daily life with horses in your inbox
By Tina Bjerre Nielsen
Photo: Majken Soelberg
Winter means for most riders and horse owners also spending more time in the stables. The horse is probably less hours in the field, the stall needs more mucking out and most of the training and cuddling with the horse are happening inside. Therefore, it can be preferable to consider how to establish a comfortable an healthy environment in the stables.
The first thing you can do is to maintain a clean stable. This makes the quality of the air better and keep the inventory nice and steady so that you feel pleasant in your daily life with the horses. When it comes to the stalls, some people prefer to place fresh bedding on top of the old remains and only mucking out once in a while. This develops a warm, thick mattress isolating the horse from the winter cold. However. It is not always the best method, if you want to have a clean stable environment. The best thing is to remove all the remains daily and place as much new bedding as possible.
If you turn to the rest of the stable, there is probably a severe amount of cobweb collected during summer. It can be a good idea to remove this, before winter sets in – both to improve the air quality and to make the stable even more cozy. Because all the insects are gone in the winter season no more cobweb will enter the stable at least for some months. With this in mind, it will be suitable to have the main cleaning at this time of the year. Furthermore, it will be wise to ventilate the stable frequently. This should be done while the horses are in the fields so they will not feel discomfort.
A swept floor and a tidy stable also participate to a nice atmosphere. Not much more than a blanket or a bag of carrots in the way causes irritation with the other stable mates. In other words, try to clean up after yourself, everyone will benefit in the long run. One thing is that a messy stable can be annoying. Another thing is that it can actually cause dangerous situations. You can fall over non-removed buckets but even worse, so can your horse. With a clean and tidy stable, you also save time when it comes to sweeping the floor, because you do not have to move a lot of stuff.
Light in the stable can also be part of the atmosphere in the stable. Winter is very dark, and hours of sun are very few – so good light is important. Specially in the late evening or early mornings it is good to have quality light, so you can actually see what you are doing. Poor light can make you very tired, less resourceful and perhaps more irritated when you are in the stable. And let us agree, there is no reason to create a darker and more sad winter than it already is.
Also, horses benefit from good light. Like humans they feel better when they have a great number of D-vitamins. It is possible to purchase special lamps to achieve a natural light and helps both the horse and the rider. You can also choose to paint the stable white. The light is reflected in the white color and the surroundings will come across as more “friendly”.
We cannot escape the fact that winter is dark. And you cannot avoid muddy and wet equipment in the stable. When you keep the stable clean, have a good light you and your stable mates can perhaps prevent this period from being too annoying. If you spend some time developing a nice stable environment the extra time in the stable will most likely be a more pleasant experience.
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Create a successful environment in the stable during winter
Keep the stall and stable clean
A tidy stable is the key
Make sure to use great light
The hours in the stable – a pleasure
Advertisement
daily life with horses in your inbox
By Tina Bjerre Nielsen
Photo: Majken Soelberg
Winter means for most riders and horse owners also spending more time in the stables. The horse is probably less hours in the field, the stall needs more mucking out and most of the training and cuddling with the horse are happening inside. Therefore, it can be preferable to consider how to establish a comfortable an healthy environment in the stables.
The first thing you can do is to maintain a clean stable. This makes the quality of the air better and keep the inventory nice and steady so that you feel pleasant in your daily life with the horses. When it comes to the stalls, some people prefer to place fresh bedding on top of the old remains and only mucking out once in a while. This develops a warm, thick mattress isolating the horse from the winter cold. However. It is not always the best method, if you want to have a clean stable environment. The best thing is to remove all the remains daily and place as much new bedding as possible.
If you turn to the rest of the stable, there is probably a severe amount of cobweb collected during summer. It can be a good idea to remove this, before winter sets in – both to improve the air quality and to make the stable even more cozy. Because all the insects are gone in the winter season no more cobweb will enter the stable at least for some months. With this in mind, it will be suitable to have the main cleaning at this time of the year. Furthermore, it will be wise to ventilate the stable frequently. This should be done while the horses are in the fields so they will not feel discomfort.
A swept floor and a tidy stable also participate to a nice atmosphere. Not much more than a blanket or a bag of carrots in the way causes irritation with the other stable mates. In other words, try to clean up after yourself, everyone will benefit in the long run. One thing is that a messy stable can be annoying. Another thing is that it can actually cause dangerous situations. You can fall over non-removed buckets but even worse, so can your horse. With a clean and tidy stable, you also save time when it comes to sweeping the floor, because you do not have to move a lot of stuff.
Light in the stable can also be part of the atmosphere in the stable. Winter is very dark, and hours of sun are very few – so good light is important. Specially in the late evening or early mornings it is good to have quality light, so you can actually see what you are doing. Poor light can make you very tired, less resourceful and perhaps more irritated when you are in the stable. And let us agree, there is no reason to create a darker and more sad winter than it already is.
Also, horses benefit from good light. Like humans they feel better when they have a great number of D-vitamins. It is possible to purchase special lamps to achieve a natural light and helps both the horse and the rider. You can also choose to paint the stable white. The light is reflected in the white color and the surroundings will come across as more “friendly”.
We cannot escape the fact that winter is dark. And you cannot avoid muddy and wet equipment in the stable. When you keep the stable clean, have a good light you and your stable mates can perhaps prevent this period from being too annoying. If you spend some time developing a nice stable environment the extra time in the stable will most likely be a more pleasant experience.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Create a successful environment in the stable during winter
Keep the stall and stable clean
A tidy stable is the key
Make sure to use great light
The hours in the stable – a pleasure
Advertisement