Is Your Horse Stall Hurting Your Horse?


by Jo Thompson - Date: 2007-03-30 - Word Count: 583 Share This!

Many horses spend a lot of time in their stalls, so it is important for us to ensure that we provide the best stall possible. Horses that spend a lot of time in an indoor stall will need to receive the most attention in terms of cleaning and keeping the stall safe for them.

Horses do like to lie down and sleep at night and they will if they feel safe and comfortable in their stall. They have to take a load off of their legs during the night so we need to be sure that the horse has enough room to lie down. Many horses will lie down, but not leave themselves enough room to get back up. When a horse lies to close to a wall and they don't have enough room to get back up they are considered to be "cast." When a horse is cast they may thrash about and panic because they can't get enough room to leverage themselves back on their feet. These horses will need assistance in getting back on their feet. If you have large breed horses, such as Thoroughbreds, Appendix Quarter Horses or Warmbloods you may want to go with a stall that is 16x16. These stalls are often referred to as stallion and foaling stalls. Ponies will not need any more than a 10x10 stall. Moderate size horses will do well with a 12x12 stall.

The partitions between your horse's stall need to be made of a heavy material. Most stalls are constructed of two-inch plans that go up to about five feet or so. The edges of the walls should be reinforced with metal so that the horses cannot chew on them. Another partition should be placed so that the horses can see each other but not necessarily make contact. The same is true for the front of the stall. Stall doors may have gates that swing open so that the horses can stick their heads out into the barn aisle. Stalls should also be very well ventilated. Horses can produce a lot of heat from their bodies and a poorly ventilated stall may cause bacterial growth in the walls.

Most farms use shavings as bedding for horses. Many people will put several wheelbarrow loads of shavings in their stall for their horse, but this is not necessarily good. If you have too much bedding then your horse's legs can become weak due to the lack of contact with the ground. Bones need to be stressed and concussed by the ground in order to maintain their strength. You want to have just enough bedding that the horse can still feel the ground, but the bedding will also absorb urine.

Your horse's stall should have nothing more than a salt/mineral block, feeder and a water bucket or automatic waterer. The less that you have in the stall the better and safer the stall is for the horse. You should also provide some hay for your horse to munch on, so a hay net is okay as well.

Finally, don't underestimate your horse's ability to open his door. There are several horses that have figured out their stall door locks and will easily let themselves out. If your horse figures out his latch you will also want to place a chain with a simple clip that the horse cannot undo. Never padlock a horse in stall, as you may not be there to release the horse in the case of a fire or other emergency.

Happy Horsing
Jo Thompson

Related Tags: horse care, barn, horse health, horse stall, horse stable, stall, stable

Jo loves collecting horses and not just real ones, take a look at her trail of painted ponies and her breyer model horses.

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