Does your barn need a hair dryer?

When I lived in perfect warm spring-like weather with barely any rain, it would be silly to have a hair dryer at the barn. Now that I live where seasons exist, it makes total sense.

I give you the many reasons to have a hair dryer at the barn!

Your own hair. You never know when you will get stuck in the rain, and if it’s actual winter, this is misery.

Your horse’s hair. Some folks swear by blow drying their horse if they are sweaty after a ride. In cold weather, there’s very little more important than making sure your hairy horse is clean and dry and comfortable before you head home.

Bit warming. No one, especially your horse, wants to put cold metal in his mouth.

Boot drying. Now that I have confirmed the need for fuzzy lined winter boots, I have also confirmed the need to dry the fuzz if I end up sweating in them or if they accidentally get wet inside. This happens when you are cutting corners and you don’t fully zip them up and then the bucket of icy water spills down your leg.

Warming pipes. Frozen pipes are the worst, and sometimes they just need that little bit of defrosting. This also works well for faucets and gate latches that may have frozen shut.

Quick dry of sweaty saddle pads. I like to combine this with a stiff nylon brush to get all of the hair out of your saddle pads, too.

Glove warmer and glove dryer. Gloves are a must, wet gloves are a bust. (Oh that’s horrible…) A quick blow-dry and you should be good to go. You can also set your gloves (or socks) in front of a small heater for some quick drying.

Defrosting goops. Most barns have a stash of goops on hand – like triple antibiotic cream, diaper cream, etc. Ever tried to get some out when it’s cold?

This handy model has a cold and warm setting. Just in case.

Of course, be sensible and make sure you don’t do the following:

Electrocute anyone

Burn your horse

Spook every horse in the barn

Hog the dryer so everyone else stays wet and bitter and plots revenge

How do you use a hair dryer at the barn?