Horse Stalls Guide

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.

Horse Stalls Guide

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Michael, May 12th 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in horse barn layouts, horse stall design, horse stalls

Horse Stalls Guide Using Stalls For Horse Training

Training a young horse is not an easy task. Just jumping on their backs and hanging on is a great way to get really hurt and do more harm to the horse than good. A much better approach is a slow and steady means of educating them. Some riders claim they don’t care if they crash. That is not the best way. It is very important that a horse never even learn that it can maneuver out from under a rider. So beginning training efforts in the confines of a horse stall is a good first step.

Horses are herd bound animals. Just like fish in a school or birds in a flock, these beautiful creatures find security and safety in numbers. Predator animals hunt by themselves. But horses always stay together. So when a young horse is lead away from the others it likes to whinny and turn around and try to return to the herd. For a horse to be useful for riding, driving, or just enjoyment for its owner, the herd bound tendency needs to be overcome. A good way to begin getting the horse to bond to the person and less to the other equines is to place them in a box stall by themselves. A box stall 12×12 feet is size is a good measurement. Because the youngster may not think it is very good to have to stay by himself, it is imperative that the stall be very solid and have high wooden sides. It is normal for a horse to kick and paw. The danger with horse stalls that are built with low wood sides and more bars is the danger of the horse putting his hoof through the bars. With this in mind, it is best to have the wood sides of the stall be at least five feet high before the bars or wire starts on the top of the wall. Horses can feel trapped at times, so it is best to have bars all the way around the stalls. Many layouts have solid wood all the way up between the stalls. This can be scary to some horses and make them feel claustrophobic. So it is best to have the bars so they can look stall to stall down the length of the horse barn.

Horse stalls Guide, My Inspiration

It is a good idea to separate the young horse for at least one hour a few times per week. After he begins to stand fairly quietly instead of running circles in the stall, then it should be safe to enter the stall. Some horses never have an upset period and they accept the horse stall just fine. Normally a youngster is already accustomed to coming into the barn and going in a stall to eat by itself. This is good and helps progress the first stage of separation.

Once a horse is calmed down brushing it, picking up its feet, and teaching it to tie are all great things to do in the stall. The best way to tie the horse is to have a ring mounted on the side horse stall partition, half way between the front wall and back wall of the stall. The ring should be bolted at a height of about five feet or wherever the wood and bars meet. This limits the horse from reaching the corner hay manger, horse feeder, or water. The attention of the animal needs to be on the person and the lesson of tying– not on looking for lost grain and hay scraps. Also locating the young horse in the middle of the wall allows the handler to move freely around it.

Another good lesson to teach a young horse is to wear a saddle and girth. Sometimes a young horse will think that a saddle is a threat to them. One of the best ways is to get a small children’s saddle that is old and putting it up on the horses back. Leaving him loose in the stall with it on for a hour is not a bad idea either. They become accustomed to the feel of the cinch around them, the saddle pad on their back, and the saddle on top.

The final thing that the confines of a horse stall can help with is turning. A bridle should be fitted with a smooth snaffle bit and put on the horse. Then the young horse can be turned from the ground. The owner can stand next to the horse; turn its head to the side with the rein while pushing on the horses flank with the other hand. The horse should walk a small circle around the stall. Once this is done in both directions, then taking the horse outside and leading it around with the saddle and bridle is very constructive. When going through the door of the stall the handler needs to be sure the door is open all the way. When box stalls are constructed the doorways should be made higher than the normal horse stall kits come with. Door openings should ideally be made as tall as the interior of the barn allows. A horse can rear up in a door way or a rider can have a runaway horse dive in a stall with the rider still on board. Just like in a cartoon, a very real accident can occur where the rearing horse or the rider still on board can crack their head on the beam over the door. So keeping that lintel just as high as possible is very important.

Horse stalls and training young horses go together. Following our horse stalls guide can give many other ideas to you for horse stall mats, horse stall designs, and horse barn layouts. This website focuses on a passion of mine. Feel free to leave a comment or question. I always enjoy reading and answering questions on this, horse stalls and the love of horses.

Horse Stalls Guide

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Michael, July 16th 2010 | Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in horse stall design

Horse Stalls And Caring For Equine Wounds

Horses are notorious for getting into things. It doesn’t seem to matter sometimes how good of an environment we provide for our horses, they still get hurt. I also think horses have their very own calendars. Have you ever tried to get a vet to come out on a Saturday or Sunday night? It is not easy to find one that will respond to your emergency calls. Horse stalls are a good place to put an injured horse while you wait for a vet to arrive.

A week ago, on a Sunday morning, a very nice young horse that lives at our farm came into the barn with a swollen leg. If you have ever worked on a two year old, you know that it can be a challenge. The best thing we did first was to catch her and then put her in the box stall. The confinement of space allowed us maneuver her into a corner. With one of us holding her and the second trying to feel of the flesh wound, she hopped around the stall. After a quick check the best thing was to run water on the wound. We transferred her to the rubber matted wash stall and held her. It is a good idea not to tie the young horse when working on them. Later, as they gain more experience, tying is fine, but horses have to learn to stand tied. With one handler and one person on the hose we began running cold water on the wound.

Slowly, as the water slightly numbed the area, we slowly rubbed away the dirt and other matter that had collected around the wound. Closer inspection revealed a small opening at the top of the blood covered area. Very commonly a horse will not just have a scrape. A vast majority of horse wounds also have a puncture wound. The best way to treat a puncture wound is to purchase a mastitis tube. These tubes are similar to a worming tube. A mastitis tube, commonly marked “Tomorrow for Dry Cows” is designed for putting an antibiotic up into an infected utter of a cow. But let me tell you, I haven’t found anything better for treating punctures. You simply insert the end of the tube into the puncture and them press the plunger until the medicine comes back out of the wound. Deeper wounds may require half or even an entire tube, but at $2.25 per tube, it is a very economical treatment.

So back to the young horse—

After running water on it, she was not at all inclined to let us use the mastitis tube on her. We took her back to her box stall. Along one wall I have a tie mounted in the middle of the side of the stall wall. This is the first place I tie babies. It is a good idea to drill a hole and mount a ring for tying to. The ring should be mounted at the top of the solid part of the horse stall wall and just under the bars or wire. This provides a solid place to tie the horse lead rope to. Tying directly to the bars or wire can bend or break them. So using a ring is a very good solution.

With the more confined horse stall, the stall door shut, and the horse tied to the ring, her movements were limited. I still kept a lead rope attached from her halter to my hand so I could turn her towards me while I worked on the puncture wound. I began scratching her and talking to her. I rubbed her shoulder and neck, and then while I rubber her chest with one hand I slid the mastitis tube into the hole and pushed. It only took a second and I only had a second before she jerked back. But still I got enough into the hole to make it come back out.

The danger with wounds that heal over and are not left to drain is tetanus. So whenever you have a horse with any sort of wound, be sure to check for a puncture wound. Tying a horse in the horse stall reduces the movement and also keeps them from hurting themselves more. Working on a horse outside is fine, but especially with a young horse, a more confined area, such as the horse stalls, can be safer for both horse and handler. Mounting a ring on the side of the stall also provides a good training aid, a place to tie.

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Michael, June 8th 2010 | Tags: , , , ,
Posted in horse stall design, horse stalls
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