Size of stable for foaling?

[pennypots]

I think that my stable is big enough at 12'X12' but am a little worried that as the foal grows and needs to be in at night with its mother that they will need more space.
Foal is not due till April '09 and i could knock the center wall down and move it out a foot or so, but this will mean that the stable next door with obviously be reduced...
I am hoping that next years' weather will be better and that the two will not need to be in, but in the early days after birth feel that it is best to protect the new little one!
Anybody got any ideas or experience of different sized stables.
The mare is 16hh.

 

[tikino]

12x12 stable is about the right size for a normsl horse to live in for a foaling box and then for foal and dam to live in i would exspect it to be 16 x 16 for a horse and a little smaller for a pony

 

[JanetGeorge]

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I think that my stable is big enough at 12'X12' but am a little worried that as the foal grows and needs to be in at night with its mother that they will need more space.


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You CAN foal a 16 hh mare in a 12 x 12 - I've done it once or twice when pushed for space. But it's FAR from ideal - there just isn't the space and you can end up with a foal being pushed out into a tiny gap between mare and wall. And if you have a protracted delivery it can get very difficult indeed. My main foaling boxes are 12 x 16 and 14 x 16 - also have a 15 x 15, and some 12 x 14 which are adequate for the smaller mares.

But if you end up having to keep mare and foal in for some time - either because the weather is foul - or because mare or foal have a problem - then anything less than 12 x 15 is going to be uncomfortable for everyone.

 

[Enfys]

I knocked walls out of 4 of my 10 x 11 stables to make foaling boxes of 20 x 11.
Last year my Vet joked that I'd need a lassoo to catch the horses, this year he was grateful for the space at 3am when we had a mare throwing herself about with difficulties. She still managed to jam herself into a corner though.

As Janet says mares do foal in 12 x 12's, fine if it is straight forward. I would be wanting something larger than that if they were going to spend any length of time in though.

You don't have a small turnout paddock with shelter do you? (Or can you add one infront of your stables? Much better option, if you can't enlarge your stable, all the foals I have ever had have made good use of well bedded shelters even when the mare was outside getting soaking wet.

Regarding making the next door stable smaller, unless you have an enormous horse in there it won't matter too much. 11 x 12, or 10 x 12 is quite adequate, not ideal, but adequate. The extra 2' would make a big difference to the foal box though.

My stables are large by some standards over here (at 10 x 11) and my owners have been quite happy to keep 16h+ horses in them. I am used to them now, and can see that horses manage very well, but at first, I was horrified.