Shutting stable top door - opinions

Lynsey&Smartie said:
My stables have a huge overhanging roof so no need to shut the top doors for bad weather, the only time I do it is if I am leaving a horse alone on the yard and I'm worried they will jump out. I think they would probably get used to it being shut but would only do so if absolutely needed as it can't be good for air circulation.
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Where we live we get strong winds so much you cant have any overhangs :-DD neither the house nor the stables has so much of an inch, it is too much danger with the wind. They would be useful and might mean eg in snow or rain less would come in the stable, but with the winds it can't be done!!

With overhangs and a kinder location I would agree re not shutting ever, but it's location specific and conditions specific.

NB with the strength of the gales here, any time the outer windows are shut you can rest assured there's plenty of air circulation still getting in :-O) it forces it's way through every vent and gap, I guess that's what 80-90 mph winds specialise at doing. Again, in a kinder location with lower wind speeds you wouldn't get that.
 
Wow, this thread has stirred up pretty strong feelings! No one has advocated shutting top doors routinely, but in exceptional weather conditions where it saves the stable roof being blown off or horses standing in a snowdrift or a big puddle inside their own stable, surely it is common sense to shut them?

My stable top doors are shut only if safety demands that they are, but each stable has a window front and back and talk grilles to one or both sides, so all neds can see out and also see each other! Plus ventilation louvres at the end elevations and under eave ventilation gaps. Enough snow can blow in through all these ventilation points without a shed load coming in over the top door as well! Routine rain doesn't get in as the stables have an overhang.
 
I'm glad you asked this as I was wondering the same thing. Given the recent weather I was considering shutting or putting top door on a latch so it was ajar. Mare has two windows (with bars) in her stable that she regularly looks out of. I think I will leave closing the door until the worst weather arrives and down in Herts that will probably never happen
 
Honey08 said:
For those that don't shut doors under any circumstances, would you not in weather that leaves buildings looking like this...? Can't find the pics of the stables with the snow in them even with the top doors shut. Would you rather all that snow drives in at the horse?? I think you can't possibly live in an exposed area! Personally I would rather leave my horse out in the field to walk around and keep warm than trapped in a small space with driving rain or snow on them!


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No I'd still leave them open - the snow can't fill the whole box and if rugged up properly the horse is not going to be bothered. If he were out in the paddock he'd still be in the same amount of snow.
 
Tnavas said:
No I'd still leave them open - the snow can't fill the whole box and if rugged up properly the horse is not going to be bothered. If he were out in the paddock he'd still be in the same amount of snow.
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That's not true I'm afraid!! At least where we are. Paddock snow gets blown into corners and against the fence leaving the field still navigable by the horse albeit up to their knees. Stable snow by contrast just piles up and up and up as it is all 'corners and fence' as far as the snow is concerned.

I would have said the same as you until I came to live in the Cairngorms - you learn from the conditions what is needed and best for your animals when you live in it.
 
I don't do it very often, but sometimes I've found that shutting the top door is the best option. It's usually weather related - where we keep our horses it is very high up, so if it is very windy and wet it can blow in so badly that the beds end up sopping wet. And when it snows, if we get high winds and the snow drifts, we end up with drifts inside the stables! It doesn't seem to bother the horses at all but they do have windows (with safety glass) and talk grills so they aren't shut in too much.
 
See, if I had a stable which required the top door shutting due to weather, I would honestly be looking to provide more suitable stables if possible. I wouldn't be happy with my horse being shut in unless it was anything other than the extreme odd occasion.
 
Tnavas said:
No I'd still leave them open - the snow can't fill the whole box and if rugged up properly the horse is not going to be bothered. If he were out in the paddock he'd still be in the same amount of snow.
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Just seen this and I know the poster above me has responded, but I just want to give my experience! Until last year I would have said the same as you, but then we moved the horses to a farm high up in the peak district where it is very hilly and the weather can be very wild. The snow can drift very badly if it is windy, as we found out when we left the top doors open earlier this year during heavy snow. When we went up the next morning, the front of the stable was full of drifted snow, the beds were soaked wet through and covered in a fine layer of snow and the horses stable rugs were soaked through. The horses were pretty cold and miserable (don't forget that in the field they can move around to keep warm). The next night we shut the top doors as more snow was forecast, and went up the next day to find that the YO and her husband had had to dig the stables out - the snow had drifted so badly that it went halfway up the top door and window. So okay, maybe the box can't fill up completely with snow, but drifting snow that is getting inside the stable can lead to a pretty miserable night for the horse! And after all, what is the point in keeping a horse in out of the snow if you're going to let the entire stable become soaked through with snow? And that is another thing - the beds had been soaked through so much that first night that we'd had to throw out most of the bedding!
It doesn't happen very often, but sometimes there is nothing for it but to batten down the hatches!
 
Moomin1 said:
See, if I had a stable which required the top door shutting due to weather, I would honestly be looking to provide more suitable stables if possible. I wouldn't be happy with my horse being shut in unless it was anything other than the extreme odd occasion.
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I agree to the extent that the conditions guided me to not choose loose boxes and to go for a high airy portal framed buildings with windows in the external top doors. But that done, I take the view that since my horses are clearly very happy with the window being shut when extreme weather is here, I take my guidance from that. ESP as they can always see each other as the stables face each other internally. I certainly wouldn't have a design where the top door if closed makes the stable dark and the horse unable to see and talk to the other horses.

Much better our setup for a few nights a year than living 365 days a year in a gloomy row of dark looseboxes boxes with a view of nothing except the side of a parked horsebox, a wall etc.
 
Moomin1 said:
See, if I had a stable which required the top door shutting due to weather, I would honestly be looking to provide more suitable stables if possible. I wouldn't be happy with my horse being shut in unless it was anything other than the extreme odd occasion.
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But it's not due to "weather", it's due to "extreme weather", which is slightly different! I think we've only had about seven days so far this year where we've had to shut the top doors. True, I could move my horse and keep her somewhere lower lying where I would never have to shut her top door (indeed I did for many years) but my current yard offers far and away the best turnout I have ever come across. Added to that the fact that the stables are actually lovely, with large windows fitted with safety glass and contact bars so the horses can talk to their neighbours...it's hardly the end of the world if we have to shut the top doors every now and then. Plus, I can tell you from experience that the horses don't care at all!
 
I have on occasions shut my girls top doors. Our stables face north and so when the wind is blowing snow or rain in, it is usually a flipping cold wind! My mare is a particular worrier and if I shut the top door without good reason she would flip her lid. However, on the few occasions that I have shut her top door, she's been really glad of it and has been quite happy in there.

I wouldn't out of choice leave them all night with the top doors shut - but then my stables are right behind the house so I can easily pop back out and re-open as needs be :)
 
Mine gets his top door shut most mornings...he's a door banger, and gets shut in when the first livery arrives on a morning until I get there...so not at all if I'm first, max prob 20mins/half hour if I'm not!

His choice, if he doesn't bang he doesn't get shut in!
 
HashRouge said:
Just seen this and I know the poster above me has responded, but I just want to give my experience! Until last year I would have said the same as you, but then we moved the horses to a farm high up in the peak district where it is very hilly and the weather can be very wild. The snow can drift very badly if it is windy, as we found out when we left the top doors open earlier this year during heavy snow. When we went up the next morning, the front of the stable was full of drifted snow, the beds were soaked wet through and covered in a fine layer of snow and the horses stable rugs were soaked through. The horses were pretty cold and miserable (don't forget that in the field they can move around to keep warm). The next night we shut the top doors as more snow was forecast, and went up the next day to find that the YO and her husband had had to dig the stables out - the snow had drifted so badly that it went halfway up the top door and window. So okay, maybe the box can't fill up completely with snow, but drifting snow that is getting inside the stable can lead to a pretty miserable night for the horse! And after all, what is the point in keeping a horse in out of the snow if you're going to let the entire stable become soaked through with snow? And that is another thing - the beds had been soaked through so much that first night that we'd had to throw out most of the bedding!
It doesn't happen very often, but sometimes there is nothing for it but to batten down the hatches!
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Yes - I can see your point there. I'm from the Chilterns where at times it can snow really well but certainly doesn't get quite the same as up higher.
 
Thank you Hash rouge - just the points I was trying to make, but obviously wasn't! I wonder if we are neighbours?

In that pic of our house, there is a 10'x6' courtyard in front of the house that is absolutely solid with snow, just about a foot of low snow at the side - the snow would have swirled into the stables the same, drifting snow doesn't just flutter down, it powers down and swirls round..

And yes Moomin you're right, stables should be planned to be out of weather as much as possible, and ours are sited with their backs to 90% of the winds, but on that 10% of times when the wind comes down from the North the only thing to do is deal with it.. I can guarantee that ventilation gets into the stables via the gaps and louvre boards on the occasions when the doors have to be shut. Its also greenbelt, so no chance of an American barn stables, not that I would have chosen them personally.

When I have lived in more sheltered areas, and other counties, I have never had to shut the doors. As Hash Rouge and others say, you have no idea what it can be like until you live somewhere with more extreme weather. My horsey friends from down in Nottingham can't believe how much colder and windier it is here.
 
Moomin1 said:
See, if I had a stable which required the top door shutting due to weather, I would honestly be looking to provide more suitable stables if possible. I wouldn't be happy with my horse being shut in unless it was anything other than the extreme odd occasion.
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We did exactly this at parents, built a lovely new block of stables in a more sheltered aspect with wider eaves and close to other buildings to stop any "blizzarding" - has stood the test of the weather. Sadly no horses in them anymore as I moved out, and into some equally well situated stables. I would not be shutting to top door in any situation unless it was for a short time whilst I was there. I wouldn't be shutting horses in over night due to weather, and out boxes are big enough for them to be snuggly in the back.
 
Very rarely shut top door, but last year we had really bad blizzard and loads of snow kept blowing into the stable, nd my normally 'fussy' horse seemed to appreciate it being closed!

-And as far as 'rebuilding' my stables, they are built to be sheltered from the prevailing wind (westerly) but last year the snow was coming from the east, and unfortunately I can't afford to bulldoze my yard and reposition it every time the weather changes :/
 
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No i couldnt shut my ponies top door even if i wanted too, i tried it once and he went crazy, he was very very stressed : ( he's not that keen on his stable anyway (he box walks)

I dont have a over-hang and his stable is very exposed, with a wide and tall door, so it regularly rains in or gets full of snow (he isnt bothered) but this year im going to try and make him some curtains that i can close if need be, leaving him a 'head hole' so he's not completely closed in.
 
A turntable, that's what I need! My L shaped stable block faces north and east, away from the prevailing SW winds. It's ideally situated on a slightly elevated position on my small acreage. It's brilliant in hot weather, as the stable doors are all shaded under the overhang. I dislike excessively hot weather much more than cold, and so do my horses.

On one or two days a year, I may get snow blowing in on a north or easterly wind. Hey presto, rotate the turntable so that the stables face south and west and bingo, I don't have to shut my top doors!
 
I never mentioned anything about rebuilding did I? ;-)
I also pointed out that in EXTREME emergency weather, yes I would do it. That would include 5ft snow drifts entering the stable! ;-)

But if I found my stable was fairly prone to extreme of weather then I would move my horse, simple as. Or if I had the money, would improvise my stable to accommodate and alleviate the issue without shutting the horse in.
 
We live in an are of "Outstanding Landscape Amenity Value" in a conservaation are, in the green bet. We either didn't buy our house and land, or we converted the existing buildings. We have been here 19 years and the conversion has suited out horses well. We do however have to block the ventilation and shut the doors and windows when the weather does this
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We live on th otherside of the hills from Honey08 and HashRouge, not far below the highest point on the Motorway network in England
 
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Nope, only ever closed the top door a couple of times with young horses who were threatening to jump out (and that was only for a few minutes until they calmed down. Would never keep the door closed with a horse in, where's the fresh air?! Very unhealthy for them IMO. Im just having new stables built and 2 of the stables Ive chosen to have no top doors fitted at all and only have a top door on the 3rd stable because I plan to use that stable mainly for storing hay/straw.

With regards to snow, I'd much rather have mine out (mine do live out 24/7 anyway) with open access to their stables so they can choose. Would hate my horses cooped up because they have to be dug out! Leave them out I say (and Im NE Scotland, so not exactly in a non-snowy area!).
 
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