internal stabling

H

henryhorn

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www.narramorehorses.blogspot.com
We are considering putting six boxes in what was our indoor school they will be decent sizes and all we need to do to start with is lay a concrete floor. (28m long and 6 m wide is the minumum we can get away with to start with.)
If you have installed the wooden walled with grill tops type, can you give me the manufacturer's name and your opinion? (pm if worried about T and C!)
By choice I prefer the half wood half grill, and anti weave type doors.
But cost may end up being the deciding factor on what we get.
We were going to do half block half grill but the easiest installation method appears to be do the floor, order the stables an then put them up ourselves.
 
West of England Stabling (The Weigersma's) Close to you and seem to make just what you want - very durable - know quite a few people that have had them and are very pleased and have worn well. They do half wood and grills as you want. Don't know about price or anything.
 
Hi Sue, long time no speak
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I always have the Monarch boxes as I have used them in the last couple of yards without a single problem. I think on my next build though I will go for either solid wood on the partitions or just a small grille (window size) in the middle. Obviously you know your horses best & maybe you can guarantee having the same group of horses together for years that get on great. Since our ponies moved on at the end of 2004 we have had lots of injuries caused by horses having a real go at each other through the bars, this has resulted in kicking out at the back wall & sustaining some quite bad injuries. Some of our stables are 17' x 14' so its not because they are small! I am in no way blaming the stable company or the design, just some horses dont seem to like being 'looked at' by others. Especially at feed times.
One other point is that again next time around (later this year) I am going back in time. Instead of having concrete floors in the stable I am having straight through drainage. With Internal stables this can be done by concreting just an 8" strip for partitions to be bolted to. If you wish you can have an area outside the stable concreted. My angle on this apart from saving a fortune on concrete plus I would just have to put rubber mats down. drainage is natural, with just a limestone then sand or even better peat up to floor level, then a good deep bed. It is kinder to the horses legs than concrete. Daily skipping out instead of full muck out's & this saves not only on time but also expensive bedding. Plus less manure to dispose of.
I was horrified when years ago I first discovered that I could not take the bed back & sweep the floors!
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Now I see what an easy time it gives yard staff & very economical with no hard concrete floors for the horse if bed moves.
Hope that gives you something worthwhile to consider.
 
Hello to you to, gosh that does give me food for thought. The stables are planned to be around 16 feet by 12, that gives us a decent bed on 2/3 of it and room to feed at the front, as I hate hay in the beds.
Looked at the ones advertised above as shown by another forum member but they are 10 x 12, so would have to fasten two together to get big boxes.
20 is a bit big unless a foaling box!
I never thought about not doing concrete, though I did worry about fighting, we would have to have one totally sided because of the stallion, and I am not huge fan of just grilled sides, horses seem to have no privacy in them do they?
The concrete is virtually the most expensive part, so I'll show your post to my husband, he is dithering at the moment at the thought of five grand's worth of flooring!
Would you have rubber mats just at the front where normally I don't have bed?
Haven't seen you on here for ages, how's Andy doing?
We've got four to event this year provided we can afford it, with any luck they won't all go lame at the same time....! (the big chesnut horse has moved on to a sj home, and is about to start BSJA with his new owner..he taught us an awful lot but what a difficult ride....)
 
HH, Please dont get the grills - horses can get their feet through them.
The best way is the plastic, wood effect boards. Cheaper than wood, easier to clean, harbour less germs and last longer. They look just like real wood.
I will find the details later.
 
On yard I am at we have various combinations of interal partitions, some half wood/bars, some full side walls with grills in/fronts are wood/bars and in another block solid side walls with front half wood/bars. Have to say my preference is the full wooden partitions between boxes with the fronts made up of wood base/bars on top all with ordinary doors that you can add weave grids to if you wish.

Many of the horses in the block with all bars detest their neighbours and appear to lack privacy, quite often hear lots of scraps through the grills in the other block especially when new liveries arrive.

Guess at the end of the day depends on your budget. Cant comment on floors as never used a system like Freshman but can see the benefit.

Exciting project for you though, sure it will look very smart.
 
If you are starting from scratch then I would seriously consider not having half grills, but instead full wooden partitions, by all means have small talk grills installed but from my experience many horses kick, fly at the walls and try and bite their neighbours when the full grills are used. I have known a couple of horses get their feet through the bars and it's not pretty!
 
IAE here too!
We had these at my last yard and they worked very well
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my stable was a good 14x14 if not slightly longer.

YO wouldnt have spent the earth so they must be reasonabley priced. We didnt have a problem with horses getting legs caught in bars or anything and the horses were all sorts, TBs, very expensive eventers, my horses and a couple of RC allrounders.
There was only one horse who had an issue with seeing the other hrose next to him (he obviously felt threatend) so would regularly kick the boards - however, owner put a old rug up along the bars and peace was resumed.
 
I suppose you could put rubber at the feed end, although my main use for rubber is purely to avoid horses standing on solid cold concrete. Natural floors take this problem away. I also hate hay in beds & kept front portion clear for feeding from. Inconsiderate beggars that they are still trolled back & forwards to take a look out of top doors & also dunked the haylage in the water. So now we tend to feed little & often so dont really have a huge problem with hay in beds. (they hoover up before they get more) LOL. I have a feeling that some of the internal stabling manufacturers make up to whatever size you want, monarch certainly do, Hancox is another. I have a feeling that the bars are closer together in Monarch & have never had a problem with a hoof going through. Wouldnt chance it with a foal though. I have definately learned that most horses like privacy so will not use 1/2 grill partitions again. I also considered the plastic but on asking around have been told that if the horse gets cast it is more difficult for them to get a 'grip' on the smooth plastic sheets. Again I am told some companies offer a type of tongue & groove sheet of plastic which offers more bite to push away from. The flooring idea is a huge saving though & I think a win win situation. I often think we put more thought in things being right in the yard before the house. Never considered as many points regarding a new kitchen or bathroom!
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Hope your season goes well & I will pm you with a quick update on our lifes.
 
I am a total advocate of natural flooring and find it really odd how few stables use this over here - its common place in Spain and I think it is by far the best way to go.

Cannot wait to see the new place Freshman - did you put a studio apartment for me on the plans yet
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The yard I just left in Cornwall has just finished converting a run in cattle shed into 8 lovely stables (ask PF, as she saw the work in progress when she was over) and they were pretty darn similar to Monarch, but made by a loal company in Bude - so local for you too. I never knew the name, but if you are interested I can find out! Really stunning stables, 3/4 wood & 1/4 bars - I say 3/4 as the front of the stables (facing the walk way) are bars, as are the front 1/2 of the top of the partition, the back 1/2 being solid wood. The metal frames over the doors were arched to give more headroom and the pannels are all all pale oak, with green metal work, finished with gold.
 
I tend to think of it more as infernal stabling. I have been at my present yard a year now, first time I have had to deal with partitions with grilles and I have had to repair so much damage, and my horses have been so stressed you wouldn't believe it. Although I am a livery i am having an internal wall rebuilt at my own expense, partly to repair kick damage, and partly to ensure I can have a full height wall.

i do like half height wood and grilles for the fronts though, our are Bradmore and had sliding doors with anti weave sections in, they are very good
 
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Not yet, I think we will finish up living in the equestrian accomodation for quite a while with the cost of it all
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OH refuses to live in a caravan with 5 dogs! How miserable is that.

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Gosh, those nice mobile home type caravans are fine! Get one of those for you, the boys and the dogs and set up a stable for OH
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Freshman! Sorry to hijack thread, but you were asking the other day about what clients would like to see in a yard. Easy parking and turning would be top of my list! New place sounds very exciting, please let us know how it's going!
 
You may well find that a local engineering/fabricators can make up the grilles to your size spec a lot cheaper than an stabling company. Our stables are in an old cow barn and not standard size so local firm made them to measure.
 
A pleasure! Maybe not top of my list as a livery, but very near it. (Can you tell Troggy struggled to turn the trailer round at the vets' the other day? She is excellent, we'd still be there now if I'd been driving!
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