How to Protect Your Horse from Hazards on the Farm

 keep a lookout for any potentially poisonous or toxic plants, such as tansy ragwort, nightshade, cocklebur, etc. While the horses may not have bothered with them in the past, a hungry horse without adequate pasture or hay will eat anything. Inspect not only your grazing field, but your hay as well. For a list of dangerous plants in your area, check with your local Ministry of Agriculture. If you are unable to tackle any of the potential hazards immediately, make note of your findings so that they are not forgotten.

Dusts, fumes, and vapours are hidden hazards that can have long-term effects on respiratory health for both horses and the humans who work around them. Poor ventilation can contribute to allergies and respiratory ailments including recurrent airway obstruction (RAO), better known as heaves.

Hidden Hazards

“We’ve all been in barns during the winter, where all the doors and windows are closed up tight because of the cold,” notes Gimenez. “And this comes down to human comfort. We’re cold, so we think the horses are cold and close everything up. Without proper ventilation, the horses breathe in all that dust and ammonia. This is an unseen hazard that a lot of people don’t think about.”

A properly ventilated barn encourages correct airflow movement that expels stale air, pushes chemicals odors such as ammonia out of the barn and allows fresh air to enter.

“I’ve seen people spend $100,000 on a new barn and put in cheap $10 box fans, which are also a huge fire hazard,” continues Gimenez. “Why didn’t they spend a bit extra and install overhead fans? Or bring in a ventilation expert to look at their place and evaluate a proper ventilation system that can release the fumes and help improve the air quality in that barn?”

Another danger that Gimenez warns of is housing horses in fields with ponds during the winter. If you are not able to relocate them to another area of the property, ensure that ponds are fenced off with some form of temporary fencing before they freeze over. There have been numerous incidents where a horse will walk out across a snow-covered pond and fall through the ice into freezing water. Sometimes it doesn’t end well.

“Last December, the Emergency Equine Response Unit in the Kansas City area had the horrifically tragic and difficult job of retrieving the bodies of three young horses out of a pond after they fell through the ice and drowned,” she says. “I can’t stress it enough, people have to fence off their ponds and keep them out of mud, ice and water.”