Housing, Bedding, and Pasture (Book Excerpt)

Stabling, pasturing, bedding, and other aspects of a horse’s living environment have major implications on the potential for health problems.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from Understanding Equine Preventive Medicine by Bradford G. Bentz, VMD. 

Stabling, pasturing, bedding, and other aspects of a horse’s living environment have major implications on the potential for health problems.

With the domestication of horses, we have imposed the need to house large numbers of animals in one or a group of barns or other facilities that permit easier care while minimizing our discomfort and exposure to the elements. While helpful for the caretaker, this has brought new problems and health concerns for horses in this situation.

Two major problems with stabling horses in barns are generally poor ventilation and a high concentration of animals for disease communication.  A barn intended to stable horses should be designed with ventilation in mind. At least eight complete air changes should take place each hour in a stable if good-quality bedding and hay are used.  (The volume of air equal to the volume of the barn enters the barn and leaves it eight times per hour with good ventilation.) This is necessary to help minimize dissemination of aerosol-spread diseases and to minimize exposure to air irritants and allergens

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Brad Bentz, VMD, Dipl. ACVIM, ABVP, ACVECC, owns Bluegrass Equine Performance and Internal Medicine in Lexington, Ky., where he specializes in advanced internal medicine and critical care focused on helping equine patients recuperate at home. He’s authored numerous books, articles, and papers about horse health and currently serves as commission veterinarian for the Kentucky State Racing Commission.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
314 votes · 314 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!