That is one of the reasons why I have never liked barns that have the stalls arranged around the indoor arena. Dust everywhere, and no rest for the horses when their stablemates are being worked right in front of their homes. 
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at the bottom of the sizing chart it lists giant breeds like Danes, Newfies, etc and small ponies!!
My 5yo has been like this from the get go…she knows exactly what leg means, and what the dressage whip means. Sometimes she just…doesn’t care. I think she is by nature very very lazy and would probably be perfectly happy in a life where her job is to be a safe plodder.
Occasionally after riding her, I get on the pony (who’s a “think and she’ll go” type), forget which horse I’m on and use a very strong leg aid and hoo boy does that get a reaction 
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Stalls facing the indoor arena are a recipe for heaves in horses. There were quite a few built this way in the 1970-80s locally. Pretty much all the stabled horses finally had heaves, ended up needing to be put down. Barn and arena designs changed as folks finally put 2+2 together, got the stalls relocated into another barn area by remodeling or building a new barn.
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Our stalls face the indoor.
I water so there is no riding dust. We also have hay above the stalls in a loft, which is the far more likely cause of any dust issues.
I think it’s great for horses to watch all the activity, and learn to relax even when there’s “stuff” going on. Almost like leaving a TV on. The barn isn’t open 24/7, so there’s still time for total quiet and rest.
We have one horse with heaves, and she came that way.
I think it’s 100% doable if the watering is kept up to par.
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I’ve seen the swishy noise from an upright dressage whip used to good effect when actually making contact with it wouldn’t.
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When he does it yes. He can move out just fine. He’s got a great swing to his back when he gets to marching. It just never ever stays there without “peddling”.
I put that in quotes because I don’t nag. I have tried a few things with this guy, from school horse kicks for slowing down, to going straight to the whip… nothing clicks. You get it, it’s gone. You get it, it’s gone. He has no “cruise control.”
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Who leaves a TV on when they’re working or sleeping or trying to rest?
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More people than you think. Try finding a shop that doesn’t have a radio on in the back ground.
I’ve said it in other threads - horses that are bubble wrapped act like they’re bubble wrapped. My horses get to watch hay get put up, watch the arena get drug, watch people come and go and ride and horses be turned out and and and… and then they have from 9pm till 8am to get rest. The activity is great. We have zero cribbers (barring one haflinger that came with that habit ingrained), zero weavers, zero stall walkers. They have something to watch, to think about, “entertainment” for the daylight hours. They’ve got to learn to relax with activity present. My horses get to practice that for 6-8 hours a day, depending on the turnout schedule. It’s awesome.
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You do that and can still get insurance for your barn? I have been told that in some places barns with hay storage don’t get insurance coverage.
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The loft holds about 2 weeks worth of hay for each horse. We put it up with a bale claw. We have a separate large barn that holds probably a year’s worth of hay for the entire barn. The hay barn and the horse barn are connected with an enclosed breezeway that has additional stalls and enclosed shavings storage (get it by the semi load). Main barn was built in the 1980s probably, the hay barn in 2005ish.
And yeah, it’s never been a problem.
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Me! White noise or no sleep. And as I sit at home working from home today, the TV is running, providing background noise. Not paying attention to it, but no background noise just does not work.
We had a radio playing in the barn until we got tired of the cat walking on it and changing the station. No one likes having to listen to static…poor horses.
My hay storage is at grade in my barn and my barn is covered.
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Yes, we call this “horse TV” at our place.
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Yeppers. Someone remarked to me that my horse might “get spooky” now that he’s at home instead of boarded bc “less going on at home”. I about peed myself laughing. Like my neighbors think “oh she’s riding, better not practice my skeet shooting”… NOT. While the statement might be true for some home farms, my horses are exposed to way more activity at home than they ever were at a boarding barn. It’s been fab for my younger horse. The life flight helicopter landing next door was a bit much, but we all survived.
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Whenever the young one has “a moment” it instantly changes the trajectory of my ride. The most recent was when she was getting jittery about another horse riding behind her. The other horse’s tack was very jingly and squeaky, so I understood why she was marginally upset. Instead of avoiding it, I asked the guy to follow me around, then we switched to riding at me. Excellent training opportunity for me!
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Haha! I feel you! I used to lesson with the western kids when they had their “show team group lessons”. A dozen kids in the arena at once. I felt it was worth every penny to be in those lessons.
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The two barns I ride at have hay lofts and my friend’s barn does too.
I always turn my fan on at night for white noise to put me to sleep.
Static would drive me up the wall, all the way to the loft.
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Me
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