I’m thinking about possibly moving my horse to a friend’s place for retirement. They use gates as the stall fronts as they are basically large corral stalls. Would you be concerned about a horse getting his leg caught from laying down at night?
Is it just the front of the stalls that are gates, or the whole stall?
I have 10 ft. gates as stall doors/fronts, with the rest of the stalls being wood. Have worked very well for the last 11 years, with nobody getting caught in them.
I have chain link gates for stall doors but they go all the way to the ground. You can buy them for about $45 . Would they let you change it? I’ve been around long enough to know that if it can happen, it probably will.
A leg getting caught is a concern, but I think you have to weigh the risk v. reward. Are the stalls otherwise safe? Are they of good size? Does your horse tend to roll or stretch out when laying down?
I have seen people cover gates with plywood or thick rubber or plastic to prevent legs going through.
Personally, I’ve found the risks to be minimal, becauae usually the gaps are large enough that the horse does not get stuck if he gets a leg through. But then, there’s always that one horse…
You can get gates that have mesh instead of rails. In one barn I leased, the stalls had 4 foot gates as the stall door the rest was wood. The gates lower rails were spaced closer together and the upper rails were farther apart.
[QUOTE=Texarkana;8984773]
A leg getting caught is a concern, but I think you have to weight the risk v. reward. Are the stalls otherwise safe? Are they of good size? Does your horse tend to roll or stretch out when laying down?
I have see people cover gates with plywood or thick rubber or plastic to prevent legs going through.
Personally, I’ve found the risks to be minimal, becauae usually the gaps are large enough that the horse does not get stuck if he gets a leg through. But then, there’s always that one horse…[/QUOTE]
Agreed. I think the size of the stall would make a big difference in determining the risk. If the stalls are normal size, I wouldn’t really worry about it.
Depends on the horse and the size of the stall.
My two sensible (and not large) horses share an oversized run-in stall (12’x24’) and the front and one side wall are round pen panels (other 2 walls are wood). It was a temporary measure until DH could build a proper stall front but it worked so well in the summer for air flow (one horse has thermoregulation problems and over heats easily) that I am keeping it set up this way indefinitely. So one definite advantage is good air flow compared to a solid wall, if that’s a concern for your horse. My horses have had no problems getting caught in the panel (knock on wood, of course). I also know of another farm which uses similar round pen panels off their stalls as small runs (10’x20’) and have not heard of a horse getting in trouble with them. But again, you know your horse best.
[QUOTE=Texarkana;8984773]
A leg getting caught is a concern, but I think you have to weight the risk v. reward. Are the stalls otherwise safe? Are they of good size? Does your horse tend to roll or stretch out when laying down?
I have see people cover gates with plywood or thick rubber or plastic to prevent legs going through.
Personally, I’ve found the risks to be minimal, becauae usually the gaps are large enough that the horse does not get stuck if he gets a leg through. But then, there’s always that one horse…[/QUOTE]
I agree with this.
The main risk is with foals, who really can find a way - to do anything.
I have seen people use heavy rubber (stall mat type) attached at the bottom to prevent this.
OP, what do you mean by “corral stalls?” Is it a pipe enclosure, not solid walls?
Either way, solid gate or pipe gate, it can be a problem. I have those nice heavy solid sliders, and one of my horses got cast against it and managed to bend the frame while thrashing himself free.
No difference between what you are asking and the prefab barns that have what we used to call " open air" stalls. Basically a 12X24 stall with the front half covered. The barn had 24 stalls total, was always full and never had a horse injured by having it’s legs through the bars.
This sounds dangerous to me. I’d never keep a horse in a stall where the horse could get caught up in the walls or door. If the stall is bigger than 12x12 there’s less risk, but still risk. We have mainly 12x14, a few 12x12 and couple of 12x24 stalls. I can’t tell you how many horses I’ve witnessed rolling where their legs touched the walls. Very solid stalls. Solid square tubing dividers and fronts with tongue and groove, covered by some sort of sheeting.
If they are pipe coral gates, they also probably have those heavy threaded hinge hanger things screwed into the wall. Depending on how they are mounted (usually with both hinge hangers pointed up, and gait set on), a horse can put its head or leg through the gate and lift it off it’s hanger. There is a way to mount the gate so the hangers face each other. There’s also a gap between the gate and wall where the hinge hanger is that is dangerous.
If they are mesh gates…A very long time ago a show facility I frequented had stalls with chain link dividers. Horses would either catch a shoe or roll and get cast, and then get beat up by the chain link. Unless it’s very heavy gauge, solid welded mesh, bendable mesh is an accident waiting to happen.
When you say “gates” and “large corral stalls”, can you describe what these are?
