Your barn might be cleaner than your house, but chances are there’s probably still some potentially disease-causing bacteria floating around—maybe even on your horse. Worse, the bacteria might be drug-resistant. | Photo: iStock

Your barn might be cleaner than your house, but chances are there’s probably still some potentially disease-causing bacteria floating around—maybe even on your horse, researchers have learned. Worse, the bacteria might be drug-resistant.

Scientists found 200 different strains of Escherichia coli in manure, air, and horse nostrils in three Polish riding centers. They found most of those strains at the center where the horses spent the most time in box stalls, and, not surprisingly, the horses residing in stalls also harbored the largest number of strains in their nostrils, said Katarzyna Wolny-Koładka, PhD, of the University of Agriculture’s Department of Microbiology, in Cracow, Poland.

“Due to the fact that horses have contact with manure and feces through their bedding, they are exposed to E. coli in their box stalls,” Wolny-Koładka said