Are You Looking After Your Best Friend?

What an ideal stable should consist of from the series "How to Gentle Your Horse"

Specifications for horses and ponies

Not all of you will have a stable. So please don’t despair. Horses don’t necessarily require a stable. This is what we humans think they need to have. If you live in a cold climate with snow, then I am sure he will definitely appreciate it!

You can have just as much fun with them in a paddock. Many successful people have shown their horses without the help of a stable. You can always hood and rug to keep them clean. Later on if you can afford it, then you might decide to get a stable.

However, if you are going to get one built, then make sure it has ample room. Horses need adequate ventilation. Preferably face the stable so that it gets a good amount of sun to dry out the bedding. A lot of time in Australia this is north.

Most of the stables are getting too small with very low roof lines. This can be dangerous. If you have a tall horse and it rears, it can hit its head. What is the use of giving your horse a stable that is just too darn little. Some of the old specifications seem to have got lost along the way, or maybe people are just trying to cut corners and costs.

This is not an area you should try to skimp on.

We were once given a stable for one of our mares at the Royal Showground that was really only for about a 10-11 hand high pony. As she was 14.2 she had trouble turning around. I can tell you its not a nice feeling when you are in the stable brushing her tail and your horse tries to turn around and you are jammed against the wall, fighting for breath. We had to get another stable, there was no way she or we could relax.

There also needs to be ample room for the horse to move around and lie down. A good size for ponies is just under 4 metres by 4 metres with the roof 4 metres high. For bigger horses 4.5 metres up is better. After all, your horse needs to be comfortable and if you are building it then make it as roomy as possible. Yes it does require more bedding, but this is your pride and joy we are talking about. Just as you don’t like living in cramped quarters, nor does your horse. Remember that in their wild state, they didn’t have stables, so if you are going to put them in one, the least you can do is make it comfortable.

The inside of the stable should be lined with kick boards, or rubber matting. This is so that if the horse kicks at the wall, he is not going to injure himself.

There are different schools of thought on stables. If there is only one, then this is no problem as it will have all walls and a door. If you are building two, you may want to put wire mesh between them so the horses can see each other. This helps settle horses, however, if you have one horse who is sick, it is very easy to transfer the disease to the other horse, as they often sniff through the wire.

The door, should be wide enough to allow to move the horse out without hitting his hips. A good size is about 1.5 metres. This allows for easy passage and you also won’t get run over leading the horse out. It is a good idea to have the top either enclosed with mesh, or a bar across part way to stop the horse from doing one of two things. Some horses get bored in a stable and weave. That is they move their head from one end of the door to the other. Some may try to jump out. This stops that inclination. If you have a nice quiet horse, he may be no trouble in a stable with just an open top. However, initially, you won’t know and it isn’t that much trouble to mesh the top of a door.