Study Shows That Air Quality In Horse Barns Is - Um, Not So Good

I’m shocked.

This study, done with just 13 people over two winters and one summer, shows that those who work in horse barns are exposed to not so good for your lungs kind of stuff. Of course it said it in a twelve page report and more elegantly than I, but basically what this long report said was the same thing I’m saying – the air quality in barns suck.

Wow, I could have told them that and for free, too!

It said the people working in horse barns were exposed to irritants such as, dust, mold and ammonia. I would like to add that you are also exposed to not only horse droppings, but bird, possum, raccoon, cat and mouse droppings as well. Not the cleanest place in the world, but we love our horses and a dusty, dirty environment is part of the deal.

What did they expect to find? A rose garden? The barn where I am at is relatively small. There are only 17 horses housed there and they go out to pasture for half the time during the day. The barn is kept amazingly clean and stalls are cleaned daily. Still, it smells like a barn. No big surprise there. A thousand pound animal eliminating tons of manure and gallons of urine tends to have the ability to cause a bit of odor. Multiply that by 17, well you get the picture. Add to it the dust and mold from hay, grain and shavings. Then add the smells of fly spray, leather cleaner, medicines and plain old sweat – both human and equine, and you have a concoction that says or rather smells, “Welcome to horses.”

I wonder how much money was spent on this study. It makes you wonder, with the world in a financial crisis, where do they get the money to fund studies like this? Why would anyone waste precious time and research money on something that most of us already knew? It’s not like people are going to get rid of their horses now because this study said the air in the barn is dusty. Aren’t there other, more worthwhile subjects that can be studied? I would rather see money and time being spent on research that shows where we can make improvements in our lives not state the obvious.

I feel I have learned about the same amount from this study as if they did one that stated they have now determined that when the sun goes down, it gets dark.