I have seen a buddy sour mare jump out of the stall front you describe into a 12’ paved aisle when her friend was taken away, but she was an extreme case.
My biggest issue with these types of stalls are the horses that like to bit. My last barn had metal yolk gates and a normal stall door so thankfully if one of the biting horses would not keep his head in his stall and was biting the horses & humans walking by, we could close the door. If we didn’t have that door to fully close, I’m not quite sure what we would have done.
They are beautiful and I think if I had a small barn of my own personal horses and the layout of the barn was just right, I would probably consider it.
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I have a friend with a big guy (17.3) on stall rest set up with round pen panels off his stall and do you know he bucked and got his back legs hung up over those high panels? Emergency getting them taken apart and down. Crazy what they get themselves into.
Nope. If I’ve got a horse confined, I want 8’ of horsey jail. Nobody needs their head sticking out in the aisle unless I’m nearby and have the door open with a stall guard in place.
The only time I’d consider it is for a “show barn” housing sales prospects, where I’d want buyers to be able to walk by and interact with the horses and see them without bars in the way. But it would be for presentation, not daily use. And is not likely to happen in my lifetime. 
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I have something similar except a bit higher in my new barn. It absolutely could be an issue with some horses, but I haven’t had any problems and love the stalls. I also have an older barn with traditional stalls. Being in the new barn is a privilege, not a right and ill-behaved will be downgraded. I wouldn’t put the buddy sour pair of retirees in the new stalls, for example. They don’t get open Dutch doors either.
mine are these so a little taller than yours: https://saratogastalls.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/stall13_lg.jpg
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I have european stall fronts. Before building our barn, I had some concerns expressed here about the possibility of horses being able to jump out or just being a nuisance (nipping or whatnot at passersby). But we have not had any problems and I am very happy with them. Our fronts are 5 feet at their lowest point, which helps (and the finished stall flooring, including mats, is 4 inches lower than the aisle / curb supporting the fronts). As a result, even my 17 hand mare can only just put her head over the front (and can’t reach far into the aisle). For reference, I attached photos of this mare as well as one of my pony (14.1) showing their size relative to the stall fronts.
I should probably mention that the stalls also have dutch doors leading to paddocks; these doors are generally open and likely eliminate any incentive to try to “escape” by jumping over a stall front. And when the horses were first introduced to the euro stalls, I made a point of making sure these doors stayed open.
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Thank you fall for weighing in!
Bluey, those pictures of horses making bad decisions are strangely reassuring to me. After all, the safest set up still a disaster to the very determined horse.
And I love seeing the pictures of what you all chose. Anyone use a company besides Heritage (in the Southeast) and love their product and prices?
More info: This barn will have a 14’ aisle and paddocks off the back with Dutch doors, so no one will be trapped with the front of the stall looking like the only way out of a bad situation.
But I have absolutely worked in (and hated) those “gauntlet” aisles where you had to worry about the horse in your hand plus the jerk in his stall trying to bite him. And the thrown or torn down equipment. Just No. All that (and ventilation) inspired the 14’ aisle. Trunks and blankets will be on the opposite wall.
I will build a stallion stall (or perhaps two) on the ends. The idea is that untrustworthy horses can be put in those stalls and really closed in. But I was wondering about the wisdom of these low stall fronts for your average bears.
And these stalls are in 50% of the barns on farms that will be “comps” for mine. They are small but luscious hobby farms. I’m being a little over-kill in terms of building for a stallion or fragile-and-wild rehab case or whatever.
I was thinking about allowing horses to have this head out option that gave them more range than a yoke in a door because I’ll save money (and maybe help the shy horse) by not having bars between the stalls. Those make a barn look nice: It feels like a large, open room and the whole heard can see each other. But I think that will blow up my budget even worse than is already going to happen. I’ll build walls with 2x6s and spaces between them for some air flow and visibility for the horses. But I have a hard time closing in the front when the sides are so closed, too.
@YankeeLawyer Who made your stall fronts? Do you think the 5’ high yoke is too tall for your regular sized horses? I’m small, so a 16 hander is all I need to ever own, if I have a choice and his stride is long. I worry about building a yoke or door so high that those short horses are always lifting their head to look out and building the underside of their neck. You can picture a pony doing that.
So I’m trying to find a solution to having a safe stall for an average horse as well as a design that I can modify for that stallion/rogue horse stall.
If it were me, I would be wary of building a barn that might dictate the horses I could safely manage in the future. I wouldn’t want to limit my future choices in that way, even if I were currently confident that it is sufficient. (Though you are mitigating some of this risk with the stallion stall(s).)
I personally have no attachment to Euro-style fronts - I much prefer the look and the functionality of a closeable yoke for all of the reasons listed by others. In the interest of efficiency I would not purposely plan to keep daily gear on the other side of a 14’-aisleway if I didn’t have to. And with Dutch doors to the outside, having the extra openness to the aisle with the Euros would be less critical to me.
But! That’s just me. Obviously plenty of folks do it and love both the look and the functionality, so I think if it’s something you love, go for it.
Hi! Our stall fronts were made by Sunset Valley Metalcraft in PA. I think they did a great job (they also made our dutch doors for the barn). https://sunsetvalleymetalcraft.com/horse-stalls.html
I do think our fronts are a bit high; I don’t mind them but my pony, for example, cannot put her head over the front (but can see through the grill as she would in a regular stall). Attached is a photo of my 16 hand mare; as you can see, she can just put her head over. Lucas Equine makes a similar front with a dip over the stall door that solves this issue (photo attached). On hindsight, that style might have been ideal. Sunset made our fronts according to my drawings, so the design issue is on me!!
Well, any horse can be a total idiot but in my experience they are happy and peaceful if they have sight of other horses and if they can freely choose to look out at the world or stand at the back of their stable. I also like the better ventilation offered by open fronts. [* assume crash position here* ] My impression, from this side of the ocean, is that many American barns are dark, stuffy and claustrophobic with the horses imprisoned in small cells.
I personally, in 5 decades, know of only one 14.2 Welsh pony who could jump out of his stable over a full height Dutch door, from a standing start. He rarely did so, and only when he was bored and missing a full haynet over night. He never went anywhere but stayed close to his friends.
Recycled ‘plastic planks’ are increasingly popular as they don’t require maintainence like wood does in the challenging stable environment.
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Been there, done that and have the vet bill to prove it. My ASB gelding was in the stall due to a scratch on his eye. He had a buddy in with him, but apparently not the buddy he wanted. He jumped out and into a 8’ wide aisle. The barn worker was still there, so put him back in his stall. He did it a second time, only wasn’t successful. He hung his hind leg between the stall guard and the stall door. He ended up straining his stifle and have some pretty bad burns around his pastern. There was not top door at that barn, so I had to put up one of the webbed stall guards at the top to keep him confined for his now much extended stall rest.
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Have you (or any of you all found a closable yoke that didn’t rattle or make the door heavy?
That stallion-esque mare who has dictated a separate stall hates sliding doors and I don’t think she’s going to get over that. I kinda hate them, too. Along these lines I don’t want to choose a door with a rattling removable section, or choose a door that have a heavy fold down yoke and will swing on hinges. Oh, and I’m 5’1" so swinging a yoke up to the top will be a bit of a pain.
Anyone have a fabulous removable yoke design that I don’t know about?
ETA: I don’t picture having to really close in that stallion stall 90% of the time. My mare is not aggressive and I’d bring Jesus to meet any horse that was lunging at one passing by, so I don’t think this will be A Thing. Rather, I’m mainly considering something like a boarded and fragile rehab horse where there is absolutely no margin for error. I’ll probably get this done via leaving the door’s poles high and attaching a stall guard there so that the front of that stall’s wall is a minimum of about 7’ at its lowest point.
That’s the design idea for now. I’m open to any other good ideas that you all have.
Yikes! See my stall guard plan above— I could be building an extra tangle in.
I’m pretty sure that the barn I’m thinking of had Lucas high fronts with removable yokes. If you search that you should be able to find their “decision center” page on yoke options. The yoke is basically secured in the door by gravity and a few pins. I don’t recall it being difficult or heavy to place or remove them. I could see how the swinging yokes might be more challenging but I assume Lucas and competitors have some products or mechanical tricks that help.
I think you and I just have different preferences - I love sliding doors and have never met a swinging stall gate/door I liked! The caveat being that the sliding door is good quality, well mounted, and properly maintained. I remember those Lucas doors as being beautifully made and perfectly balanced once hung - they were basically the stall door version of soft close drawers.
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I don’t think anything is entirely horse/idiot-proof, but I would definitely be nervous about the low stall fronts. My current horse is an escape artist and a very good fence jumper and he would have a go at those.
I once left him tied in an 10x10 outdoor wooden yard with a hay net as I was going to ride another horse in the area that was about 30 yards away - completely visible from where he was. The yard was at least 4’ high with 4 solid rails, with 1’ drop on the arena side (it was built on a slight slope). As soon as I rode off on the other horse he jumped out and joined us :eek: - somehow snapping the twine he was tied too.
I’m about to get some big outdoor sand yards built at home (yay!) and they will be 5’ railings with a hot tape extension on top - total height at least 6’.
My stalls are homemade, but the walls are only 4’ high, and the doors are stall guards. I’ve had 7 horses here (no more than 4 at a time) and have never had one try to jump out. The ponies will try to go UNDER the stall guard if it’s not low enough and have the bottoms securely attached. None have thought of going over. All except the small pony can put their heads over the stall walls into the aisle, or their neighbor’s stall. Since they are all turned out together, this has worked well and I think they like it.
Looking for a deal on some 10’ fronts is such a good idea. How did you find out about those fronts that were on sale?
Thank you!
http://www.freybrothersinc.com/equestrian
https://www.stallworksllc.com/stall-systems
Here are two other companies that you may be
interested in.
Frey will make a custom door for you. My friend used them with her barn and had custom doors made. Hers were sliders with a removable yoke. She is petite and didn’t seem to find them an issue. She leaves them open most of the time.
The half-circle curve ones are my dream stall fronts, with the bars on top and mesh on the bottom. As long as the door is minimum 54” tall, I’m not super concerned about a horse trying to jump out. I’ll personally never ever do a drop-down yoke. I boarded at a barn that had those, and in a six-month time frame three horses broke off multiple teeth playing with the part that was dropped down. One broke it’s jaw.
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