Horse Stall Safety

A horse stall, whether the horse spends only a few hours or all day in it, needs to be designed and maintained with the horse's needs in mind in order to make the stall as safe and as comfortable as possible.

  1. Lighting

    • Any lights in your horse's stall need to be covered by a cage or far enough above his head that he can't reach the lights if he rears up and strikes out, or if he reaches up with his muzzle. Nine feet is the minimum height for overhead lights. Also, all electrical cords need to be covered so that the horse cannot chew on them.

    Stall Doors

    • If you use swinging doors, be certain all doors swing outwards into the aisle. Also, there should be no opportunity for horses to reach over and open the doors to escape. If your horse has figured out how the locking mechanism works, install a stall guard over the door so he can't stick his head out. You should be able to open the locking mechanism with one hand so that you can move in and out of the stall easily, especially when leading your horse.

    Ventilation

    • Ventilation is a must-have in horse barns so that the atmosphere doesn't become too dusty or fume-filled. You need to be careful, however, when designing how your horse's stall is ventilated. Any openings in the wall, such as bars or spacings between boards, need to be small enough that a horse's hoof can't slip through and get stuck. No more than two inches in the spacing is best.

    Stall Design

    • The absolute minimum stall size is 10 feet by 10 feet. Twelve feet by 12 feet is a better size, and barns that deal regularly with large breeds such as draft horses and warmbloods often build even bigger stalls. Breeding stalls are often 12 feet by 24 feet. If you are worried about your horse getting cast, where he can't get up after rolling, you can nail a board to the wall just above your normal bedding height for your horse to catch a foot on and push himself off the wall. Stall ceilings need to be at a minimum of nine feet.

    Stall Maintenance

    • Examine all walls in your horse's stall regularly. Look for loose boards and nails that are shifting out, and deal with these accordingly. Horses can easily cut themselves on protruding nail heads. If you have wire mesh in the stalls, check this for broken welds and weld these back together or replace the mesh.