[Hippolyta]

I always thought everyone did this. I found out that my current trainer & barn do not (I have not been to any shows with them). When I asked about it, I was looked at like a crazy person.

I have been to events on the same grounds, and I have seen the ratty horses that move through during some of the other horse activities (in particular, one group that has games at the showgrounds seems to have a lot of clueless people & sick looking horses).

This barn has been successfully showing for decades & hasn't had any problems, as far as I know. I fully respect trainer & a lot of the clients are vets/techs, etc.

I want to show in the future, and I fully intend to disinfect (OK, I know it isn't a real disinfection, but I can reduce the load) my stall (I can drive out the night before). Will everyone think I am a lunatic? I thought this was SOP.

I should also add that my horse is in a pasture with horses that do not go to shows, but if she was, would I be OCD to be concerned? She is regularly vaccinated, including for strangles & flu.

[ElisLove]

How I prepare a stall:
Shavings
Horse

[Laurierace]

It is not possible to sanitize a porous surface which is why you won't see any wooden operating rooms.

[Go Fish]

How I prepare a stall:
Shavings
Horse

You forgot the water buckets.

In 50+ years of showing horses all over the country, I've never sanitized a stall. No horse has died yet. I'm trying to imagine how some of these professional barns with 30+ more horses at a show would go about sanitizing all the stalls. They'd have to get to the show a week ahead of time, sans horses.

[trafalgar]

I have thought about but never done it. How do you do it?

[ET's Home]

It is not possible to sanitize a porous surface which is why you won't see any wooden operating rooms.

This.

You would be just wasting your time and energy to try and sanitize if the stalls are wood. Plus if the floor is dirt, there is another source of potential contaminents.

Best thing, if you are going to be showing, is to be up to date on all vaccinations and make sure your horse is physically and mentally fit to cope with stress of showing.

Or not show if you are that germophobic for your horse. It is one of the many risks we encounter with shows.

ET

[Fairview Horse Center]

It is not possible to sanitize a porous surface which is why you won't see any wooden operating rooms.

This, but also remember that you really, really do not want to kill off the good bacteria that are fighting the "bad guys".

It is why I have NEVER disinfected a foaling stall, and well over 100 foalings with no sick babies.

DO NOT KILL OFF THE GOOD GUYS!

[Texarkana]

I used to be in charge of biosecurity for my department at a major veterinary facility. Sometimes knowledge isn't a good thing! I don't always disinfect my stalls at show grounds, but if there's a reason for heightened concern I will.

Virkon S is awesome for disinfecting horse show stalls because it is effective on porous surfaces and doesn't need to be rinsed prior to use of the stall. Just make sure you use PPE and follow directions closely when diluting the powder.

[Hippolyta]

I am actually the least germphobic person on the planet in most regards. I am a biologist, most microbes are our friends, I know that antibacterial hand sanitizers are harmful at best, etc etc.

There are some sanitizers that are effective even if organic matter is present. They reduce the total microbe load, even when used on wood. Roccal D & products with -phenol in their name. They need to be used well before horses show up, so that fumes dissipate.

Yes, it is an PITA, but it gets done, fairly frequently. Apparently not as often as I believed.

[deltawave]

There are so many bigger fish to fry in the realm of "reducing the risk of infection". I do spray down foaling stalls with dilute bleach before bedding it down and installing the mare, and always clean buckets/feed tubs with bleach, but beyond that I don't lose sleep over the notion of "disinfecting" a world that's covered with bacteria. Most of which aren't going to do any harm to anyone. In general I let the immune system worry about that stuff, as that's what it's there for.

[doublesstable]

I have used Lysol on occasion but not at shows. Use it on mattresses at home when changing sheets... and at the barn sometimes I spray the muck buckets or rakes or when there was a neighboring sick horse, rubber muck boots.

I agree about killing good bacteria is not what you want to do....

I try not to worry too much because it seems when you do it actually creates a problem.

Vircon S sounds like something I would like to look into.

[saultgirl]

Best thing, if you are going to be showing, is to be up to date on all vaccinations and make sure your horse is physically and mentally fit to cope with stress of showing.

I agree with this 100%. Same thing if your horse is pastured with other horses that go to shows.

[Ponies, etc.]

I put diluted chlorhexidine in a sprayer and spray the stalls down and let them dry before bedding the stalls. It makes me feel better.

[SquishTheBunny]

I have never done it. They touch noses through the back of the stalls, kind of feel disinfecting is a moo point when there is so much contact between horses at shows.

[Frizzle]

They touch noses through the back of the stalls, kind of feel disinfecting is a moo point when there is so much contact between horses at shows.

[ET's Home]

Much as I hate the germs, I hate chemicals worse. Having worked in a lab and read the MSDS's for most of the disinfectants out there, I would rather take my chances with the microbes. As another poster noted, you are also killing the good microbes.

Plus how to you guard against airborne microbes?

ET

[Hippolyta]

Plus how to you guard against airborne microbes?

ET

You don't. If you are in a stall that has contained a sick horse, sick horse has hacked his aerosols all over the walls.

http://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/news/r...12equine.shtml

[Fairview Horse Center]

We are becoming germophobics.

Do we sanitize the products on the grocery shelves before touching them? Carts? Gas pump handle? Railing on stairs we go up or down? Building door handles? Seats on Metro? Office phones? Office printer buttons?

Do we walk in front of our kids at school wiping what they are about to touch? passed out papers? sports equipment? lockers? bleachers and the floor?

ARE WE CREATING SUPER BUGS?

[deltawave]

FHC, I have a family member who is like that.

[SwampYankee]

My vet told me to disinfect my stalls last foaling season. I looked at her and agreed, nodding with the utmost gravitas, then stripped the stalls and put in 3 bales of decidedly un-sterile straw.

The idea that it's even possible, let alone desirable, to kill all the bacteria good and bad that live in wood, rubber mats, stall bedding, hay, feed, etc. to me is absurd.

Healthy mares have good immune systems, on a good day with due diligences babies get their colostrum. I encourage mares to foal outside anyway, which ironically even the vet approves of.

In vet school, vets are taught the "clinical ideal," which is usually a pretty far piece from the "field" reality. What they do in a "hospital" setting and what you do at home are very different, with horses no less than people.

Just practice good stable management and you'll be fine!