I need something to heat a stall for when an animal gets sick but I’m deathly afraid of fires…any recommendations for something SAFE?
Maybe some heat lamps? I think they’re fairly safe aren’t they? They could be installed behind a cage-type protector.
I would use lots of straw bedding, banked high, make sure the stall doesn’t have drafts (barn ventilation still has to happen) and blanket the horse. if the horse will tolerate it, and the illness isn’t contagious, put a pony or donkey in with the patient. I would be very wary of heat lamps if they were not very closely monitored. Infrared would be the safest but I still wouldn’t want it used without a person nearby.
It’s really cold right now, so I can understand your concern, but it’s amazing how warm the trailer gets when there are 2 horses in it, which is why I suggested a second animal in the stall.
[QUOTE=shamrock;8008687]
Maybe some heat lamps? I think they’re fairly safe aren’t they? They could be installed behind a cage-type protector.[/QUOTE]
You would have to have it high enough so the horse can’t touch it and with it that high you wouldn’t get any heat from it. They are not safe in a stall situation where a broken bulb or short can cause a fire. They cost a lot to run as well on the electric meter!
Won’t a deeply bedded stall,free from drafts with the horse blanketed be sufficient?
Horses are cold weather animals, and I think that being in the barn with a blanket is fine, even if the horse is sick. Not seeing how you can efficiently and safely heat a stall without enclosing it and making it stuffy, or creating a fire hazard.
If one of mine becomes that sick, they need to be at the clinic. I’m not sure it could be possible to safely heat one stall without potential of fire or some other catastrophe.
For a sick horse I would want a well-bedded stall, good blankets and a tank heater…or at least access to warm water every few hours (e.g. big thermos from the house so that I could refill water without freezing.) That should be enough unless they are in dire condition…in which case I’d want them at the clinic.
Here’s the problem…my goats are in a horse stall and both just had 106 fever and shivering in this cold. Fever lasted 2-3 days and I had to bring them in the house as per my vet. I’d like something in case this happens again for any of my animals…horses, goats, sheep, etc. just want to have one stall done as none are coming in my house again! 
[QUOTE=candyappy;8008974]
You would have to have it high enough so the horse can’t touch it and with it that high you wouldn’t get any heat from it. They are not safe in a stall situation where a broken bulb or short can cause a fire. They cost a lot to run as well on the electric meter!
Won’t a deeply bedded stall,free from drafts with the horse blanketed be sufficient?[/QUOTE]
Cost isn’t a problem, my barn and house are solar powered! 
Just thinking out of the box but can you put radiant heat flooring in one stall and then totally enclose that stall more like a room?
[QUOTE=Blume Farm;8009294]
Just thinking out of the box but can you put radiant heat flooring in one stall and then totally enclose that stall more like a room?[/QUOTE]
I don’t think that would work.
If you google “Horse stall heater” you will find products and companies you can research.
We used to have goats and they had to come in the cellar for a few days one year. One was ancient and thin and couldn’t cope with the subzero for a few days. Once they warmed up and got well, the vet said to put them back out, with blankets and lots of bedding because otherwise they would get acclimated to the warmer temps and be even less able to deal with the temperatures. Warm food helped, and because there were 3 of them we made a little blanket fort for them to huddle in and that worked.
Because they weren’t heating the whole stall anymore, their body heat kept their ‘nest/fort’ much much warmer.
Poor goaties.
I’m surprised people say this can’t/shouldn’t be done. I’ve been at multiple barns with radiant infrared heaters. No issues with them and they’re very nice to have.
They look like this:
http://www.kalglo.com/horsehtr
Or this:
Infrared is what I was going to suggest as well.
I have infrared heaters above two stalls. I don’t leave them on very often though because they really only warm their heads if they should happen to lift their heads out of the hay (doesn’t happen often!)
I was at a clinic in a barn that headed a 100 X 260 indoor arena and attached barn with an outside wood stove. It was below zero outside and in the 40s in the barn.
Check these; http://www.delonghi.com/en-us/products/comfort/portable-heating/radiant-heaters
Shouldn’t be too hard to work out a way to hang them or something.
Maybe heat lamps ?
http://www.bathroomheater.org/bathroom-heat-lamps.html
[QUOTE=Equibrit;8010524]
Check these; http://www.delonghi.com/en-us/products/comfort/portable-heating/radiant-heaters
Shouldn’t be too hard to work out a way to hang them or something.
Maybe heat lamps ?
http://www.bathroomheater.org/bathroom-heat-lamps.html[/QUOTE]
If you’re going to heat a barn–a unique environment to heat, with the dust and the nearby flammables and the potential for rodents and other destructive critters–make damned sure it’s a solution that’s DESIGNED and tested for that sort of space.
I have only ever used radiant heaters in wash stalls and short term. I would be terrified to leave any heater or heat lamp on overnight.
I have a Kalglo heater above my wash stall but would worry about having it in a regular stall.
That said, I have seen similar heaters over foaling stalls at a major breeding farm. BUT the barn was concrete block, pristine like a clinic (ie dust etc to a minimum) and the barn was not left unattended when the heaters were used.
