I am brand new to the forum, so bear with me:) I’ve been a reader for years and appreciate all of the information shared.
This next year my husband and I have the opportunity to build my dream barn. I have built my own stalls in the last two barns and loved them, but at this point in our life we have budgeted for custom stalls. I am in the research and planning phase and would like to hear about anyone’s experience with open yoke stall doors? Or has anyone had the design with the drop down or removable yoke section?
My horses enjoy hanging their heads out of their stalls and I’d like to have the ability for them to do that. But in the event I have a horse that needs to be completely contained for awhile, would anyone here hesitate to have the completely open yoke doors with no way to close it up? The thought of the removable or drop down yokes doesn’t appeal to me for some reason, so I’d like to know if there are any reasons why I should not go with the permanently open yoke. My current horses are very mild mannered, but we will be adding more horses in the future and I’m wondering if anyone has had a horse try to challenge the open yoke section at all. I have one gelding that can get his legs up and over pretty much anything he wants to if he gets the itch to, but to date he has never challenged my dutch doors which he regularly hangs his head over.
I’ve never had this open yoke design before and don’t want to be blindsided by a negative aspect I did not think of or know about.
Thank you for any positive or negative experiences you can share about this particular stall door design!
My horse is one of those who can’t be trusted with an open yoke. He will grab anything within reach and fling it. My suggestion would be to have some with full doors. I boarded at a barn where one side was open yokes and one side was closed doors. You could always put screw eyes in to clip a door guard to if you wind up with more good citizens than comics.
I agree, though I like the look of all identical stalls my gut feeling has been to have some without the yoke for this very reason. I like the idea of one side of the aisle having open yoke and one not. Thank you for sharing:)
My boarding barn has mostly open yokes and it is a pain! I think it is a much bigger issue in a boarding barn with more and changing horses than a private stable. Many of the horses will reach out and nip (or worse) at passing horses even if they are usually friends. It can be an issue if you crosstie in the aisle. And they can reach a lot of stuff near their door! My guy was so defensive, we put the sliding door back on and he is happier that way.
On the plus side, the horses that can stick their heads out get nice airflow on hot days. I think my ideal would be a ventilated sliding door and eyehooks for a stall guard to use at times.
These are great ideas and good feedback, thank you. I hadn’t thought about the issue with cross tying in the aisle! That would be a problem for sure😳 My horses get along but they definitely don’t hesitate to annoy each other if they get the chance.
After hearing both your experiences I think I’m definitely going to look at alternatives to a full open yoke.
I’m at a barn that has mostly open yolk (and actually most horses just have stall chains during the day) and then there are 2-3 stalls with full doors that slide shut.
- My horse is one that has to be in a slide shut otherwise she escapes at night (although there are other creative ways to solve this like bolts at bottom or carabiners)
- center aisle cross ties are SO annoying as my horse is pestered from both sides
A friend’s private barn has the removable yolks and they’re my personal favorite. Cleaner looking than the drop downs (in my opinion) and best of both worlds for being able to move horses or adjust stall set up to optimally fit a horse’s needs.
She just has a corner of her hay area where they are stacked when not in use. She doesn’t add / remove frequently - a horse either has an open yolk or doesn’t. The ones not trusted with open yolks (because of pestering horses / flinging items) will often have a stall chain so they can hang their heads out when she’s around and can actively monitor / manage the situation.
I boarded at a barn with drop-down yokes and in one summer two or three horses broke several teeth or their jaw playing with them.
We have an 11 stall barn (6 on one side, 5 on the other). All have open yokes, but they are configured such that the yokes are on opposite ends of the stalls. Hope that makes sense. In other words, no yokes abut. It’s a boarding barn, but my own horses live there too.
I like coming into the barn and seeing heads sticking out to greet me, the horses like to take in the view, and the aisle is wide enough that a cross tied horse isn’t bothered unless it swings its quarters towards a stall door. If a head isn’t out to say “hi”, I check to make sure all is well. So having said we occasionally have a “shark” in residence, who will threaten over the yoke. We find it quite manageable. I confess that when I had to walk a gas colic case in the aisle due to blizzard conditions, I carried a bat and smacked the door of any horse playing shark (not the horse itself!). After two laps, they all gave it up and peace reigned.
I have been thinking about getting the removable yoke fillers for cribbers, but that’s probably the only reason I’d use them.
I’ve boarded in barns with open yoke (yolk only refers to the yellow part of an egg) stalls. They were fine, as long as the aisle is wide enough so horses aren’t biting at the horse passing by, or the stalls are all on one side. I far prefer at least a way for horses to put their heads out over the door (drop down section of stall doors are great!!) or out a window (that can be closed up). It gives the horse more stall space, more engagement with the world, more stimulation (which can be a bad thing!).
OP- I’d look at different stall makers components to see what other options are available. Those open yoke stalls have to be installed very carefully and accurately or the doors don’t fit correctly as there’s no solid support like a post that attaches to the ceiling or a brace above. The barn I boarded at that had them had some real issues with a few that never hung correctly. It was a PAIN having the stall with the door that didn’t catch-- loose horses were not uncommon until they tore out/installed again.
Thank you all for these great pieces of info. I think I will seriously consider the removable yoke inserts. That way I can customize each stall and also not have to worry about the horses playing with or injuring their jaws on the drop down type. I will likely leave the yoke open for most of the horses, but I’m sure there will always be that one that loses that privilege. We will have separate off aisle grooming stalls, but I always want to keep the option open for cross tying in the aisle without being poked by neighboring noses.
Haha I didn’t realize my cell phone was autocorrecting to yolk😄 my apologies!!!
Calvincrowe thank you for the insight, I agree with you.
We are going to have 12x12 stalls with overhead hung sliding doors. I’ll post a photo of the general idea we are hoping for. I think even with the yoke they would hang like any other sliding door, but maybe I’m wrong?
Regardless, I think I have parted with the idea of open yokes at this point. Removable yokes is sounding much more reasonable.
This is the style of door I was originally considering. Not necessarily the mesh bottom, but the open yoke above. I believe it would operate as a normal sliding door and the stalls would be constructed using the support posts of the barn itself.
Just put in mesh doors. Plenty of air flow and no horses with heads out getting into trouble.
Good point SusanO
I have mesh stall fronts and mesh doors. No sticking the head out and being snarky but they can see outside. I like being able to see them through the mesh. Better for air flow down here in the hot humid South.
SusanO have you had any issues with horses pawing at the mesh doors? I’m not too worried about my current horses but in the past I’ve had some of the impatient type that pawed at doors, and on metal mesh I’d imagine it would be quite loud. Though it’s not like I can’t hear them pawing at a wood panel door either🙄 I do like the increased airflow of the mesh.
I would not be comfortable only having the yoke opening. I watched my 3yo try to climb out of a stall window with a yoke insert when he was unhappy at our overnight stop on the way home a few months ago. I was very glad there were shutters over that window!
I am putting in ARC stall fronts with drop-down, like this:
There is an attachment to hold them down to the door, otherwise I can hear it now… lift, BANG, lift, BANG. Or just destroy it. They will probably stay closed unless I am right there!
That’s the type of thing I’m worried about. An ambitious youngster trying to use the yoke as an exit. Yes good idea to fasten the drop down to the door when open.
Yes I have one that likes to make noise but she is barefoot and the doors are pretty sturdy so they don’t bang loudly. Unfortunately she taught herself how to put her front foot on the shavings guard ledge and slide the door open. So I have to make sure the pin is in the door so she doesn’t take off for the back yard 
