Sounds like you have an air quality issue.
In all my years of having horses( boarded and home) and even working at several barns and being there all day, there is no smell on anything that I could detect except my clothes and footwear.
If you smell like the barn I bet you have a lot of ammonia and wet floor issues. Are they on concrete in the stalls? That sweats and can be unpleasant all on its own.
This! I came to this conclusion after working my horse exclusively outside last summer, I would get 0 horse smell on my clothes. It’s really the odor of urine, poop, and horse grime that gets stuck inside and permeates particles in the barn’s air.
I think the big big culprit is having your clothing come into contact with the horses’ clothing, especially those really stinky winter blankets playing out their last hurrah in these last weeks of cold nights.
Once I started being super careful about making sure my horse’s blanket did NOT touch my jacket or shirt in the process of removing it, folding it, and putting it over the blanket bar (and then the reverse of all this), it made a huge difference in my personal stink factor. According to me…!
I’ve finally got my horses at home thus so much contact with all things horsey. Noticing so much more horse smell. Until they get bathed and all that dander comes off, all the grooming, touching and rubbing, in addition to cleaning stalls etc. Makes for smell.
Answer is doing laundry to get it out. Keeping barn shoes at the door.
That’s my 2cents.
Not barn specific but I notice that when my hair is really dry (especially in the winter) my hair seems to trap smells a lot more strongly. As someone who is super sensitive to smells and has fairly thick waist length hair, it drives me crazy and I feel like I can smell everything on my hair (grill smoke, gas station, barn, etc) when it gets too dry. Maybe try adding some extra moisturizing conditioner, hair mask, or hair oil if you think that might be the culprit and seeing if that helps?
Otherwise, I recently bought this “Not Your Mother’s” detangling spray and while it doesn’t smell bad I find the smell too strong and it lingers in my hair for too long for me but a spritz of that or a similar product would probably help counteract any barn smells.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
