Hello and WELCOME to Horse Stalls Guide. From Kings to our little princesses that we buy ponies for (our children), the love of horses knows no bounds. All horses, small and great, need a place to rest. And so through this website here are some insights and tips for designing and building horse stalls for our noble creatures. As builders and a horse professional myself, we have a unique opportunity to show you a slightly different side of horse barn design coupled with experience.
No matter what type of horse you have, there are certain things which are universal. Older style barns many times have tie stalls or low overheads. So let’s start from square one and out line some stall ideas.
When building a barn, or remodeling one, the stalls should be 12 feet wide. This width allows for even the big warm bloods to have plenty of room without wasting space. Yes, large areas are nice, but keep in mind when you build a stall that you are not trying to build an indoor paddock. The purpose of a stall is to have a more confined area to work in and keep a horse.
A 12′x12′ stall is ideal for the vast majority of horses. For foaling stalls or stallions stalls, adding an additional six feet to the stall, to make a 12′x18′ area, is a great idea. This allows more room for the mare and foal. When handling and halter breaking a foal, that extra 6 feet of length is valuable. For stallions a larger stall is good. Many times a stallion has to be stabled more than other horses, so having a little extra space is helpful.
A nice design for horse stables is to have a 16 to 20 foot wide aisle running down the middle of the barn and a row of stalls on each side. The the stall rows should each be 12 feet wide, yielding a building that is a minimum of 40 feet. A wide aisle has many benefits ranging from backing a hay wagon in, to riding young horses, and just grooming on cross ties.
To provide good ventilation and also for safety, a 12 foot high clearance over the stalls and the aisle is wise. Many professional “stall ride” young horses in the very beginning. The higher overhead allows for this. Also if a horse rears or jumps sideways, the high overhead prevents them from hitting their head on the barn ceiling.
Horse stall walls should be about five feet high on the sides and front. Then 2″x4″ wire, chain link, or bars should be installed above the top board of the stall wall. This allows for more ventilation between stalls but still keeps the horses from touching or biting each other over the wall. When building stalls, either stall kits or from scratch, it is imperative that the stall wall comes completely to the floor. There should never be a gap wider than four inches at the bottom of a wall. If there is a gap, the floor level should be raised, or an additional board added to the bottom of the wall. This prevents horses from getting their legs trapped under the wall.
Stall doors can be either hung on hinges or mounted on rollers and tacking. Both have advantages. When using rolls and track, the track should be mounted a minimum of 8 feet above the door. In prefab stall kits this is not usually an option, but when building them on site it is a wise choice. The higher overhead allows for a horse to rear in a door way and not hit their pole. Also a taller door way can be used to ride through. Sometimes riding through a door happens when it is not supposed to. My first pony took me on several such tours when I was a child.
Horse feeders can be either simply a bucket hung from a screw eye, a corner feeder, or a swing out feeder/ manger combo. A corner feeder can be built into the stall. The swing out mangers are hung on the aisle side of the stall on hinges.
For under foot, horse stall mats are a good choice. Ranging from flat edged, to interlocking, and drain through. Mats do provide pressure relief to the horses, limits the amount of shaving required, and also makes a clean surface in the case of an injury.
Whatever your choice, horse stalls are above all to be safe, roomy, and comfortable for our equine treasures. Read on for more ideas and design elements for horse barns and horse stalls.
Thanks for reading, Sue
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