Stall doors got altered and a couple coats of spray paint. Sod moving is a BS job that really sucks. This is as far as I got. Disappointing, but I busted my ass all day moving it around. Really, it’s not a one man job. Need one person cutting and the other immediately placing it.
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That’s “as far you got?” Ma’am that is a LOT. You’re crushing it, be kind to yourself.
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I just know that now there is nearly zero chance the sod will take as it’s too far gone. I got the backyard done but not the front. 
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Sod is quite resilient if you water it well once you put it in.
Don’t give up yet.
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Yes water water water. It’ll rebound
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Ok, I have an idea. I have two 6’ gates (7 bar style) that I don’t really know what to do with. My original plans changed, and they’re here without a purpose.
Trying to think of how to be able to close horses in quick in case of a storm, but not have the stalls be so “trappy”. What if I put the gates in as drawn below, able to open in one direction only so they can be tied back completely? That way I can button the horses up in stalls quickly (close dutch doors, close the gates) but they can’t really get trapped if two are in the same stall (dutch doors open, gates open)?
Pick my idea apart. Make it more robust.
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So you are saying you want to know if putting them in all together with a 6’ opening between the stalls will work?
It totally depends on your horses.
It would not work with my horses. I have one who is an expert at cornering the others and kicking the crap out of them, so that much confined space with only a 6’ opening would not work.
I would not risk that small of an opening with most horses.
Now, you might have horses who are not that type and it could work fine. It just seems a little tight to me.
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In normal weather - 6’ openings and the dutch doors to the outside would be open.
In bad weather - everyone separated into their own stalls. 6’ gates closed, Dutch doors closed.
Eta: I’m trying to make the stalls less trappy when they have in/out access, yet able to close them up quickly.
I could never do those stalls open for shelter. Not with the horses I have. But then, most horses are not as unreasonable as one of mine is.
I think if they are used to the shared environment, and it is working out fine, your rushed inside will work OK if they are not too frantic.
Once they are in the shared space you have the ability to go inside and remove one to the inside of the barn, while you position everyone, if they are not fully cooperating with going into their own spaces.
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I definitely wouldn’t. That’s just inviting a beating. Maybe your horses are more agreeable.
I’d want the entire width open for this.
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I cant see any way to have the horses coming in on their own without risking one getting trapped in a corner if one of your horses is protective of his space/food. But if they are already sharing the space with open dutch doors, that issue would have to be worked out by the herd.
What was your plan for them coming in, feeding, etc regardless of the gates?
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Just bring them into a stall and feed. There will be no feed inside the stalls unless they are locked up for bad weather. Hay will be outside. Grain is once a day, so they’ll be shut in for 30 mins or so.
Maybe I just read things wrong but I thought that horses having dutch doors into individual stalls, open to a common turnout area, was a pretty common thing? I figured the gates would be an upgrade, two ways to get away.
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I guess I’m hoping to be able to bring them in for a storm and have them in their own individual stalls with minimal work (close a door, close a gate). I don’t want them in a 14×30 area locked in together. If they’re locked inside, they need to have their own space. If I have to haul massive panels around to put them up for a 30 minute thunderstorm, the storm will be over before I’m even set up.
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You’re not wrong. It’s very common.
It’s one of those things where people never have a problem… until they do.
I really don’t know how I feel about the 6’ gate in the wall. Part of me is intrigued, part of me is skeptical it will work like you want it to. I’m curious to see what happens if you try it. I’ve always wanted a swing wall between stalls with Dutch doors to easily open/close it.
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I can always take the gates down and board it up into a solid wall if it doesn’t work. I’m trying to mitigate the ability for one horse to pin another in a stall, by giving two egress routes.
My old man is a dick about food, hence the food being outside unless they are locked in for a reason. There will be 3 feeding areas outside, for 2 horses.
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I agree with this.
It only works if you have a group of horses that always get along.
I personally would never do it.
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That’s fair. Does your set up have stalls elsewhere? So a run in area, and then stalls somewhere dedicated?
I have stalls attached to paddocks that open into my sacrifice area.
Access to the stalls only happens when the paddocks are closed and the horses are separated.
I have separate shelter for group turn out use, it is very open.
Depending on your horses, if they are fed in the stalls at all, they are going to consider it their space.
Disclaimer, as you know, horses are all different.
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I have a 12 x 24 run in area with two 5’ wide exits- one is at one end of a long side, the other is about in the middle of that same long side ( These were 2 stalls, I removed the dividing wall.). I have 2 hay pillows hanging along that wall with the exits. My 3 horses and donkey all hang out and nap in there together. It works for us and this stable, non grumpy herd. I never grain them in there, so it’s 100% shared space all the time. I’ve since removed those gate hangars you see in the opening, the other stall gate is secured to the wall. The feed buckets are never used anymore so there’s nothing to be possessive about.
I wouldn’t do the same set up if they were still stalls.
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So an idea, possibly a day late and a dollar short:
Take out the entire exterior wall to the paddock on stall # 3 and use the 2 gates to close it off. It will be a 3-sided 12x12(?) run in shelter with a wide opening, but can become a stall again in a pinch by closing the gates.
Two horses in a 12x12 area with the fourth wall totally open is less trappy than 2 <6’ openings.
A lot of people open dutch doors to stalls for shelter. I did it for years with no issue… until one day my mare decided to try to kill her herdmates. Two emergency vet calls in a week from a usually placid adult horse who randomly decided her BFFs deserved to die. She’d trap them in and not stop kicking. Luckily I was close enough to hear it both times; if I hadn’t been able to break it up, she might have kept going until they were dead. Said mare still gets turned out with friends, but never in tight places.
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