high yoke stall fronts vs. the "gauntlet" aisle -- updated!

[fordtraktor]

Updated! See page 2

I am specing out an additional 5 stall barn addition to my new indoor arena. Due to other space constraints, I can only do an 8’ aisle so a low yoke or traditional Dutch door is out of the question for the interior. The exterior will have Dutch Doors for every stall (most 12 by 12, one or two 12 by 16).

would you prefer boarding at a place with one of those high yoke drop downs, or no option for horses to put their heads in the aisle at all? I am tending toward just full sliders but I wanted to poll the group.

Also, would you pay extra for a 12 by 16 stall for your horse? How much extra? or would you rather have more tack room space?

[trubandloki]

My answer is that I would not want to board someplace that I have to deal with that border that thinks Dobbin is the best and will not make sure that Dobbin’s head is not in my way when I want to bring my horse down the aisle.

I think having the bigger stalls cost more is a better way to allot them than just some person being lucky enough to get them.
More tack room space depends on how much tack room space there is to start with.

[Milobloom]

I vote full stall doors, I hate being at boarding barns where you are trying to not get bit by THAT horse. With Dutch doors on the back you really have the best of both worlds.
Currently I would not pay for a oversized stall due to owning a smaller horse right now, when I had a tall gelding I would of.

[mmeqcenter]

I personally would have no desire to pay more for a bigger stall, 12’x12’ is perfectly large enough for my 16.2hh and 17hh horses. My stalls at home are 10’x12’ and I’ve boarded at places with the same size, I had no issues. If I had a draft or other type horse >17.3hh or so, I’d pay for a bigger stall, but I don’t have any monsters that size.
Yes, they should always cost more, otherwise it’s just a favoritism battle on who gets the big stall(s). First come first served is fine until that boarder leaves and the stall opens up. Do you maintain a “wait list” with your existing boarders for the big stall? Not practical.

In your described set up, with such a narrow aisle, fully enclosed stall fronts are best for everyone. As a boarder, I might let an 8’ aisle prevent me from boarding there at all though, unless everything else was absolutely incredible. I hate narrow aisles.

[Bluey]

Horse heads sticking out of their stalls looks pretty in pictures, but is not practical for every day barn management.
Horses will be horses and some feeling frisky or cranky will do more than make faces, but want to play or worse, attack passing humans, horses or any, plus you have to hang all where they can’t reach it.
Horses that bother someone will be bopped and may end up playing get me or head shy.

Horses with doors out the back to any kind of pen really don’t need at all to hang their heads out in the aisles.

A local rehab barn built all 12’ x 16’ stalls and they really like them and so do their customers, for what they say.
They also said those stalls were easier to clean than smaller ones and horses stayed cleaner in them.

I think that MDBarnmaster has those bigger stalls with individual tack lockers in the corner, if you want to consider one more tack option.

[trubandloki]

There is a whole thread where people talked about the pros and cons of the tack lockers in the stall.

It would be a very big negative to me if I was looking for a boarding barn.

Tack locker in the aisle would be fine except in this barn with an 8’ aisle people leaving their tack locker doors open would make using the aisle dangerous.

[goodhors]

You might just make a couple of the larger stalls, charge extra for them. Locally folks are quite willing to pay the extra for bigger stalls. If no one is willing to pay extra, convert them into temporary storage for tack or bales.

When I get an open box stall, I fill it with hay bales to save me walking, plus the wheelbarrow of sawdust. Husband says this is good, prevents us getting more horses! We have a 12ft aisle, but still have full aisle, sliding stall doors with NO ONE hanging a head out. I really hate heads out to grab at anyone or horses going by. We drive the tractor thru barn too, good way to whack a head on passing machinery.

Visiting other barns with skinny aisles, dutch doors, yoke gates, makes me really grateful we did not do that in our barn.

[fordtraktor]

Good, sounds like the consensus is full doors, which is my preference.

If someone doesn’t want a narrow aisle, they could always choose a stall in the other barn. Smaller 10 by 12 stalls but the aisle there is quite wide.

I do plan to do tack lockers but in the tack room. My family has had very good luck with 3 by 3ish floor to ceilings with saddle racks and bridle racks. the few years I boarded, I would have liked a lockable individual space. We have had lockers for a long time and people seem to like them. it also reduces the amount of stuff anyone can store in your barn! it goes in the locker, on the drying racks or stays home.

No barn will be perfect for everyone, especially around here where options are extremely limited when it comes to good care/facilities/training. I don’t want to sacrifice the indoor or stall dimensions for aisle space.

[buck22]

I’ll be the voice of dissent and say high yoke IF you plan on keeping your outside dutch doors closed most of the time (ie, no overhang for weather, or beating sun in summer) AND you have a space for people to X tie that is not in the bite zone of stalled horses.

It’s not fun, but perfectly doable leading a horse down a narrow aisle when stalled horses can only stick their heads out and make ugly faces (not talking about the full frontal attack of a pithy little stall guard!). I actually prefer snarky faces over fully prisoned horses kicking at the doors and gnashing the bars.

I left a boarding facility that had an 8’ aisle and the stall fronts were full sliders, but each stall had a dutch door on the outside of the barn. When I moved there, the DD’s were open so the horses had fresh air and a view. Was nice as the aisle was narrow and X ties were located in the aisle. But little did I know they only opened the DD’s for 2 hours on every third Tuesday in the spring months only. The rest of the time the horses were kept like mushroooms in dark little cells with no air circulation. To make matters vastly worse, they cut back turnout from 12 hours to 2 hours as soon as the temp dropped, and only picked stalls every other day, soooo… yeah… it was abysmal.

Sorry to be cranky, this post brought back shudder-worthy memories.

Yes, premium sized stalls should have a premium price tag - the price difference should be based on percentages. If the premium stall is 20% larger, it should cost 20% more.

[fordtraktor]

@buck22 I totally hear that. No worries, the Dutch doors will be open unless there is a blizzard and most stalls will have an outdoor 12 by 24 run with all weather footing eventually. I am adding an overhang and the stall line is in the East, the least exposed direction on purpose.

I keep most horses, and definitely my own, out 24/7 as much as possible. I also am constrained by the fact I don’t want the indoor open to the stalls directly because I don’t want any horse exposure to arena dust. Thus my constraint is the size of an attached but separate lean-to type addition that is completely shut off from the indoor (except doors of course which can close) and possible dust. It limits the width because of the rafters this design accommodates, they can only be so long before they need to be trusses given our snow load. I will have footing as dust-free as possible but I don’t like stalls along the side of an arena, I don’t think it is healthy.

[IPEsq]

With the Dutch doors in the back and small aisle, definitely no heads poking out into the aisle. And my horse is one that will be in your business if he’s allowed to poke his head out, and I realize that’s obnoxious. It also provides him access to eating blankets .

We have dutch doors where the top are windows with bars, which does help when you do have to close up for weather. What also helps in this barn with full sliding doors on the aisle side is that the center dividers and the stall fronts have bars on the top so there is some more air flow and the horses can see each other. Even though it’s got a lower ceiling than other barns I’ve been in, it seems a lot less dark and isolated in there even with everyone’s heads safely behind bars.

[Simkie]

For myself, I’d want the option–so windows in the door that can be shut. Some horses are very polite about having their head out and are not a problem, even in a narrow aisle. But the snarky ones can get shut in. I have a mix of allowed to hang out into the aisle and not, and it changes as things in the barn change. It’s nice to have that flexibility.

But if you think boarders are going to be too “but Fluffy just tries to rip the hide off every passing horse because he looooooves you” and won’t keep the gate up after you’ve said no more…I guess you gotta go with solid doors. Bummer for the polite guys :-/

[happilyretired]

Another vote for full doors since you have Dutch doors that will be open unless weather is horrendous on the other side of the stalls. I used to board at a barn in Central Florida and even though you could “put the bars up” along the aisle for unruly horses the owners almost always fought it … “my poor baby” (even though there were open windows to the outside). I recently built a new facility with my trainer and his wife … we have wide aisles but still opted for full doors along the aisle. We have half doors on the outside (and full sliding doors we can close in terrible weather) so horses can hang their heads out and look outside. But — the aisles are clear and no worries about horses grabbing their halters off the hooks, or being generally disruptive.

[Palm_Beach]

It’s actually healthier for a horse to NOT have a half door to hang it’s head over. They clear their nasal passages by hanging their heads down, and having four barriers that are too tall for them to hang their heads over, and feeding hay down low, will encourage this. OP, it sounds like your facility will be really nice, and not prison-like at all. And you make good points about the dust - sometimes if the dutch doors are open, my bedding blows all over the place. I keep them closed unless the horses are in and it’s not windy. Like you, they are outside most of the time.

[2DogsFarm]

![]( am assumng your full doors will have at least half-length grilles?
They allow some visibility into the aisle for stalled horses, but won’t prevent some crabass horses rushing them (I’m looking at you my Hackney Pony who makes faces at his 16H TWH neighbor…:mad:) & with a narrow aisle that could still spook a horse being led past.
IIWM & I could afford the option, I like the full-screen doors
Like these:

[IMG]https://store.rammfence.com/Images/NMI_1.jpg)

As for stall size, IMHO 12X12 is fine unless you are boarding Belgians.
My 3 routinely share a 12X12 - their choice, since they are out 24/7 with free access to stalls.
16H TWH, 13H Pony & 34" mini.

[rollingabout]

@Palm Beach

It’s actually healthier for a horse to NOT have a half door to hang it’s head over. They clear their nasal passages by hanging their heads down, and having four barriers that are too tall for them to hang their heads over, and feeding hay down low, will encourage this. OP, it sounds like your facility will be really nice, and not prison-like at all. And you make good points about the dust - sometimes if the dutch doors are open, my bedding blows all over the place. I keep them closed unless the horses are in and it’s not windy. Like you, they are outside most of the time.

Actually it is healthier. Their mental health. My mare was stuck in a 9.5 x 9.5 dark stall until they moved her to one corner ones where one side is all bars. Still can’t hang he head but it’s a little better. She prefers to hand her head outside. She coughs when warming up because there is no circulation in the barn.

At the last barn before I moved, she was in a 12 x 12 with european fronts and she was very happy. In fact, all the horses there were happy. No coughing when warming up either.

[Palm_Beach]

@rollingabout

Actually it is healthier. Their mental health. My mare was stuck in a 9.5 x 9.5 dark stall until they moved her to one corner ones where one side is all bars. Still can’t hang he head but it’s a little better. She prefers to hand her head outside. She coughs when warming up because there is no circulation in the barn.

At the last barn before I moved, she was in a 12 x 12 with european fronts and she was very happy. In fact, all the horses there were happy. No coughing when warming up either.

No, it’s not. That is why they ship horses long distances in box stalls with free heads, instead of heads tied up. I’d get my horse out of a barn that has such little circulation it’s causing my horse to cough when exercising. Some of those respiratory diseases are progressive and difficult to manage.

[rollingabout]

@Palm Beach

No, it’s not. That is why they ship horses long distances in box stalls with free heads, instead of heads tied up. I’d get my horse out of a barn that has such little circulation it’s causing my horse to cough when exercising. Some of those respiratory diseases are progressive and difficult to manage.

We will have to agree to disagree. My mare was great in the european stall fronts vs closed in stalls.

Shipping tie free in box stalls is a safety issue plus you’re moving goal posts. Box stalls is so they can lie down like my mare did during a 30 hour haul so you’ll need to have their heads free.

Where I am, well barns are few and far inbetween but that will change very soon.

[Simkie]

[quote=“Pal![]( Beach,post:17,topic:455574”]

No, it’s not. That is why they ship horses long distances in box stalls with free heads, instead of heads tied up. I’d get my horse out of a barn that has such little circulation it’s causing my horse to cough when exercising. Some of those respiratory diseases are progressive and difficult to manage.

[/quote]

Sure, if you’re stalling a horse in such a way that you’re not allowing it to move or choose where it stands, locking it in one spot where it can lower is head is probably better. Not many of us use tie stalls, though. Tie stalls would analogous to hauling tied. You sure don’t see that much anymore.

Most of us allow our horses free rein in their stalls. They can choose to hang their head out into the aisle, or lower it to the ground in the stall, or even lie down, if they want. Plenty of time and opportunity to clean out the sinus passages even if they can ALSO hang their heads into the aisle at other times. Even in a big rig set up for box stalls, horses can hang their heads over the partition…just like hanging a head over the door into the aisle.

Photo evidence that horses hauled in box stalls can hang their head into the “aisle.” This is Brookledge.

[IMG]https://www.brookledge.com/img/about/fullstall.jpg)

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[Nestor]

OP, it sounds like you may just have stalls down one side of the aisle, based on your description? In that case, I wouldn’t mind having the high yokes that drop down, because you can walk your horse on the farther side of the aisle without any issue. That’s very different than having horses’ heads on both sides of a narrow aisle.

I’d be inclined to have the yokes in the aisle because while yes they can hang their heads out over the Dutch door, that isn’t where the activity is. Most horses I’ve worked around want to watch the people, who are generally in the aisle of the barn.

I don’t think you can go wrong either way, I’d just lean towards the yokes.