I’m seeing more and more people use corral panels for extra stalls, turn-out pens, etc. I never thought they were very secure. But I recently saw some stalls made entirely out of corral panels, and they looked drastically more airy and open and spacious than wood sided stalls. We have a medicine stall in our barn that is a tractor supply modular type stall we installed. The horses hate being in it, they go nuts when you close up the stall door. I’m thinking about ripping it out, and setting up a similar medicine stall with corral panels. Are they as safe? Advice?
I have a set of custom built corral panels that were designed to be used as stall panels. We have used then intermittently for over 5 years and never had issues with them. Again, these were custom, so not flimsily built and are heavy. We gave become pros at how to secure then in different situations and we love their versatility. We had a basic shell of a pole barn, and could make stalls or holding pens of just about any configuration, especially if I broke down our 60’ round pen that was made by the same manufacturer.
My panels and round pen were made by Smyrna Grove Manufacturing in Christiana, PA. Very heavy duty, well made and still look new well over five years later.
Legs get trapped under and through corral panels
[QUOTE=LarkspurCO;8731018]
Legs get trapped under and through corral panels[/QUOTE]
Yup. I had to use them at a barn once and I ran sheep fence along them.
That is the way many bigger stables in the SW and W house horses.
Mare motel type barns are made out of that, which is surprising, with foals you think the mares would really fight worse across fences and foals get in the panels more.
The first time I saw those was decades ago in a local sale barn putting on a good catalog sale with the more expensive horses, housed in a big barn with rows of 10’ x 10’ stalls made out of regular cattle panels for stalls.
You know, after all those years, they still have those there, have not had any injuries from that, but I would still not put a horse in one such small panel spot, unless absolutely necessary.
You could line the panels with rubber mats or plywood and so make them more solid, or make the pen large enough a horse should not get into the panels easily, if it has any sense.
It wouldn’t be my choice for permanent stalls, but if you need something temporary or portable (or if you just need to bring a horse in to eat twice a day or something) I think it’s a reasonable alternative for most horses. I’d probably get the 12’ ones, or use five or six 10’ ones if I were buying it to make a stall for long term. Obviously yes, there is always a risk of the horse putting a leg through the bars, and it’s important to have one with rounded edge for that reason.
As far as turnout, we use them a lot for layups since you can move them every day if necessary to always have grass available. If they’re set up properly they’re really pretty secure. The only time we ever had a problem, it was because one of the pins wasn’t put in and the horse was able to push the panel partway out (still was enough to keep him in, might not have kept a foal in).
We use tube gates for the one stall in our barn. I like it because everything opens, so we can get equipment in if needed, and if a horse gets cast, we can swing all but the wooden ends (barn walls) away from the horse. I don’t read horses’ minds, but I also suspect the stalled horse likes it, because it is very light and airy, having a less-confined feel.
I’ve had pipe panel stalls for 13 years. They started as temporary until I realized the air circulation they provided in my 24 x 40 barn.
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There are one inch thick hardwood kick boards on the metal walls.
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3/4" treated plywood two rails high, from the floor on each panel serving as a wall.
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In the beginning I had four horses, three of whom had been together their entire lives but all four got along. They did pick at each other but never reared, kicked, or fought.
IMO, pipe panel stalls are a workable solution in a small barn, as long as the bottoms are covered with HD plywood and the horses get along.
I would not put serious fighters beside each other in a pipe panel setup, nor would I put a stallion in such a wide open stall if mares were around.
[QUOTE=Highflyer;8731139]
Obviously yes, there is always a risk of the horse putting a leg through the bars, and it’s important to have one with rounded edge for that reason. [/QUOTE]
This was done on Priefert’s premiere horse-safe panels, all four legs. Of course, horses can hurt themselves on anything if they try hard enough. They can kick through wood or mesh.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B39vI8RGIbeqMjZ6RDdZVzhZWU0/view?usp=sharing
When I have had pipe stalls, or even pipe corrals joining the stalls,* I’ve also had the “stud wire” panels in place for separation. Here, “stud wire” is defined as panels of 2x4" welded wire–12 gauge or heavier.
*This is welded to the pipe panels if it’s a permanent situation, otherwise, just wired in place.
I have some of each, basically. Traditional stalls with outside pens attached using the mesh stallion panels and 24x24 pipe corrals with one corner that has wood inserted between the rails primarily so the wind doesn’t blow food out nor does it get pushed out by the horses. Also kind of a privacy screen for eating as that is when they seem to fight most viciously.
Strange thing is I swear they fight more with the 6ft stallion panels between - maybe the satisfaction of the very loud banging? Never had a problem with legs going through or horses getting cast against the pipe panels. Yes, they interact much more, good-mutual grooming, bad-play and real fighting. The one thing I really like about the openness is that I can observe how they are moving around/standing/behaving while I ride the others. They also are much more airy, cooler, in the summer, but harder to keep bedding in.
Inserting two by sixes between the rails with a one by five vertically placed on the outside to sandwich them in has gotten compliments by most people who come by. You can paint them your barn colors if you want.
I hate fence panels for the reason of legs getting stuck through them, on them, over them… I’ve seen a lot of injuries that were due to panels. The two most drastic being I had a friends horse get his leg up on top and scraped it to the bone on the pin holding two panels together. Another got her leg stuck through and had lymphangitis in her leg for the rest of her life (10+ years).
However, if you attach a good wire mesh to your panels? Legs through the panels problem dealt with.
Had to disassemble a panel pen with a horse dangling by its back leg from the top gap. Not fun. Adding wire seems, hmm, like more things that can break into pointy edges.
Jennifer
