Our main barn is not fancy. It is what one would describe as "functional". When we moved to our current address, the barn was a workshop. Initially we had 2 stalls, and gradually have increased the number to 4. Before my accident in August I spent most of my time outside with the horses, and in the barn. Big surprise! After the accident I was house-bound for 4 months, only occasionally getting to the barn, using a wheelchair. Now that I am back to doing barn chores, I am noticing lots of things that would be considered unsafe for a barn housing horses, especially if they are accident prone like my horses. Some of the things I noticed were screws and nails starting to loosen, wood that had splinters from being chewed or kicked, too many heater cords plugged into outlets, halter and lead rope hooks that were jutting out into the aisle, bucket hooks that were too low and grooming items on the floor. Remember, horses chew, rub, paw, lay-down, rear-up, and are wide and tall. It made me think about safety measures that need to be made when you have a young child. I once read that you should get down to the level of the child, and look at the world from his/her perspective. Maybe we should look at our barns in a similar manner, looking at things from a horse perspective, or have a "horsey" friend critique your barn. Checking a barn for safety should be done on a regular basis, or like batteries in a smoke detector, maybe do a thorough safety check when the clocks are changed twice a year. Next week I will write about safety issues when handling horses, and checking the horse's outside environment.
