Trying not to be “that” boarder

[SusanO]

My hallway is dirty. I am not a boarding stable and I don’t care. I have allergies and don’t want to breathe in that airborne crap. And I don’t want my horses breathing it in either. I always hated that layer of dust on my horse’s water when I boarded.

Someone I knew that had a high end stable with rubber pavers used a special barn vacuum cleaner. I do know it was rather expensive. If I HAD to keep the floor clean I would use something like that but I wouldn’t ask them to spend that kind of money. Maybe they can mist some water on the floor prior to blowing and that would keep the dust down, but that would make the blowing less effective.

[sophie]

@vxf111

I would never leafblow in the barn with horses inside. I actually wouldn’t do it period, IMHO it doesn’t clean it just moves the crap around and gets it in the air.

This.
At my barn, I know they don’t blow if a horse stays in for whatever reason (stall rest, show, etc.). When I was working there, I volunteered to sweep the aisle rather than having someone else blow it. Even when no horse was left in. I did a much more thorough job than the blower, and it really didn’t take me that much longer…

But in OP’s case, I agree that the best way to handle this is to ask for the horse to be put outside while the blower is in use, even if there is a fee to be paid.

[carman_liz]

Not to hijack but what kind of blower is it plz!? Any cordless ones that I have found so far I cannot get to knock down cobwebs worth a darn :/.

[sunkistbey]

It’s an EGO. I got it online, but I think Home Depot sells them. Cost around $200, but it works great for us.

[endlessclimb]

Home Depot no longer deals in EGO. You can buy them on Amazon or Ace Hardware, and I think Lowes.

[Djones]

The only realistic option is day time turnout, stalled at night.

[Calvincrowe]

Our barn has just started to use a blower for the aisles (our barn has the ring in the center, stalls along either side, very open and airy…but still). They use the lowest setting and keep it low to the ground. Honestly? it raises far less dust than vigorously sweeping 150 feet of concrete aisles times two. Do I love that it is gas powered? Oh, hell no! Do I love that they use a gas Gator to feed 3 times a day, idling along as they toss hay and then again to change waters/feed grain? Nope. Or that they run the tractor pulling the manure spreading down the same aisles twice a day? Again, no. But…

Labor costs are a huge factor in running a barn (ours has 40 horses in two barns) and the more efficiently that labor can work, the better for the bottom line and the costs to the boarder.

I’d suggest you ask if your horse can be outdoors and/or gift them with an electric blower. Maybe demonstrate how easy/fast it is to run it low and close to the floor to achieve a clean aisle with less airborne dust?

[Ghazzu]

@Calvincrowe

gift them with an electric blower.

It has little to do with the exhaust, and a great deal to do with the particulate matter stirred up which contributes significantly to the development of reactive airway disease.

[WildGooseChase]

I would ask if your horse could be removed during the process, and that you’re willing to pay an extra fee to cover the labor to have this done. I would express your need to advocate for your horses and their needs. A low dust environment is a basic need for a horse.

[Displaced_Yankee]

A barn that I worked at as an assistant trainer started using a blower for the aisles. I hated it, but I understood that it was easier/faster.

We came up with a compromise: immediately after everyone was turned out, the stall cleaners would run the blower in the two empty barns. Most of the aisle mess came from the horses tracking shavings out of their stalls. Then they would start cleaning stalls and do a quick sweep when finished with stalls. At our barn there was a sweet spot between turnout and when barn activities (farrier, vet, lessons, boarders in and out, etc) commenced. If there was a horse on stall rest, as the assistant I was responsible for hand walking, hand grazing and the stall cleaners could take advantage when I had said patient out of the barn.

If for any reason there was a horse in a stall, they had to sweep became the rule. So we got creative. If they were cleaning stalls in barn A I would let them know “I’m taking Dobbin out if you need to use the blower now in barn B”. Kept me happy, kept staff happy.

I personally find a traditional “sweepy” broom to be faster than a push broom.

@the_sandiest_shoes

How best to approach barn owners about these picky little requests?

Perhaps “Can we schedule the blower to be used when all the horses are outside with a quick sweep as needed after stalls are finished?”

[fledermaus]

For a horse with allergies, respiratory problems, or anything else likely to be aggravated by more dust in the air, leaf blowers are, in fact, not advisable.

Cites:

Equus Magazine

BRL Equine Nutrition

Practical Horse Magazine

Risk Factors To Equine Respiratory Health (pdf)

This is the first page of google search “leaf blower horse respiratory hazard”

[candyappy]

@the_sandiest_shoes

Having all this dust and chemical particles blasted in her face can’t be helping, and I do worry about the lung impact over time

Well @trubandloki what are chemical particles ??

Why not just have them close her stall door so nothing blows in then ?

[trubandloki]

@candyappy

@the_sandiest_shoes

Having all this dust and chemical particles blasted in her face can’t be helping, and I do worry about the lung impact over time

Well @trubandloki what are chemical particles ??

Why not just have them close her stall door so nothing blows in then ?

I assume her stall has bars at the top of some sort and airborne particulate does not listen to barriers that have bars. (Note the comment by someone about the layer of dust on the water buckets.)

I suppose if you just have to use a blower right by a horse then having one less irritant is better, so going with electric would make that one less irritant thing happen. But … as the OP has mentioned, that is not what they are worried about.

[Djones]

@candyappy

Why not just have them close her stall door so nothing blows in then ?

Do you think the horse lives in an interior closet?? LOLOL

[candyappy]

@Djones

Do you think the horse lives in an interior closet?? LOLOL

Some stall doors are solid and can have an upper half that opens. Dutch doors. OP didn’t specify.

[trubandloki]

@candyappy

@Djones

Do you think the horse lives in an interior closet?? LOLOL

Some stall doors are solid and can have an upper half that opens. Dutch doors. OP didn’t specify.

This really does not help unless the stall is solid everywhere.

[Ghazzu]

@candyappy

Well @trubandloki what are chemical particles ??

The air of farm buildings housing large animals contains a wide variety of gases and organic dusts from microbial, plant, and animal sources. The organic dust may contain bacteria that are pathogenic or non-pathogenic, living or dead, and fungi, high molecular weight allergens, bacterial endotoxins, 1-3-β-glucans, pollen, and plant fibres (Douwes et al., 2003). Two major pro-inflammatory components of organic dusts include bacterial endotoxin, a component of the cell wall of gram-negative bacteria, and mould 1-3-β-glucans (Douwes et al., 2003). Endotoxin has been shown to be present in the air of animal housings in amounts presumed to be a respiratory hazard to both humans and livestock animals (Pomorska et al., 2007).

[erinmeri]

I have an asthmatic horse, so she cannot be in while sweeping or blowing of aisles is done. I am lucky that I was able to get a shedrow stall (tell me I’m lucky in Winter! LOL!), so it is not an issue unless I am tacking up during cleaning times. If that were not an option, my vet suggested she be turned out when cleaning was done if at all possible. Can turnout time be adjusted to accommodate? I also like your suggestion of offering compensation to remove her from barn when they blow the aisle.

Absent that, would it be possible to request your horse be moved to an end stall? Before my horse moved to a shedrow, she was in the end stall. Vet said that is the best place in a barn for an horse with respiratory issues with regards to fine particles. I have noticed since my barn started using a blower in the last few weeks that the end they start on is not nearly as dust laden as the end they finish on. Maybe if the above won’t work, having your horse in an end stall, and having them start blowing (rather than finish blowing) at that end may help.

[scislandsprite]

@vxf111

I would never leafblow in the barn with horses inside. I actually wouldn’t do it period, IMHO it doesn’t clean it just moves the crap around and gets it in the air.

I second this. Honestly IME the aisle is way dirtier after being blown, the entire area literally becomes hazy from the dust everywhere and it coats everyone’s stuff, in the water buckets, feeders, etc. I’m a little surprised to see how popular the leaf blowers are based on the replies but maybe my experience isn’t the norm.

[the_sandiest_shoes]

Thinking about this more and more, I’m considering talking to the BO to see if she’d let me pay to have one of their mare motel paddocks renovated to include mesh siding - they have this on the ones for the stallion runs already and I think it’d solve my safety concern of having her kick out at a pipe barn neighbor and get a leg stuck. She’s alone in the barn aisle since the neighbor horse left and she’s always looking over the stall door for a buddy (across from the stallion row but they don’t have access to each other obviously) and I think the ventilation outside/ social aspect of neighbors would be better across the board.