Grills in between stables and GRUMPY HORSE post earlier

VictoriaEDT

VictoriaEDT

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www.equinedental.co.uk
I was reading the post earlier about grumpy horses and am intrigued about what you guys think about grills between stables?

Its really strange as I have been in stables for a couple of months with grills and one of my boys hates it (or I think he does) as he is really grumpy. As soon as he comes out of the stable is is a proper genuine angel.

Is this normal?!
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It's normal for some. People tend to assume that horses will be happier if they can make contact with their neighbours, but that isn't always the case. Some horses need more personal space. My friend installed grills between her stables, and, while the 2 mares loved being able to talk, one of them was very cross about the gelding next door. The grill was blocked off after a hole was found in the wall underneath where she'd kicked out in the night.
Also, horses might like to be next to their field buddies, but if they get put with a horse that they have never had proper social contact with every night... well, I don't think I'd like being stuck next to a stranger.
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Do you mean grills along the ajoining wall?

If so, and the horses arent getting on too well, please please keep an eye on the situation.

Ive mentioned this briefly on these forums before.... but last year, my horse was in a stable with a grill running the full length of the ajoining wall. The gaps between the bars were small to avoid hooves potentially getting caught and so on.

A schooling livery came onto the yard and was put next to my boy. My horse has always had a habit of licking along his stable wall (for whatever reason). He was merrily licking the wall when his new neighbour took offence and lunged at him. The horse managed to grab hold of my horse's tongue and wouldn't let go. The force with which mine pulled back caused his tongue to tear. He suffered a hole about 3/4 of the way through his tongue, various tears to the front and furthermore, the piece of muscle that attaches the tongue to the base of the mouth (the bit underneath) was torn completly.

He was very very close to being sent for micro surgery at liverpool and, at the time, it was unknown whether or not he'd be able to return to his "job" of dressage.

While it was a very freakish accident, it's something none of us had every considered. Thankfully, my horse has since moved boxes to where he can lick his wall in peace
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Some horses dont like to see another horse all the time. Their stable is "their" space and they can feel threatened. In these cases, imo, its better to move the horse to a stable where it can see others over its door, but can retreat to the "safety" of it's own space should it wish.
 
I don't know if all stables are like this, but ours have the bars set in a zig zag line so that you can slot boards in for those, like my mare, who have a violent disliking to their neighbour.
 
On our last yard, we didn't have grills but lower walls. Our horse spent her time bolting food, ears back; bum to the divider wall all very defensive behaviour. Worst was the fact the horse on the other side was taller and could nip over at her when she was looking out of her stable as her door was close to that wall, while the door in the adjoining stable was at the other side.

On the new yard the walls are high and there is no intrusion into her stable and she is so much happier for it.. If there was a grill between her now I would cover it up with ply board or thick fabric, she is so settled now I do believe that she liked her own space, and who can blame her!
 
My horses are stabled in a row with grills between the stables, they love it! To be fair they are all field mates and geldings so perhaps thats why they get on, Bailey who previously weaved if not turned out every day is much happier with the open stables and has not weaved once even though hes only been out the occasional half day, the only down side I'd say is if (this is very rare) Ryu gets left alone in his stable, he does go a little crazy, I think the openness and the grills encourage this because he can clearly see hes alone. Also the stables are in a row and theres nothing opposite the horses, we have a barn with internal satbling with grills and the horses seem to express the unhappy behaviour mentioned previously.
 
My horse used to be at a yard with american barn stables with grills on 3 sides and adjoining 3 horses. He absolutely hated it and was quite scared to start with, the other horses would kick the walls and fly at the bars.
He did get used to it but started to pull faces at the other horses which he had never done before. I wouldn't rush back to this set up again.

Also a friends horse managed to get a foot through the bars like this and severly damage the pastern.
 
It definitely depends on the horse's personalities.
My mum's mare has a very large personal space area and gets very grumpy when other horses stand near the grille. On one side there is a rug over the grille so the horses can't charge and try and bite each other.
My mare is on the other side of her, and completely ignores the attitude and goes to the grille if she's a bit worried for reassurance and a chat.
If your horse is hating it, why not try covering the grille and see if it improves his behaviour - it's certainly made a difference for our mare.
 
Amy is on an end stable with grills between her and her neighbour. She basically hates it, and it's very stressful for her at feed times.

Can't wait until she moves in to her foaling box...........
 
Mine are happy with that arrangement as long as field mates are put next to each other, we have had to mix and match at the yard recently and consequently 2 out of the 4 are not very happy and spend all day snapping and pulling faces. I will hope to find a better arrangement for next winter but am stuck with it for now
 
Am very wary of grills I was working on a yard that had a brick wall about 5ft high then a grill on top, these had been up for years without any trouble, then we were in the office having our break and one of the rs helpers came running in saying one of the horses was trapped in the stable we natrually presumed she was cast when we went into the block there was the horse with the grill laying on top of the horse the horse was on the floor under it and bricks everywhere, Lucky enough it was later on in the evening as of a day no one was there except staff and the odd livery but being the time it was there were a few men there as we could not move the grill off the horse it took 6 men and us three women staff to move it.
 
They are very heavy, I have had to move the Highland out of one stable already as she repeatedly kicked at the dividing wall and has broken it
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, this is a load bearing block wall with a grille.
It took 5 of us to carry each section of the grilles in when they were fitted so I know if the whole lot had come down it might well have killed her.
I really don't like them
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my two boys have a grill between their stone stables, they love it. It pacify's fred the bed head who has his moments of separation anxiety and it means titch can nick his hay or haylage so he loves it!!

However, if they were not such good friends I am not sure whether it would be so beneficial, I know the mare we have would not appreciate titch gooning at her!
 
Our barn had 9' high solid black wood walls with grills at the front, which I absolutely hated. Very dark and claustrophobic.

I ripped out the bars on the front, cut the dividing walls down to 6' high (no easy task, these`walls are double thickness solid oak), painted everything white and my horses are quite happy now. They can stick their noses over the dividing walls to say "Hi" if they fancy it, but have 10' (length) in front where they can put their heads wherever they want, it's about 5' high. As everything is wooden we have it is easy to make it higher or lower, only once had to add another 8" layer of planking to the front of a stall to stop a horse lunging at his neighbour. If I had a smaller pony then it would be just as easy to take a layer down as well. Not terribly posh and tidy perhaps but it works for me.
 
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