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Low front European stalls-- horses jumping out?

Around The Farm
#21

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’.

#22

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.

#23

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!

#24

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.

#25

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.

0721901C-5D6F-4D17-891B-78ED2DEB6766.jpeg

1 Like
#26

I’ve known a couple stall jumpers. My friend tried to wean her 4 month old warmblood at my house. He jumped my back fence, jumped the gate and ran down the street. We cornered him behind someone’s pond. My friend ended up sending him to a big barn where he proceeded to jump out of the stall. They had to completely lock him in with no openings.

A friend of mine rescued some horses and brought them to a new home. The first night one horses climbed the stall wall and somehow killed itself.

One of my own horses tried to jump out of her stall and ended up half in, half out. She was fine, but we had to take the top of the stall wall down to get her out. It was terrifying because all her weight was on her belly by the stifle. I thought she’d do internal damage, but she was absolutely fine, although I’m sure she had a bruised belly.

After that incident, I added wood rails to raise the stall height, but I had a pony that would rear, and stick his front leg out through the space between the rails. How he could hold the rear, stick his feet out, then pull them back in, well that’s some talent. I never stalled him after that. I’d rather not have a horse break a leg.

I went ahead and removed the rails to repaint the barn. I haven’t replaced them. I’m mostly using the barn as a run in at this time. Less of a concern with horses trying to escape.

The only time I was really grateful for an escape proof barn is when the neighbors stallion got loose and came visiting at 4am. I locked him in the stall because I have all mares and didn’t want him getting in their pasture.

#27

I have the standard type door with a yoke that you can open by pulling it down from the top and it hangs, or we can take the yoke out completely and put it back in when we need to. So depending on the horse, the yoke is either closed all the time, or the yoke is removed so it’s always open. I ordered it from Menards, it’s made by Midwest Manufacturing.

I also have another stall that has no slider standard door, it just has a heavy duty aluminum stall guard, It’s good to have some variety. We built that stall for a horse that used to rear and hit her head on the top of the stall door when she walked into a stall, so we skipped the door and made the stall header really high.

Those Euro stalls are so beautiful, but I have a cribber and a chewer and they would ruin them.

I think I would do a 16 foot minimum aisle with those stalls. Especially if you are driving equipment or tractors through the aisle.

#28

Those are beautiful stall fronts.

One concern is that low board in front and mesh above letting bedding be kicked into the aisle every time a horse moves around,
Someone that has those said they had to keep sweeping the aisle with those fronts.

Also if you have a need to bed heavily, that bottom board is not tall enough.
I think that should be about 2’ to keep bedding in and keep a horse rolling around from maybe hanging a shoe in the mesh so low down if he hits the wall there, as they do when rolling or getting up.

Had a picture of a horse hanging by a shoe in one of those mesh stalls.
Horses can find ways to do harm and we will still take our chance with that over hanging a leg in vertical bars, as happens also.
We will hopefully minimize those chances by not having mesh quite so low down there.

So many options, enough for everyone’s choices and so many are just fine and beautiful.

2 Likes
#29

I’m curious how much of a direct kick the wire mesh could take without getting some damage (even if a little) and how easy it would be to replace. Also if you live in a windy area or use stall fans if the bedding would blow or even get kicked out in the aisleway.

The only thing I don’t like about the yoke with a closure is if they open downward being careful to close them securely so they don’t accidently open and hit you in the head. Also a horse sticking his head out and turning it sideways then spooking and trying to bring his head back in sideways and hurting themselves.

We did have a feed door opening that was big enough for a horse to stick their head out but too small for them to attempt to jump out of, plus there was a feeder in the corner so that prevented them from getting where they could jump out.

Be sure you get a powder coat that won’t flake off, while I love the look, if the metal isn’t prepared properly the powder coat will not stick and eventually flake off.

The other thing is ease of cleaning, barns get dusty so put something in the is easy to clean. It was recommended to us that we put a finish (wax) on our powder coated bars every so often, easier said then done as it was a lot of work! We also had T&G for the fronts, sides and backs of the stalls, looked beautiful but again the dust settled in the groves and the dust sort of stuck to the wood so lots of cleaning to keep them pretty.

If I had a do over I would opt for something like this: not as pretty but easier to keep clean and fire proof.

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estate-series6-150x150.jpg

#30

I love these too because of the airflow and are prettier than just the wire mesh, which is very functional, but not visually pleasing and if I ever get to build a barn, I would like to be able to mix the aesthetic with the practical. Down here in the deep south, my fully enclosed stalls have little airflow in the summer without fans and as I am gone 12 hours a day and have an older barn, a barn fire is a real threat. So my stalls are not a refuge from the summer heat, but with more modern stall fronts like that, they could be. And as my horses are out more than in, I don’t bed heavily. That, and call me crazy, but I am not a fan of tongue and groove, heavily wooden built barns. They are pretty, but again, here in the deep south, it just becomes termite fodder and rots from the humidity; not to mention the fire hazard. If I get to build, it will likely be brick, stone or cinderblock with minimal wood. That or Hardiplank but again, minimal wood.

And I agree, at a boarding or breeding facility, they probably are not practical where there are so many different personalities and distractions and possibly hormones. Weaning foals, particularly colts, in something like that would be a nightmare, as someone else pointed out. I am past all that though and my horses’ temperaments are dependable, so for me would work nicely.

#31

I love Hau stalls https://hau-horsestalls.com/products/stalls/fronts/
I saw these at the horse expo and was amazed by the quality.

They also make euro fronts with a sliding door https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp6iI-ascbg

Here is another one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOyBTk9Dcr4

Rower and Rub also makes amazing stalls and I LOVE this style and color:

https://www.roewer-rueb.de/sites/def…_blum180_1.jpg

https://www.roewer-rueb.de/en-us/pro…e-stall-bremen

1 Like
#32

The last link shows open front stalls and on the end two closed in stalls with optional windows.

That makes sense, open stalls for horses you trust to stay in, some closed ones for those you don’t, if you want to have any of those open front stalls.

2 Likes
#33

MVP, since you mentioned concern about blowing up your budget, and trying to save money by not having bars between stalls (if I understood correctly), have you considered having horizontal bars, rather than the typical vertical ones?

That’s the choice we made; it was more economical, and also doesn’t have the “horse jail” look of vertical bars. Plus, the horizontal bars are wider spaced than vertical ones, so more ventilating in our warm climate.

We’ve never had an issue with a horse getting anything stuck between bars (I’ve seen some that had fewer horizontal members than our stalls, so those might have an issue with this), and we also went with feed openings (a hole, no feed door), which is just big enough to allow the horse to stick out a nose – so perfect for petting or kissing a muzzle:tickled_pink:.

The con would be that, if one counts on hanging numerous items (such as water and feed buckets) from vertical bars, then there are fewer opportunities for that.

The European style is attractive to the eye, and a barn I used to visit for lessons had those, and duplicated the look when they built a new, large, high-end facility, so they must have been happy with it, but they also had very wide aisles in both barns (at least 16 feet, and the new barn seemed even wider).

#34

Actually, I’m with you: I worry about rude, inconsiderate teeth being placed on the very expensive lumber that is mine, mine, mine, not theirs. So I would not have those low, wood-topped walls. They make a barn look lovely and the only people I know who have chosen those built hobby farms for what were their last horses. I’m planning for unknowns, bastards and disasters.

Also, a word to the wise-- making a building wider is more expensive than making it longer. That will be true, as well, of the sliding doors at the ends of the aisles. And if you cheap out (as I might) and don’t buy the most expensive doors with glass in them, you’ll be paying for electricity to light the barn when you also wanted to block wind or weather. So in there somewhere is a size vs. money compromise.

2 Likes
#35

Ooh, good point with the mesh stalls. And here I was almost decided on those. My current horse is barefoot, so I have forgotten the disasters caused by caught shoes. I can picture that. I once watched a horse peel off about 100’ of no climb wire when he caught a corner on his shoe. Catching it on one of these doors would be much worse for the horse.

How/why do you think that shavings escape from under these doors worse than any other kind? I can’t picture just where you think the problem comes from or why you think these doors are hung higher than others. Those of you with these stalls in situ, do you have this problem?

#36

I have worked in metal barns and show stalls that had those wider spaced horizontal bars in them. Think an MD Barn aesthetic. I liked 'em and you are right: They seemed to maximize lines of vision without inviting a horse to take a cheap shot at his neighbor. After all, he’d have to twist his head sideways before sharking it between the bars. The neighbor horse can see him coming and that neck twist is inconvenient and discouraging for the perp horse.

Unfun fact: I believe studies have shown horizontal bars in jails to be more humane than vertical ones. Someone who lines of their eyes with a gap in the horizontal bars has an unobstructed view of the whole outside that he can never have looking through vertical bars.

2 Likes
#37

I covet those lovely euro stall fronts. My next barn will have them. My current barn does have swinging chest-height stall gates, though a much more utilitarian version. Of the handful of horses that have lived in them, nobody has ever shown the slightest inkling of wanting to jump out - I think your average good citizen horse who has lived in a stall before would probably never consider such a thing.

They all seem to enjoy hanging heads out to watch the world go by. Current pony does have a snap on his latch, because he likes to play with things and would easily let himself out given the chance, so keep that in mind if you have a busybody.

My neighboring boarding facility has no full wall stalls - half walls front and sides. To my knowledge they’ve never had an issue with horses trying to jump out.

1 Like
#38

I have a formerly extremely high-strung horse who’s jumped or attempted to jump or scramble out of all sorts of things (livestock panels, various and sundry arena and pasture fences, has made attempts to climb out of stalls and trailer drop-down windows).

My Houdini horse has been kept in many stall types – European-style stall fronts, half door/dutch door stall fronts, full metal stalls with solid sides and bars up top, full mesh stall doors, stalls with various feed door/opening and hay rack setups.

She never tried to jump out of a half-door or European stall front (though she will try to reach/open latches if given the opportunity). She has spent plenty of time stall-walking (or frantically stall-cantering, as the case may be) behind a half door or Euro front, while sticking her head out every time she passed. But being able to stick her head out and make sure all was well in the aisle was sufficient to keep her from trying to jump out. And Euro stall fronts slowed her stall walking more than half doors, as she had to be more careful to stick her head out and would usually pause for a moment to do so. If anything, she is far calmer and less desperate to escape in these kinds of stalls, even when she is out of her mind with anxiety.

She has, however, tried to climb a stall front closed in with more widely spaced horizontal bars (like a ladder) and gotten a front leg hung in the gap. Based on my experiences I’d expect a horse who’d be a risk for jumping out of a Euro-front stall to also be a risk for doing something stupid on vertical bars or even horizontal bars. Kicking through vertical bars tends to be far more disastrous than getting hung up on a horizontal, but it did made me think twice about what is “safe” with a horse in that kind of highly emotional state (answer: probably nothing, but not horizontal bars in any case).

#39

I think this is a real risk of horse’s heads out that I can’t fix** It makes pawing for faster service very easy and natural fo them.

**I’d like to think that I wouldn’t have that horse or that I could ask Jesus to serve as waiter a few times such that the horses decided to be more polite. But I have not had the opportunity to change how pawers were fed/managed nor to correct one. I usually was working for someone else and they all seemed to just accept it.

#40

A new question: Y’all are your doors with yokes or with a low-front design all 5’ tall at the lowest point? That sounds safe, but for the non-stallion stalls of mine, I think I’d need 'em a tad shorter. I’m short. I’d buy nothing larger than 16.1 for myself.

Thank you!

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