Visitors at your barn can be helpful and welcome and some may be unwelcome! There are the two legged kind, some with four legs, some crawl, some hop, a few fly and others that we cannot see. Let’s discuss the two legged kind first. Yep, we are talking about people! If you have a barn, you will attract children and adults simply because you have a horse. Remember when you didn’t have a horse or pony and longed to just touch one or smell them or look over the fence at one. It may seem harmless enough to let your neighbor’s drop by or visit, but it can become complicated.
Let’s talk practical, does your homeowner’s insurance cover you if someone gets hurt while around your horse or on your property? It may surprise you to know that most don’t and may even drop you if they know about the horse. You need to talk to your agent and see what is covered and not. There is some very reasonable equine liability coverage, just get online and do some checking.
There are ways to help yourself legally with very little cost. In Virginia the Virginia Horse Council has information on their website about the Liability laws concerning this. You can look up online about your state and local laws. A simple sign can help and can be purchased for each state with the liability laws and a warning. Check with your lawyer or local legal advisors and you can also require anyone that comes on your property to sign a waiver release. These can also be drawn up by your lawyer or if you don’t have one you can find some online doing a search. You don’t want to lose everything you have just because someone fed their fingers to your horse!
Post Barn rules, these can be very simple or detailed. You decide what is important to you and your situation. They will help if a legal case is ever brought against you. After thinking about this please don’t stop those friends and neighbors from visiting, just use some good old common sense when they come around. You can even get some work and help from them by teaching them how to take care of horses and the barn and pasture. You can have a party and cookout in return for their help and have a lot of fun making a game out of work. Remember Tom Sawyer and the fence…. It still works. If done right you will be the hit of the neighborhood.
Ok now for the four legged visitors! We are talking about cats, dogs, raccoons, opossums, mice, rats, the neighbor’s equines and other things.
Cats can be most helpful around a barn by keeping mice and rats under control, but you need to make sure they have been spayed or neutered and had their rabies and other vaccinations. If they are feral you must trap them and have these things done, before allowing them to stay. Keep them fed with a good dry cat food and have a water supply. Cats can be bothersome if not spayed or neutered because you will be overrun with them in no time and disease will run uncontrolled. They will also spray on your hay and tack and make a smelly mess. Horses tend to like cats around. Each of our horses has their own cat friend.
Dogs are good to keep the varmints away like the raccoon and opossum. They will also let you know when someone is around and keep you company. Again have them spayed or neutered and vaccinated. You will also need a flea and tick control. Don’t let your dogs run around loose unless you have a lot of property, so be a good neighbor by not letting them bother the neighbors. If your horses are used to your dogs they will not be afraid of the dog you may run into on the trail. You must also teach your dogs not to bark or bother the horses, if they are out of control they can cause the horse or pony to run and hurt themselves and run away with you when riding or even throw you.
Raccoons, opossums and foxes are not friends you want around the barn. They can cause a lot of damage to your property and can carry many diseases like rabies and parasites. The opossum is also a link to the EPM disorder we are experiencing in horses. So trap them and move them somewhere far away or find another way to keep them away from your horses.
Groundhogs are cute, but they can cause lots of field damage with holes and horses running in the field can step in a hole and break a leg. Get rid of them anyway you can. You can call your local extension office or animal control for advice. Have-a-heart traps work well and you can then move them away.
Mice and rats are a disaster in the barn; they carry many diseases and can cause untold damage to your property. They will get into your feed bins, chew up your tack and saddles, carry brushes off and you name it they have done it. Again call your local extension office or your local farm and feed stores for ways to safely rid your farm of them.
You may find a new horse, pony or donkey in your barn or yard one day. Well, be careful when you go to catch them, because you do not know them and surprise you might have a stallion to deal with. If you know the animal call the owners and let them come and get them, but if you must, get them in a place of confinement as soon as possible. Outside horses can carry parasite and sickness, so you need to keep them away from your animals if possible. Call your veterinary if your animals have been exposed and you are not familiar with the visitors. If you don’t know who owns them call animal control as they may have had a report from the owners looking for them. If you lose your horse, call animal control to report them missing.
Ok let’s move onto the crawlers, flyers and other things. Snakes, the nonpoisonous type can be good if you don’t mind them. They can help with the mice and rats. Remember they will not be there if you don’t have a food source like mice or baby birds. Now the poisonous type is dangerous to you and your horse. If your horse comes in with a very swollen face or leg it could have been bitten. As a general rule snakes do not like to be around a lot of horses, because of the vibrations from the horse’s hooves beating the ground. I have found that moth balls will keep snakes away, but you must place them where nothing can eat them. You can also find repellent at your local farm and feed stores.
The flying friends are many in nature. Bats eat bugs which are great, but you don’t want them in your barn do to the poop. Bat guano is good if composted, but not on your hay or in you barn as it can carry unwanted problems. One website www.batmanagement.com/Batcentral/eviction/health.html is one of many resources to look up. This doesn’t mean we need to completely get rid of them we just need to create a better place for them to live. Putting up bat houses in nearby woods is a great way to have them around to help with the bugs, but not have them as house or barn guests. There is always a chance of rabies, so do not touch them or let your pets bother them.
Other flying friends we don’t need in the barn are birds. They are cute but can be dirty and carry lice, so discourage them from living in the barn. Chickens can help with eating bugs, worms, breaking up manure, but they too can carry lice and problems. They will poop everywhere and nest on the hay and then the horses will not eat it. Then we have the not seen visitors, these can be the most harmful. Parasites, viruses, bacteria and insects can wreak havoc with your horse. Ask your veterinary about things you can do to prevent and help overcome them.
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