Maintaining a Clean Barn Through the Winter
Cleaning your barn is one of those unexciting tasks required of horse owners. Most people find cleaning during the summer isn’t too bad when the weather is nice and the days are long. However, when the snow and ice hit, it can be a challenge to spend more time in the barn than necessary. Here are some tips for maintaining a clean barn through the winter without spending hours.
Stay Organized
You’ve probably heard someone say, “Put things away as you go.” This statement applies to the barn, too! Cleaning up items as you go is much easier than letting them pile up in the corner or aisleway. Make sure to return grooming items to your grooming bag, hoof picks to their hooks, and blankets to their hangers. If these items don’t have a home in your barn, consider some organization when the weather warms up!
Sweep Daily
While it is likely too cold to wash your aisleway, make sure to sweep it daily. If your horses come in at night, sweep after they are in their stalls and after they go out in the morning. This helps reduce dirt, muck, and snow in your walkways. If you live in an area with snow, pick out your horse’s hooves and brush off snow and ice before entering the barn. Snow-covered hoofs can be very slippery on concrete floors. Leaf blowers are also a great tool to clean your aisle quickly. Keep in mind that most leaf blowers won’t remove large chunks of snow.
Designated Blanket Area
Blankets are one of the most common things to clutter up your barn in the winter. If your horse wears multiple blankets or changes blankets during the day, it can be really tempting to drop them into the corner until the next blanket change. Leaving blankets on the floor will make them deteriorate faster and make it hard for them to dry sufficiently. Blanket bars can be installed on your stall doors for easy storage. Coat hangers can also work to hang blankets on your stall or in your tack room.
Shovel Walk Ways
Similar to keeping your aisles clean, shoveling your walkways into the barn will reduce the snow tracked through the barn. Shovel or snowblow the path from your house to the barn and from the barn to the paddocks. If you do not get snow in the winter, consider crushed rock on these pathways to encourage drainage and reduce mud.
Remove Snow from the Roof
If you live in an area with heavy snowfall, consider removing the snow from the roof. If you have a metal roof, the snow may slide off on a warmer day, but don’t let it build up too much. This is beneficial for a few reasons, but the first one is safety. Heavy snow on an older barn roof can lead to collapse. Secondly, snow sliding off the roof can scare many horses, which is not ideal, especially in slippery conditions.