ponies sharing a stable?

I used to have two shetlands together in a normal sized box.
They were fine.
As the horses got bigger I would want bigger stables.
I would insure they got on well enough and one not bullied.
 
I frequently have multiple horses in stalls together. The minis of course always go together in a single stall, my single stalls are 10 x 11, the foaling stalls are 20 x 11.

Weanlings are never stabled alone, usually in pairs, threes or fours, depends on how well they get along together.

These were yearlings (about 13h) at the time I took this, there was also a 14h 2 year old in with them flat out and snoring her head off.

This was not unusual for these two, most of the time you couldn't get fag paper between them :)

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Our boys are 13 and 13.2 ish and are quite happy to share a stable, coblet even hung round outside the stable when the forester had to be confined for the night after having the chop. I wouldn't have put our old Shetland in with either of them though as the nf wasn't above aiming a kick in his direction and the coblet won't stay in without his bff :rolleyes:
 
Nadolig Llawen said:
I frequently have multiple horses in stalls together. The minis of course always go together in a single stall, my single stalls are 10 x 11, the foaling stalls are 20 x 11.

Weanlings are never stabled alone, usually in pairs, threes or fours, depends on how well they get along together.

These were yearlings (about 13h) at the time I took this, there was also a 14h 2 year old in with them flat out and snoring her head off.

This was not unusual for these two, most of the time you couldn't get fag paper between them :)

297.jpg
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that picture is just so adorable, i have one of my 2 sharing a stable a couple of years ago but they are back to back. your 2 look like the one is hugging the other! lol
 
I've got 1 18x12 stable and quite often have both my 14.2 criollos in it while I'm messing around on the yard. I've never actually left them together for more than an hour or so, and probably wouldn't leave them in overnight together...although to be honest, I think they'd be fine as they're very sensible and have been field mates for 4 years now.
 
riding_high said:
what would be the biggest sized ponies you would put in a stable together?

i know shetlands are ok to share a 12 by 12 stable but what would be the maximum you would go up to before it being unfair?
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I once had a 12hh and a 15.1 in the same stable all winter, exceptional circumstances but suited them both.
 
Some nice pictures, shareing is ok until it's not. The chances are that if more than one is shut in a stable, no one will be there when the fall out happens. They really should have an escape, if they need it.
 
I put my 13.2 mare in with my 12hh youngster for few hrs when need be and so far not had problem. Don't think I'd leave them more than few hrs in there but then I hate having them in anyway. My mare defo seemed more settled in the box with my youngster than without him in there.
 
My two 12.2 yearlings (will be 2yr olds soon!) choose to share 12 x 12 stable all the time, and as their confidence has built up they now both lie down together in one stable, they have always been together since they were foals and so are very happy together.

I have wall mounted hay racks wide enough so they can both eat from same place easily as well.

I do however leave the stable doors open, so they can get away from each other if they wish, and I am lucky that when I set up my boxes and yard I put the stables in the paddock so using the boxes as the field shelter this year has worked really well.

I am feeding them their hay inside now to save the paddock from getting too churned up, and they seem to be quite happy.
 
I've seen two shires (yes, really!) share a standard (12' x 12' if that) stable for short periods perfectly happily but I didn't like it. As others have said, it only has to go wrong once...

I'd look at making some kind of temporary pen (corner of yard/field/school?) before sharing myself. (Unless in some kind of barn style arrangement where both can move around freely).
 
My 2 shared a 18 x 11 field shelter when it was the best I could afford but we had to put a partition down the middle to stop b1 committing horsicide. Even then she tried. Youngster would have shared happily but b1 likes her own space. Partition was clever though. Fence post in ground about 3 foot from the door, partition fixed to it and back of stable then a swinging door hung from post to bolt into door so they had half the stable door each to look out of and to get one in or out you swung the door across to close the other stable off.
 
We have 2 Shetlands who share a mare & foal box which is a big box but I wouldn't like to think they were in a smaller space
 
Its years since we gave up boxes of an ordinary size and used cattle pens instead. This meant sharing - in the largest pen[30x30 feet] would be stallion,2 mares,2 foals [warmbloods, not littleys].Pen 20x30 youngsters, other pens a couple or so riding horses etc. Worked perfectly.
At present farm one pen 18x20 has 2 large cobs .Next pen 18x35 has 3 14.2 s together.2 Riding horses in a small indoor school. Horses are social companiable animals and should get on like this!
Ad lib hay/haylage necessary to avoid petty squabbles - most of ours eat from ring feeders. In these horrible days weeks they arent out every day, either, yet still get on well .
 
My friends two siblings have been known to share the average box, bit bigger than the average box actually.

They're both 16hh, and the share for an hour or so was not our choice but theirs...

Put the mare in to wait for the farrier, the gelding barged in the stable aswell. Wouldn't come out so I left them there...

They are pretty much inseperable though. And wern't left alone.

Was really sweet, daft pair they are :)
 
This last week my normally out 24/7 horses have been coming in for about 8 hours a day to get them out of the wet. I have 3 horses and 3 boxes but one box is full of hay as I had my own field cut for hay this near and needed the storage space. The doors on the other 2 boxes are left open and they often share out of choice.

I have been shutting the little mare about 12hh in with my big mare 16.3 in a 16 x 12 box. I was very worried the first day I did it but they have been fine both happy as larry moving around each other, each have their own hay pile but choose to share and judging by the poo stains both got down and had a nap most days.

My other horse is only 14.2 but he is a bit Victor Meldrew like and so I didn't want to shut the little one in with him, the big mare is much kinder.

It makes me wish I had a nice big barn to put them all in together as the girls are quite obviously happy sharing :)
 
I have two mini Shetlands who happily share a stable, but they always have and there's plenty of room for them both in a 'normal' stable. When I have all the horses in, for vet or farrier I have to double some up so my two 2 year olds go in together - the box is approx 20 x 12 with two hay nets hung up several feet apart but they usually choose to share, but they also share a pile of hay in the field and usually hang out together and when waiting at the gate for hay they intertwine in a very cute fashion. I wouldn't put any of my others in together, one is a 16.2 warmblood (actually I'd put her in with one of the 2 year olds as its her son) and I also have an 11.2 pony.
 
Pale Rider said:
Some nice pictures, shareing is ok until it's not. The chances are that if more than one is shut in a stable, no one will be there when the fall out happens. They really should have an escape, if they need it.
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Quite so.

It really is a case of knowing your animals though. :)

There are some horses here that I wouldn't even put in a paddock together let alone a stall :eek:
 
I used to keep 2 tbs in together 15.2 and 16.2, but my stables are 16x20.
Much easier as I just pushed a big bale up to the wall they could reach over and they could pick as much as they wanted. No more haynet making! :D

The only problem I had was that they got too close emotionally and got separation anxiety. However one later lost an argument with a fence and thus died which solved that issue :( :(

They had stayed in 12x14 together too with no probs.
 
You do indeed have to know your horses. My two share a hardcore turnout area and even though they get on really well, one sometimes herds the other. I wouldn't put them anywhere they can't escape if need be.

However, when young, we had two ponies share a 18'x10' L shaped stable for nearly two years without the slightest problems. They both had a corner that they favoured and stuck to. They would stand at the door together and look out quite a lot. They were good buddies. We always stayed between them at bucket feedtimes though, thats when any issues would appear most.
 
Used to be a regular occurrence at the trekking centre, small american barn with 5 large pens in, always 2 ponies in each in the bad weather, we knew which ponies could go with whom and it worked fine.
Will be doing it myself with friends new forest and our connie when we move on monday, there is a large stable there with a little gated pen outside the door so they'll share that and we'll leave the door open so they can 'escape' to the pen if needed, they eat out of the same bowl in the paddock so i don't foresee any problems, will let you know if i'm wrong;)
 
My two minis share a 12x12 and so far get along perfectly. I don't think I could actually separate them yet for a long period of time, if I shut one in the stable to take the other for a walk or something, the stabled one is very unhappy! They are only 6 months though.

As others have said it totally depends on the horses... My old pony never had a problem with any other horses, but one day she was put into a new herd which had a gelding and he took a real disliking - chased and chased her, bit her, tried to kick etc. He just wouldn't stop - even though they were in a 2/3 acre field, she had no escape from him, so it doesn't matter how big the environment is, they must get along!
 
The RS I went to as a chid had one very large stall that always had 3 horses in it. This didn't seem to be a problem during all the years I rode there. But as others have said, I think you'd have to think carefully about the personalities involved.
 
Mouse, the 13hh pony I ride, shares a stable with his best friend Thunder (13.2hh dartmoor) and they are fine. The stable door is always left open so that they have access to the corral if they need to get away from each other :)
 
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