Easy Tips to Keep Your Barn Aisle Safe and Tidy

Let’s face it: keeping the tack room clean is kind of fun (who doesn’t love sorting through gear and equipment?), and it’s easy to get into the daily habit of stall cleaning because it’s such a necessary part of horse care. By comparison, it can be easy to overlook the barn aisle, but it’s equally important to keep your stable aisle tidy; not just for the aesthetics — though that’s important — but also for safety.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Organize Tools

Your horse barn requires plenty of long-handled tools to keep it running properly — things like stall picks, brooms and shovels. It’s a natural tendency to leave those tools leaning against the barn aisle wall when you’re done using them. Unfortunately, this can be a safety hazard.

Horses need plenty of room in the aisle and a stray stall pick or shovel can easily catch on a horse’s leg as you lead them down the aisle, spooking them and potentially causing a dangerous situation. There is no shortage of tool hangers to be found at any home supply store that can make hanging up your long-handled tools a breeze, as they snap into place on the wall and out of harm’s way.

Sweep Each Day

On a busy day, it’s easy to let small jobs slide — and then easy to let them slide again the next day because now the job is even bigger. Sweeping the barn aisle can fall into this category. It’s almost impossible to feed hay without spilling small amounts of chaff in the aisle — not to mention small bits of grain or bedding as you feed and clean stalls.

It might be tempting to leave a day’s worth of mess when you’re in a hurry, thinking it won’t make much of a difference, but it’s not a good habit to get into. Loose hay on the barn floor offers a place for rodents to hide — they’re much more likely to stay out of your barn if there’s no handy cover. Debris on the floor can be slippery for horses, and the mess doesn’t make a very pleasant environment. Instead, sweep daily when the job is always easy. Keep a wide (24 inch or more) garage-style push broom on hand, but you’ll also want one or two smaller house brooms to get into corners and sweep out smaller areas.

Control Cobwebs

Spiders love barns, and can quickly add their webs to corners, ceilings and doorways, where they collect dust from stall bedding. Not only are cobwebs unsightly, they can actually present a real fire hazard. A durable vacuum designed for shop or garage use is an excellent tool for barn cobwebs, especially if you choose a model that comes with a long hose (some can be close to 20 feet long).

Be sure to run the vacuum with a proper dry filter installed — if you use it without a filter it will still function, but will expel a great deal of dust out the air exhaust. A filter keeps the dust inside the vacuum where you want it. Also, consider vacuuming when the horses are not in the barn as the noise and motion of the cleaning can be startling to some horses.

Use a Mounted Brush Box

It’s handy to keep your horse brushes and other grooming equipment out in the open and ready to go at a moment’s notice — after all, it’s easier to perform your horse’s daily grooming needs if the equipment is right where you need it.

Grooming kits and bags work well, but you can make things even more convenient and tidy by installing a dedicated brush box to your barn aisle wall. Brush boxes are long, narrow trays that fit snugly out of the way and hold plenty of horse grooming items.

Use a Hose Reel

If you frequently use a hose in your barn for various barn tasks, you know it can be a tripping hazard if it’s left in the barn aisle.

Take another step toward a tidy barn aisle by installing a simple hose reel that can wind the hose back into place after each use. This also helps preserve the hose’s shape and helps drain water out after each use, which can help slow bacteria buildup. Figure on spending a little extra and purchasing a quality hose that is nicely supple — it makes reeling the hose a breeze and makes life in the barn easier.

And once your barn aisle is ship-shape, you’ll be ready to head out on your next equestrian adventure, so saddle up for a good time and enjoy the ride!