Operation Cleanup!

Quick tip: Cleaning alone can eliminate as much as 90% of bacteria from surfaces. Effective cleaning may be even more important than applying a disinfectant!

If an infectious-disease outbreak strikes your barn, you’ll feel as though you’ve stepped into a hurricane. “Don’t touch that! Don’t go there!” your veterinarian will likely bark out, racing from horse to horse. As your vet races out the door, blood samples in hand, he or she will shout, “Isolate! Disinfect!”

But where should you start? And how?

Here, I’ll tell you how to prepare for an outbreak. I’ll start with a list of basic items to have on hand. Next, I’ll give you a set of practical, step-by-step guides designed to control the spread of microorganisms. Finally, I’ll tell you how to correctly use key disinfectants.

How to Disinfect a Stall

If a sick horse leaves your barn, you need to effectively clean and disinfect his stall before allowing any other horse to enter. Also follow these steps before moving your horse into a strange stall at a horse show, horse hotel, or other off-site facility.

Step 1. Clean out the stall. Remove from the stall all feed, bedding, and equipment, such as water buckets and feeders. If you plan to return this equipment to the stall, set it aside to disinfect separately before doing so.

Wet the walls from top