10 hands - can't see out of stall :(

[Hippolyta]

New donkey is small and can’t see out of her stall.

I wasn’t sure if this should go here or in Around the Farm.

For the summer, she and pasture mates are outside overnight. They come in to eat grain in am & pm, then go back out. She usually wanders around and inspects the barn while they eat, but she does have a stall that she will be in overnight during the winter.

She has a neighbor on one side & a horse across the aisle, but she can’t see either because the bars are above her head. I put a plastic mounting block in there, thinking maybe she’d stand up on it if she wanted a look around (like a dog looking out the window? I don’t know…)

The stalls are prefab with sliding doors, bars on top all around. The bottom half of the sliding door is made of 2x6 boards that can slide in/out. I was wondering if I could rig up something to slide in there so that she could at least see out of the door. I guess I could get a mesh door/gate but I’m not sure how it could attach. BO is willing to figure something out. Can you buy just a mesh panel?

People with little guys, what do you do? I remember my pony sticking his nose straight up above the wall, but he was taller and could at least get an eyeball in the right place to see something.

[Fiesta01]

No experience, so no advice. Just wanted to say congrats on your new girl. I’m sure someone with some ideas will check in shortly.

BTW, we love donkeys. Care to share a photo of the cutie?

[Hippolyta]

Thanks!

I got in trouble last time bc I didn’t pay donkey tax. I had another post about bugs eating her alive.

I need to get more pictures. These are from the week I got her in early June. She is doing well, now on meds for Cushing’s and is starting to shed out.

I was wondering if anyone has used something like this

https://www.sstack.com/easy-up-titan-miniature-horse-stall-gate-48-wide/p/40841/?variant=true

I saw a half gate that looked nice, googled it and apparently Martha Stewart approves.

Not sure if I can afford that one with shipping - they will ship three at a time only.

[Fiesta01]

Thanks for the photos. She is seriously adorable!! What’s her name?

[trubandloki]

I think, before you rebuilt the stall, are you sure she will care that she can’t see out?

[fivestrideline]

@trubandloki

I think, before you rebuilt the stall, are you sure she will care that she can’t see out?

This.

Also, you can just buy a stall grate and install it low - she can see through the grate even if she can’t see over.

Like this:

Pic from google

They attach with hinges, or some drop into brackets. It just depends on the width of your stall door and how permanent you want to make it.

[amymoyer1]

Since you mentioned a sliding door, you could either mount the stall grate on the inside or in between the door frame. Eye bolts work well for gate hinges (depending on weight of the gate).

[beowulf]

The barn across the street from me had one row of the back barn dedicated to goats. The person that owned them retrofitted the row with mesh swinging gates inside - the barn also had sliding stall doors. I don’t think they were livestock gates, they looked more like garden gates - but maybe you can shop around on Home Depot or Lowe and see if any of those work for your situation.

Yes, we need more pictures! She is so cute!

Something that occurred to me that may be cheaper is lying down 4x4 square timber. One barn I worked at had 4x4 laid down along the edge of the stalls, and I always thought it was clever that the pony in one of them would stand on them to peek out.

[ThreeWishes]

My neighbor has a miniature horse farm. These are her stall gates.
https://www.sstack.com/easy-up-titan-stall-gates/p/25328c/?sku=40841%20GYA&glCountry=us&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwtsy1BhD7ARIsAHOi4xYGA0GADygNJKgjmIB1g9Cd13FRb8zEPn0D1_4sG1V_B4SVK4Y5iwsaAsghEALw_wcB

[FjordBCRF]

We just keep the sliding doors open and have stall gates so they can visit and get better airflow.

[2DogsFarm]

Like @trubandloki said: she might not care.
My mini can poke his nose out the swinging door to his stall, but not see over it. Gate is made of 2X4s, spaced nose-size.
Otherwise he faces solid stall wall to one side, barn wall on the other.
When I have to stall all 3 for vet or shoer, it doesn’t bother him to be unable to see his herd for the couple hours.
Confession:
He gets locked in to have his grain so he can’t Hoover his, then join the horse (Dutch doors at back are always open) & do his “are you going to finish that?” with horse’s grain
Horse would gladly let him.
He’s freed when all 3 are done w/grain.
One night I forgot to unlock the gate at the back of mini’s stall
Discovered him locked in some 6h later at nightcheck.
The other 2 had been loose, came in for nightly treat. Mini was not upset, no sign he’d been doing anything in his stall besides hanging out…
He did whinny at me when I came in, but not frantically.
ETA:
13h pony limbos in the 4’ high door at the back of minis stall to finish any hay mini leaves.
It’s Musical Stalls here

[RMJacobs]

I moved my 13.2 pony to South Carolina. When my new BO quarantined him (which I completely supported), he couldn’t see out of the stall and couldn’t reach the automatic waterer. She ended up doing water buckets for him. He’d never lived inside for as long as I’d had him (13 years at that point), and he clearly wanted to go out with everyone else. He was so happy to be done with quarantine and out with his new buddies, a donkey and another elderly horse. He could easily see all the other horses, and when he was moved to his own pasture because he’s a slow eater (and had no opposing teeth by then), he could still see everyone, including mares with foals, which he loved. I only had him brought inside once (for a hurricane), and the BO brought him in once for below freezing temperatures. He kind of laughed at that one because he’d lived outside in Colorado and grew a huge coat still, but he was glad to be with all the others.

I would definitely do something to allow your little one to see out of the stall. I think it helps so much with their well being.

Rebecca

[jvanrens]

A friend of mine had a mini mare that foaled at her place and they cut a section out of the prefab door and framed it. Worked great. Momma mare could stick her head out and take in the scenery, baby joined her when he got tall enough.

[candyappy]

@Hippolyta

The bottom half of the sliding door is made of 2x6 boards that can slide in/out.

Can you not just slide out a board or 2 at the right height that she can get her head through?

[RMJacobs]

Come to think of it, a friend who has a mini cut a window into the stall door, low enough for him to see out. I don’t remember what she put over it, if anything. It might be at a height where he can hang his head out like the big horses do.

Rebecca

[jvanrens]

@candyappy

@Hippolyta

The bottom half of the sliding door is made of 2x6 boards that can slide in/out.

Can you not just slide out a board or 2 at the right height that she can get her head through?

Some sort of support would have to be put in or all the top boards would have to be removed because they would come down unless they are attached to the door frame, which might vary depending on the manufacturer.

[hallie2]

years ago, a friend had a small welsh stud. My friend decided to reach out on the pony’s behalf to a psychic. The psychic reported that the pony told her everything was good, with one exception. When he bred large mares, he had to mount them from a specially built platform. He found this humiliating and only wanted to service small pony mares in the future.

[Pico_Banana]

@hallie2

years ago, a friend had a small welsh stud. My friend decided to reach out on the pony’s behalf to a psychic. The psychic reported that the pony told her everything was good, with one exception. When he bred large mares, he had to mount them from a specially built platform. He found this humiliating and only wanted to service small pony mares in the future.

Omg this is hilarious. Felt the need to repeat it as just ing the response doesn’t do it justice.

[Cassi1125]

There’s a mini at the barn I’m at. They utilized one of those wire half-gates and put it at the bottom and just use that with the stall door left open. Works great.

[Displaced_Yankee]

My neighbor just adopted a small donkey (Saturday) as a buddy for her soon to be weaned baby. We have TS Debby bearing down on us and she has the same issue as you: short donk, sliding doors with bars on top. He is also new, so she is worried about him not being able to see the others.

Her solution (pretty brilliant I say on short notice): she took her round pen gate section, which is 4ft and the width of her open stall doors. She used lengths of chain to secure the gate section to the stall fronts nice and snug. He now has a “tube gate” style stall front and can see his barn mates (who have stall guards and can be seen). He is still half feral, we had to herd him into the barn tonight (bless her and my husbands), but I sent her a few links from this thread for a more permanent solution where he can hang his head out.