Disinfecting a Horse Stall

Anytime you have a seriously ill horse on your property, disinfect its stall after the horse recovers and before the stall is used to house another horse or store hay or other material. Though it’s impossible to make barn surfaces sterile (completely free of all bacteria and viruses), disinfecting can go a long way toward minimizing their numbers. Follow these steps.

• If possible, choose a period when you can expect to have several sunny, warm days with some breeze. Take other horses out of the barn, or at least to an area as far as possible from the contaminated stall.
• Remove all manure, bedding, buckets, hay nets, and other equipment from the stall. Spray the entire stall with water to remove dust, spider webs, and fine bits of hay or bedding. Scrub all surfaces with water and detergent, and rinse thoroughly.
• Open stall windows and barn doors and allow the stall to dry completely. This may take several days.
• Spraying the stall with a 10% solution of bleach before disinfectant helps to remove biofilms that can protect bacteria from disinfectants. Pump sprayers from hardware stores work well to apply bleach and disinfectants. Let the stall dry completely again before spraying disinfectant.
• After asking your veterinarian for a recommendation on the best disinfectant to use, follow directions on the container as to how to dilute and apply the product. Phenolic disinfectants are often the best choice, but the exact disinfectant used can depend on the pathogen you wish to control. After using the disinfectant, allow the stall to dry completely.