Would love to hear experiences with open yoke stall doors

[7UP1]

Good to know. I’d be investing in some really sturdy doors so hopefully besides some noise the pawing wouldn’t be an issue.
Lol the intelligence of a horse never ceases to amaze me. I know I will have to have some back up door latches for a one of my geldings in particular.

[Libby2563]

@7UP1

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.

Yes, I know a horse who is a really obnoxious pawer when he wants attention. He lives at a barn with full mesh doors for a while and the noise was much worse than when the bottoms are wood. We attached thin rubber mats to the inside of the door but of course he destroyed them within a couple of days. Basically he’s lucky he’s cute and talented! That experience, plus the additional cost of the full mesh doors, helped me decide to do wooden bottoms–but I do sometimes wish I had full mesh for better airflow.

[Jealoushe]

Private barn here…we use these or half doors. Horses love them, I can’t imagine not having their stalls open personally.

[luvmyhackney]

I have the half yoke doors and love them for my own horses, but if boarding I would go full mesh or a way to close the top.

My aisle is large enough though you can take a horse in the middle and not get touched by heads hanging out. But all it takes is one meany to bite someone.

[frugalannie]

The open yokes on my stalls are narrower than those shown on the mesh doors and there are a couple of inches of grate below the yoke, so they are relatively high. I’ll get a pic when I head down to the barn and post it later.

[7UP1]

Thank you frugalannie, I would love to see photos of your stalls. Could you also share what brand they are? Thanks!

[PaddockWood]

I have DES ECK yoke mesh front stall doors and LOVE them. My horses are free to come and go and keeps them pretty chilled out so no worries about challenges. However, did have a horse in for several months, stalled, who during fireworks was LOSING IT. He did not at all think of challenging the yoke front. Did close the top door of his dutch door on the other side.

[QHEventer]

I agree! My stalls allow all horses to hang their heads out, and aside from being able to bite horses passing by, they also make an absolute mess of the aisle. The social butterflies, in particular, tend to take a bite of hay then stick their heads out the door. I’m constantly sweeping my aisle to keep it tidy. Fortunately, none of mine mess with blankets or anything hanging on their doors, but I’ve encountered that frustration in the past as well!

I do love the look, and I think it’s nice to give the horse’s extra space by allowing them to stick out their heads but I would definitely want a way to totally close them in too, if needed. My stalls are all oversized so I’m tempted to put grilled doors on in the future…if my stalls were 10x12 or 12x12 I’d probably keep the open yokes.

[7UP1]

Thank you PaddockWood, my horses are also free to come and go out of their stalls via doors to their runs. So I doubt they would challenge the yoke, but like you I have also experienced firework induced panic in a couple horses and definitely had to keep them confined for their own safety. I might feel more comfortable with a solid door in that scenario. Again the removable yoke inserts are sounding better and better, might be the best of both worlds.

[7UP1]

QHEventer, that is a very good point, the social eaters would definitely make a mess! And I am ocd about keeping my aisle swept clean so that would drive me nuts lol. However when I am in the barn I would like the option of allowing them to put their heads out their doors.
So many good points made in this thread. Thanks everyone!

[Bluey]

@wsmoak

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!

I would not put any kind of folding down doors with bars in them.
There have been plenty of horses get their teeth hung and broken and broken their jaws, not safe.

[7UP1]

Thank you for the heads up👍

[Bluey]

@7UP1

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.

Maybe horses would not be pawing at the door if their heads were not out?

I know, it makes anyone’s heart sing to see your horses and all these pretty pictures of horses sticking heads out the stalls, watching you.
Those are hard choices to make when you build stalls.

[7UP1]

Good point. Not sure if that’s the case but may very well be in some barns. I currently have European style stalls. My horses can hang their head over the entire stall front and I’ve never had an issue with pawing or challenging the wall, but I also have very mild mannered horses currently. However, in my barn build next year I am going with standard style stalls with sliding doors. I’ve never had full height doors with yokes, so I definitely wanted feedback from those with experience. I am anticipating some new horses coming in the barn in the future and want to be prepared for some not being quite as mild mannered as my current ones. I agree the thought of my horses hanging their pretty heads out to greet me is appealing, but safety is paramount.

[wsmoak]

@Bluey

I would not put any kind of folding down doors with bars in them.
There have been plenty of horses get their teeth hung and broken and broken their jaws, not safe.

I have heard of this happening with a blanket bar on the outside of the stall. The horse gets its jaw hooked on the horizontal bar, gets scared and tries to back up.

But the bars in the drop down in that photo are the exact same bars as the ones in the stall front. When it’s closed it is the same spacing all the way across, when it’s open it is the same spacing upside down.

If a horse can get stuck on that, then he can do it in the regular stall bars as well.

[lenapesadie]

My last boarding barn had “redneck euro fronts” aka half walls as stall fronts. Approximately 20 stalls in main barn. No issues. We did NOT cross tie in aisle and it was a wider aisle. No studs or foals though.

Barn before that had traditional bars but with an opening above corner feeders where horses could stick their heads out.

Ideally I would prefer an option to close up a stall completely, but I haven’t quite perfected the design in my head yet.

I think those mesh fronts are very nice. Good ventilation and line of sight.

[frugalannie]

Will try to attach two pics to show doors with yokes. Second one shows a 16.1 horse sticking his cute little nose out. His ears aren’t that huge IRL! I should add that these stalls have had 16+ years of hard use. We went with galvanized because powder coated doesn’t survive the salt air we have here.

[7UP1]

Thank you for the pics frugalannie! Cute horse;) I do like your door setup. My current horses would do well with something like that I think. Then I have to think of a couple alternative door styles to have available for future clown personalities:)

[7UP1]

I also will be going with galvanized. I was leaning toward powder coated but in my experience the powder coating just doesn’t hold up enough long term.

[frugalannie]

7UP1 I meant to tell you that they came from Lucas Equine. They did all of our grillwork. We specified a 3 " gap between the vertical elements to minimize the chance of an errant hoof getting stuck in between. As with the stall doors, we had channel iron put on the bottom of the grillwork between stalls. It’s U shaped in profile, so it sets down on the top board. Our stall walls can be disassembled by undoing 6 lag bolts each, “just in case” and because I’ve taken down a wall to make an extra large stall for a foaling mare, and then for her and her munchkin. The grillwork on the front of the stalls is flat stock on the bottom and bolts directly onto the wall.