Ammonia. A bigger threat to your horse’s health

May 08, 2014

by Tim Smalley

Nobody likes the smell of ammonia in the stable. It gets into the back of your throat, makes you cough, makes your eyes water. If you wear leather boots in a stable that smells strongly of ammonia, you may also notice that it eats holes in your boots in a surprisingly short time.

If it has that effect on humans and leather boots, it is logical to expect it to have an equally negative impact on horses. Experienced owners and grooms know that minimising or eradicting it is important to their horse’s health and well-being.

As long ago as 2010, The Horse Trust  announced initial results from research it has been funding at the University of Glasgow to test and measure the effect of ammonia on the respiratory system. The research by Prof Sandy Love at Glasgow, “confirmed that stabling horses results in increased exposure to environmental ammonia and that this is associated with respiratory problems”. Prof Love has subsequently gone on to test what effect different environmental conditions have on these results. The Horse Trust 2010

It is also known that ammonia attacks the hoof horn in the same way that it attacks other organic materials such as leather. The horn is the outer defence of the hoof against infection. When breached, bacterial and fungal infection can invade the inside of the hoof, causing potentially irreparable damage to the structure of the foot.

Ammonia is produced by an anaerobic organism called Micrococcus ureus which converts the urea in urine into ammonia. M.ureus thrives in a damp, airless environment, so clearly the type of bedding you use in the stable, and how you management it, will pay a big part in the level of ammonia in your stable.

For all it’s faults, the straw traditionally used in stables had the merit of allowing urine to drain down to the floor, and formed a well-aerated bed. Many of today’s purpose-made types of bedding are the opposite – dense, un-aerated and highly absorbent, and therefore more likely to raise the level of ammonia in the stable and increase the risk of ammonia damaging your horse’s hooves, skin and respiratory system.

We have always disputed the value of an absorbent bedding, for this reason. We believe at least the surface of the bed must allow urine to drain away, ideally to be absorbed at the lowest level, away from contact with the hooves or skin.

That’s the way we believe a BEDMAX bed performs. Each bag of BEDMAX contains a mixture of larger and smaller shavings, which naturally ‘layer’ themselves when you make the bed. The larger flakes sit on the surface, the smaller ones fall through the larger ones and form a more absorbent layer on the stable floor.

Customers who use BEDMAX have often told us that one of the things they like about our shavings is that they appear to reduce the smell of ammonia in their stables. This may be because our shavings are made of pine, which gives off a characteristicly strong, clean, healthy smell. But we’re also exploring the possibility that the same antibacterial defences in pine that science has proved kill off many strains of bacteria, including E.coli, may also kill or control the M.ureus bacteria that converts urea into ammonia.

This is why Hartpury Saddlery stock Bedmax-For more information and pricing, click the link

http://www.hartpurysaddleryshop.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=222_54_63&products_id=141