The various responses sure do show the old adage: “the horse world – two people, three opinions.”
The three opinions being: BO/BMs, Boarders, and Barn Workers in this case. You get a good feel for who is who in this thread.
Leafblowing has been in every operation I’ve been involved in. So it is the norm here. In small mom and pop barns I can see why sweeping is preferred, but it just isn’t realistic in the larger operations. It makes sense from an economy standpoint to swap to a leafblower to conserve labor costs and labor energy.
This is a no-brainer from a BO and BM perspective to manage your workflow better and conserve your limited laborer hours and energy. “Work smarter, not harder.”
From a BO’s perspective, this kind of request would flag a boarder as “that” kind of boarder. Nearly every (present) boarder wants to be the exception and get special accommodation from how the barn is normally run. It can be difficult and open up a precedent that a barn owner is not capable of maintaining.
It’s unrealistic in the big operations to never blow the aisle while horses are in. Do workers want a horse to be in while they’re blowing the aisle? Of course not, but it is almost always out of their control. Barn workers often have an inflexible “order of go” for chores that looks something like feed, turnout, pick stalls, drop hay, clean aisle, water, set up grain and they cannot move onto other chores until the former chore is done – or if they move onto other chores before the former chore is done, they have to go back and redo it later in the day. Which ties into laborer efficiency and energy; it would be wasted time/energy to break from the order of go.
Generally speaking in these big operations, if a horse is in during the day it is either because it is on stall rest or it’s a “special accommodation boarder” already. Most barns are not blowing the aisle while all the horses are inside - they’re blowing the aisle after stalls are done which is usually in the AM while horses are out. What are workers supposed to do with a horse that is on stall rest? They can’t move him outside temporarily, that would be extremely irresponsible and put the horse at risk of reinjury. There’s often not enough hands on deck to just “hold” this stalled horse outside while the aisle is being blown, if the horse is even tractable or safe enough to do that. The safest thing for that horse is to remain in his stall, and for the aisle blowers to continue as normal and try not to stir up too much dust by his stall. We typically kept the horses on stall rest in the quieter end of the barn, so we’d start leaf blowing from their side to reduce the amount of dust blown their way.
As far as the concerns about fine particulate and how much a leafblower stirs it up, barns are dusty with or without the leafblower. Your horse is inhaling fine particulate matter all night, 365 days a year if you have him in a stall. If your horse has respiratory problems/allergens, it’s not advisable to keep it in a stall at all. While the cites linked by one poster are mostly opinion pieces or articles written by agents selling a specific product, Ghazzu posted three links to air quality in horse stables that outline why horses with respiratory issues should avoid being stalled.
Tthe barn should not be more dusty after a leafblowing pass - while a pass does aerosolize previously settled matter, if you run the blower with a second pass towards wherever there is a natural exhaust (current from a fan or vent in a gable end, etc) you will drive it out and there will be less settling of airborne debris. If it’s more dusty, that worker is blowing in a haphazard fashion. Be conscious of the layout of the barn and don’t tilt the blower at a 90 degree angle to the ground - a marginal angle of 15-30 degrees does the job without stirring dust eye level and dusting blankets and water. (Side note - water should always be the last chore done in the barn - dump them while you clean stalls, turn them over on the freshly swept mats to dry out, clean the aisle, and then fill water).
As a BO, I would make an exception to the policy for a horse with legitimate diagnosed respiratory issues – in that I would strongly push for them to be outside 24/7 for their own health. It is ironic in the extreme to be concerned about the leafblower while housing a horse in a stall. The reality is that may or may not mean the horse is suitable for industry boarding; it may mean that horse needs to find a better situation than most boarding barns can offer. But if they are outside, one does not need to worry at all about leafblowing.
