Stall doors - with or without drop down/v-door option?

[EquusMagnificus]

I am trying to decide.

At first, I picked sliding doors with top grills and a drop down grill option, allowing my horses to stick their heads out at night and socialize.

However, I am starting to wonder if it's a really good idea. I like to be able to leave the horse's halter on their stall or their sheet and if I do that, then I'd have a problem with picking up their toys and fooling around ;) But my primary concern is their mental health.

Is it worthwhile for horses that would stay 12 hours per day in their stalls? We will have a relatively small acreage and they would come in at night in the winter and during the day in the summer.

Many thanks in advance :winkgrin:

[ponygirl]

I have exactly what you picked. Sliders with a drop down section. I love them.

[SimpleSimon]

I did go with the drop down grills in my stall doors and I do like the flexibility. I don't run a boarding barn - my barn is simply just for my use. I have four stalls down one side of the barn and tack room/feed room/hay storage on the other side of the aisle.

You are very correct that you can't hang anything on the stall door (the drop down grill prevents that from working) and anything hung nearby is fair game for busy minded horses with time on their hooves.

I simply hang my halters across the aisle on the outside of my tack room in a group. It takes a couple of extra steps but keeps the halters safe from harm.

I do find that for one particularly busy horse that I have to shut his grill when my other horse is in the aisle. Otherwise busy horse is tempted beyond his control limitations to bite the other horse.

My horses currently come in for the night and I do love being able to let them hang their heads out into the aisle. And I like being able to close the grill when other horses visit if I'm not certain they'll stay in the stall.

All in all, I'm happy with my choice. If I hadn't gone with the drop down grills, I'd go for the permanent grills to keep my busy horse from creating all sorts of mischief.

Good luck!!

[Woodland]

Don't place the V in the door. They put too much pressure on the hardware that way. I have mine in the front of the stall wall. Yes, I have to "button it up" before I open and close the door, but it keeps my doors safe and them safer and they leave the stuff hanging on the door alone then.

[TrueColours]

I have drop down doors on mine but they are more rounded and not "V" shaped

I love them but I do find that even with aisles that are 15' wide, I am very limited who I allow to stick their heads out. Out of 8 horses, 2 have them open, another 2 sometimes have them open and the rest no - there is either an unholy mess outside the stall and/or they pee and crap in that whole area where they are standing and smoosh it around and totally trash the stall in that spot or they get too damned excited and I am afraid they'll go up and hit their noggins on the top rail

And no one gets them left open overnight - they all get closed in and I feel better that way

[EquusMagnificus]

What about the full grill door option?

Anybody picked that?

[mkevent]

Agree with Woodland and True colors. I have the grill opening on the stall front (not door) but it's a door that opens so I can dump feed. I always keep it locked otherwise because the horses put their heads through and get scraped pretty easily if they suddenly pull their heads back in their stalls. I have dutch doors in the back of the stalls leading to individual paddocks-if you could do that setup (and you like the idea) the small acreage gets saved but the horses still get a chance to roam around a little without being locked in their stalls for longer than you would like. It works great for my situation-if you need more info, feel free to PM me.

[yellowbritches]

Here's a happy little tale for you, regarding the drop down doors (which I like). This story is probably a one in a million type thing, but it is something that, obviously, CAN happen.

A friend keeps her horses at a farm with those doors. One horse enjoys fiddling with his latch/letting himself out. One day, while goofing around, he got his lower jaw hooked on the first bar of the drop down section. He panicked and pulled back, still stuck, and promptly locked his jaw between the door and the drop down section. He broke his jaw in two places and did a whole lot of damage. They couldn't get into him to sedate him, so had to saw through the bars with him fully awake, in a great deal of pain, and frightened. Thankfully, he was a total trooper. Happy ending, he's FINE. But it was one of those things that you wouldn't even have THOUGHT of happening!! :eek: It could have ended a whole lot worse.

[ponygirl]

This is my door: http://www.armourgates.com/sliders.html The Tongue & Groove Slider w/ Fold-down.

I have my sliders in the middle of my stalls as opposed to off the left or right. I hang my halters off to the left side of the stall fronts and have put blanket bars there as well. Only the yearling gets a hold of her halter at times and I'll find it on the ground. I have my fold downs open almost all of the time. The only time I don't is when the vet or farrier is coming as my aisleway is also where they work. I have no issue tacking up any horse in the aisleway but I also have a closed herd with no boarders. All of mine get along well.

[IslandGirl]

I have them and I love having the option to have them open or closed. I wish the bottoms of the "v" were a little lower, though. As they are, the horses most definitely can't reach anything outside of the stall, whether it's hung on the door or not.

I really like having my horses able to hang out, so I went one step further and added stall guards to each stall so that I can just slide the stall doors all the way open. That way, the horses can REALLY hang out. When they do that, they can reach some stuff that's hung up outside of the stall, but not all of it. Even worse, though, is that they can (and do) chew on the (wood) edges of the stalls and stall doors. I'm having chew guards made for the doors because of that. All of the other edges in the stalls have chew guards and I wish I'd though ahead and had the doors done. Each stall also has a Dutch window so in the summer they can hang out either side of their stall.

[DiablosHalo]

I have a double shedrow barn. The inside stalls have "v"s in the doors. The outside stalls have full grills. I did this so while walking/riding horses in shed row, the horse is on the right of you and the full-grill-horses can not bite them.

The outside stalls have full windows and feed doors that open when I want them to- so they can always look outside and most of the time look into the shedrow.

The inside stalls have the "v"s and the feed doors that open- so again, they can at least put their head out, even though it's not "outside".

I have blanket bars on the sliding doors of every stall and can not hang anything on the bars of the inside stall for too long or it's fair game. I always have empty stalls, racks, etc to hang blankets on. Actually, my big boys can pull stuff off the rack of the outside stalls if their head is all the way out the feed door, but it doesn't happen often.
I would never have a horse in a stall that can't put it's head out somewhere. It's bad enough being locked in a 12x12 stall for 12-16 hours, let alone if they can't even look around.

[deltawave]

I just have half-gates on my stalls, and the fronts of the stalls don't even have bars. My horses can stick their heads right out into the aisle all along their stall fronts. I like it this way, but it's just me so there are no nosy horses pestering anyone else, and if I do have a horse in the aisle and the others are being nosy, I boot them outside.

Mine have access to their sacrifice paddock 24/7 so even though there are halters hanging off hooks on the fronts of the stalls, within easy reach, they've never been disturbed. (other than the damn cats) :) If I had to, I'd move the halters across the aisle. I like horsey heads poking out to greet me. :) Plus, even though my horses are virtually never confined to their stalls for more than an hour or two at most, I think it is less confining when they can put their heads out. :yes:

[YankeeLawyer]

I have sliding doors with drop down grills on some stalls and plain grills on others; part way through the build process I decided the drop downs were not a good idea. I think they encourage the horses to lean on the stall doors, which I hate (also, even with top-notch grill . stall systems, that is not particularly safe as there is at least a remote chance of getting a hoof trapped in the sliding door as these always gap slightly). Also, I have youngsters, and the wee ones can try to jump out when the drop downs are open. And they are more difficult to clean than plain grills.

FWIW, my stall grills are from classic equine.

[equusvilla]

Are you saying that you have solid walls inbetween the stalls and that the only way they can see each other is if they stick their heads out of the door?

[EquusMagnificus]

Yes, I would have solid walls or very close to solid (perhaps I'll leave 1" between planks for ventilation) between stalls because I don't want broodies going at each other from stall to stall ;) I have an open concept situation here and while they all get along fine, there is a certain amount of herd games that get played inside and it is not the safest...

[FoxChaser]

I have V-shaped panels that can be removed from my sliding grill doors on my stalls. I was talked out of the drop-down variety in that they are hard to reach without a stool and that usually you either have them opened or closed all the time. I LOVE the pop-out variety! My horses are both very, very busy OTTBs, yet they cannot reach their halters and blankets on the blanket bars on the front of their stalls. Here's what I have: http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2391919650101472710VdizHt?vhost=good-times

[ponygirl]

I have V-shaped panels that can be removed from my sliding grill doors on my stalls. I was talked out of the drop-down variety in that they are hard to reach without a stool and that usually you either have them opened or closed all the time. I LOVE the pop-out variety! My horses are both very, very busy OTTBs, yet they cannot reach their halters and blankets on the blanket bars on the front of their stalls. Here's what I have: http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2391919650101472710VdizHt?vhost=good-times

On the "hard to reach" comment, not so with mine. Armour Gates was clever in how they do theirs. I just grab the middle bar and pull downwards. It's spring loaded so very easy to reach, open and close. :)

[DiablosHalo]

My stall walls are solid. 8' high. The only way mine see each other are if they stick their heads out- which is why I have windows, V doors, and open feed doors.
I have TB's and can put two colts next to each other without a problem- I can leave all windows/doors/grates open or closed depending on horse/situation.

[Edgewood]

I decided against them for the reasons that YL stated.