy cases, tops of stall grills, everything, once a week, and all of the brass was polished and barn rafters vacuumed monthly.
Same dark leather halter for all horses, with green lead, all hung the same way on the stained blanket bars on the stall fronts. Everything set up so that all you saw were the beautiful details, or the beautiful horses. There was never anything else out that would detract from those views.
^^ So you needed a small army of cleaners.
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