Open barred window between stalls: Yay or nay?

[mvp]

Title says it all. If you had a row of stalls and wanted them to be most horse friendly, would you include barred windows between them or not?

Pros: Horses can see each other and the whole place feels more open. Better ventilation.

Cons: Some horses really don’t want to see each other. Other than two stalls at either end, there’s not a good way to insure that whichever horses who live there will be able to get along.

If horses had access to runs and could see each other when out (but perhaps not 24/7, would that change your answer?

If front stall doors had yokes and they could look out, or back doors did so that there was always some way for each horse to see another, would you skip the windows between stalls?

If you had 8 or 10 stalls and, could perhaps make the two end ones private, would you like that kind or ratio: 2/10 or 2/8 stalls were private and the rest were open? Do you think this would provide the right kind of architectural flexibility for a variety of horses?

Thanks for your thoughts and experience!

[Simkie]

My vote is yes, but if I were building a boarding barn, it might be no. For a personal barn, it’s the right choice for my horses

Half solid walls might be a good option for a boarding barn–solid near the feed corners, open behind that. Horses get a little privacy to eat! If it’s got to be all or nothing, making the end stalls solid sounds like a good compromise.

[msj]

Sorry but I’d vote no whether it was a private barn or a boarding or training barn. My reason for a no vote is disease, especially if it’s a show barn. Horses going to shows and bringing back strangles, colds etc. If they all have yokes into main aisle and can see each other, that should be enough. If they can go out in smaller groups or even one large group to a large pasture at a barn great. I’ve seen and heard of too much disease coming from shows and some local stables in my area where they had strangles in the barn and still continued to show.

[MysticOakRanch]

Most horses are more comfortable seeing other horses. In a private barn, I’d do the “windows”. My barn has windows on one side of the barn and solid stalls on the other side. I find all the horses are happier on the window side.

In a boarding stables - maybe do some stalls with friendly windows, and some without? I’ve seen that configuration at some of the boarding stables I’ve visited.

[Pocket_Pony]

It depends on if it is for personal use or boarding. My old private barn had solid walls all the way up and I liked it just fine, but my new barn has half walls and then barred windows the rest of the way and I like that, too. In both scenarios, the horses had runs off their stalls so they could socialize if they wanted to.

If I were boarding, I would worry about it if my horse didn’t get along with neighbors or if someone was sick. At home, I can manage it however I want.

My barn has the bar dividers and also the bar fronts, so I will say that I miss having a solid wall to put a ring onto that I can use for tying and hay nets, but I figured other ways to work around that.

[ReSomething]

Mine is 4 foot tall solid plywood and completely open. No bars at all, but it is two stalls built for two particular horses. It is set up with the feeding areas at opposite corners.
My trainers is the old fashioned oak 4 inch wide alternating full and half height planks, that if needed you can plate behind to give privacy. Her fronts are barred, her doors are solid sliders.

I’ve also seen solid walls with a chain link looking sliding door, or those racing rubber chain things, then there are half doors, dutch doors and those doors with the yoke.

I think an open type wall that can be configured to be closed is a flexible alternative and the old style walls were easy to do that with, just slap up a piece of plywood.

[Hermein]

I have a shed row that has big windows with bars in each stall. The end stalls have sliding covers for bad weather. My horses, who have been together for years, like the set up–both for ventilation and to confirm that they’re not all alone.

[beowulf]

Most horses are much happier with the bars between stalls; there will be squeals at first and kicks at mealtime, though in the barns I worked with with the bars between stalls they did adjust.

Personally, it is all I’d do if I was in the position to build a barn. It makes for much, much better ventilation but it also takes part of the isolation out of being in a stall – plus, you can see if a horse is down or in trouble from all points of the barn that way.

The argument about it not being good for quarantine; well, you shouldn’t be quarantining sick or new horses in the same barn as the resident horses~

Quarantine should be its own structure, away from the barn.

[Texarkana]

I prefer bars over solid walls in the majority of situations.

The few reasons I might choose solid walls would be high traffic barns with a lot of horse turnover or situations where you’d be housing a lot of poorly socialized colts and stallions.

But if one believes solid walls eliminate the risk of diseases being spread, that is just not true. Bars, solid walls… if a horse in a neighboring stall is sick with something contagious, all horses should be considered exposed.

[Ticker]

We use hog panels between the stalls instead of vertical bars. We have had them for over thirty years and never a problem.
The advantage of using hog panels is you can also hang water buckets on them.

Because they are horizontal , it’s an easy matter to drill holes in a sheet of plywood to close off a stall ( for foaling) when needed. Wire ties hold the plywood in place and it’s easy on easy off.

The air flow with a half stall is So much better than an enclosed stall.

[islgrl]

I can see the advantages of both. I will say that in our barn we have to configure which horse goes in which stall as some have bars and some have solid walls. We have a few horses that really do not do well with the bars, they seem to find it too stressful to have another horse watching them eat or whatever…

[ReSomething]

Ticker we were going to put up cattle panels but got lazy. Hog panels? And how are they fixed down?

Absolutely agree that divisions are only there for looks. True quarantine needs distance, separate equipment, no sharing of hoses or buckets.

[Ticker]

ReSomthing, the panel wires were centered in the middle of the top board and screwed down with, what I can only describe as, a bent metal tab that slipped over the panel wire. The metal tabs with holes already in them, came in a roll that I believe can be found at home depot.

[ReSomething]

Thank you!

[vxf111]

In my barn the stall fronts are all grates, so horses can see across to each other. Solid walls between. Dutch doors out the back to shared paddocks.

I did solid walls when I built my (personal retirees plus board one retiree) barn. I wish I had done half and half. I have one spastic horse who freaks out when he can’t see his buddy. Had I had at least one set of stalls with a grate between, I could have put he and his buddy in those 2 stalls. That one horse would have preferred a grate between the stalls for sure.

Other horses don’t seem to care. The solid walls do keep things a little more calm/settled. When they eat they don’t squeal and kick at each other. When a storm comes through Mr. Nervous doesn’t set everyone else off.

But if I had to do it again, I’d do a mix.

[Lucassb]

I’d put bars in - mostly for ventilation but also for horse comfort (they are herd animals, after all. Perhaps, I’d have one end stall with full walls if I felt that that would be handy given my intended use (a grumpy animal or stallion or something, although all the stallions I’ve had did fine in “regular” stalls where they could see others.

I’d do that anywhere, but particularly here in the south where it can get hot and humid, and good ventilation is important.

[WildandWickedWarmblo]

The best situations I’ve been in at barns had a small area, about 8 inches or so, between stalls so horses could see each other. Just one open space in boards vertically so if horses want to visit, they can do so. Usually at back corner of stalls. As others have said, if it is very open with bars all along the side and if the horses do not like each other or if one is a bully, it can be stressful.

[crosscreeksh]

Having had race horses for over 40 years…our stall walls were always solid wood. The barn we built after losing our main barn in January is only for our own pleasure/breeding horses…mares, stallions and geldings are on separate parts of the farm. In the new barn we did solid walls up 4.5 feet then hog panels - small square, heavy gauge metal mesh up 8’+. We have always used custom 1/2 door screens so all horses can stick their heads out into the aisle. I see my horses acting much more content while being able to see their neighbors without having to move to the doorway!! Even the stallion can see the other horses and hang out. The added ventilation makes this a great set up in a warmer climate.
If I was setting up a boarding barn, I’d have a mixture of mesh and solid walls…not all horses are good neighbors!!

[BeeHoney]

Depending on what kind of horses you have, my vote would be for a mix of solid walls and walls with bars/mesh above a certain height. The proportion would be determined by what type of horses you have and how much turnover you have.

Horses are indeed herd animals, but they also are very specific in their relationships. A horse that might really enjoy turnout with his little herd of friends might be stressed out next to a dominant mare who is constantly giving him the evil eye. A sensitive mare might feel persecuted after spending the night next to a studdish gelding that has been leering at her. Even well-behaved horses sometimes don’t like each other that much. Of course, you can always shuffle stalls around to accommodate preferences. But, IMO, a horse that has a healthy herd situation for part of each day really doesn’t NEED interaction with other horses when in the barn.

We also ask horses to tolerate separating from their buddies all the time, so it is perfectly healthy for them to practice being separated from them when they are in the barn. However, adjoining stalls are really nice if you have young horses or do layups. In those cases, the company of a steady friend through some bars might be a real blessing.

Either way, I’d advise against yokes in the aisle doors or European stall fronts. It’s a nice “look” but most horses use the access to harass horses walking up and down the aisle, to try to grab stuff that is within reach to ruin, to try to scrape the stall front with their teeth, or crib on the edge the yoke provides. If you have visitors/guests, it’s a temptation for them to pet or fool with horses that aren’t theirs.

I also am against windows where the horse can stick their head out. From a maintenance standpoint it’s a nightmare–horses destroy those edges with the determination of beavers on cocaine. Also, if you have horses long enough, sooner or later you will encounter one or two with poor judgement who will try to escape out a window/dutch door. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does it’s not pretty.

If you want a barn to look nice, build it with as few chewable/biteable edges as possible.

[Bluey]

I talked to MBbarnmasters last fall and they said that most trainers today were preferring the walls between stalls to be 4’ solid bottoms and 1/3 in the front, by the feed door and the upper 2/3 of that wall, bars, for horses to see each other and airflow.

One or two stalls completely enclosed for the rare horse that needs it maybe, but most they were building today had those kinds of walls and the report was everyone was very happy with those.

I think that front 1/3 to be a whole wall by the feed does give the cranky or shy horses peace that someone is not looking at them eating, while they still can step over to the other 2/3 and see the horses are still there.

Here is a picture: