The joy of horse riding comes at a cost and maintaining a horse stable can be a time-consuming task. You’ll feel it’s worth it if you’re a horse-lover, but there are still some ways you can knock back the time and effort involved.
A well-maintained stable building is healthier for your horses and for people. These structures are more comfortable to be in, and they’ll stay in good condition longer. Here are ways to keep them that way.
Keeping it Clean
There’s nothing complicated to understand about this objective. Cleaning out the stalls daily is absolutely crucial for the health of your horses. The average horse weighs about 1,000 pounds. They produce about 50 pounds of manure and urine each day. It’s important to remove this waste and to regularly disinfect surfaces to kill pathogens.
Detergent and elbow grease are the two main ingredients involved here. The detergent contains cleaning agents which emulsify organic matter so it can be easily washed away. Over 90% of bacteria can be removed from surfaces just by a thorough cleaning. This can help to combat equine herpesviruses, influenza viruses, and equine arteritis. They’re what are known as lipid-enveloped, so cleaning stall surfaces disrupts their cell envelopes and renders the viruses inactive.
Easier Cleaning Surfaces
Many horse owners have switched from wood stables to steel buildings. These structures are easy to put up because they’re pre-fabricated metal buildings that are meant for DIY construction. There are many benefits to steel and metal stables – but toward the top is the ease in keeping them clean.
Wood is a porous material. It’s susceptible to absorbing moisture, and organic material can easily be trapped in the grain or fiber. It’s a breeding ground for bacteria and conditions that are not safe for horses. Moisture caused by horse urine can also cause wood rot. Left untreated, this can greatly decrease the longevity of a stable.
Steel is impervious to these problems. Cleaning and maintaining steel and metal buildings used as horse stables is significantly easier. That means you can clean and disinfect stalls more frequently. Both the horses and the humans around them benefit.
Moisture is the enemy of a traditional wood horse barn. It causes mold and wood rot, it harbors unsafe bacteria, and it can be a haven for pests that can undermine the structural integrity of the stable.
Miracle Truss® buildings used as horse stables solve this problem. They’re simple and strong structures that feature a clear-span truss method. The building arrives as a kit and the trusses are four bot-together pieces. The buildings themselves feature a 50-year structural warranty, and the truss design creates large open spaces that are excellent for creating horse barns. Best yet, you have the ability to completely finish the inside. That gives you even more opportunities to create easy-to-clean spaces for your horses. Check out our growing photo gallery of Miracle Truss® buildings used as barns and for agricultural purposes.
