stable grills, how safe? please help genuinely worried

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Spotsrock

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At a yard I worked at previously we had a horse get his leg stuck between the bars of his stable grill. He had to be destroyed and it was not pleasant to say the least.

I have been offered stabling right next door but with this sort of stable with the grills between them. I have 2 horses who I love so much and the yard is perfect other than this fear.

So hho with your wealth of experience, how common is this type of accident? Has anyone come across it before? Help please.
 
Presumably the horse had to be mucking about otherwise how was its leg up there to get stuck? Are they monarch type stables or separate grills which you could ask to remove?
 
We have the monarch type stabling at our yard and in the four years I have been there we have never had a problem with the grills. We have 24 stables, all with bars, and various sizes of horses.
 
If your horses are quiet and well behaved in the stable then I don't think there is a problem. If they kick out at the walls then there is a real risk. On one of these discussions someone told of a horse that had actually done this but not got stuck. It's hoof however was found in the next stable. You could ask if you could add an additional board to the bars to prevent this happening? Either wood or rubber.
 
I had the worry with one of mine, but I spoke to the YO who let me put boards up over the bars. Can be done reasonaly cheaply...with MDF or off-cuts from a local builder/wood merchant - we just used plenty of cable ties and they have been very secure with not a millimeter or movement for over a year!
 
Monarch style and we don't think he was messing about just having a good scratch and roll. Thanks, so not unheard of. May have a re think or ask about boards. The doors are grills as well though so not sure how that would work. :-(
 
Boards did help with mine...but mostly because she was unhappy with other horses looking in on her space and was being a stroppy mare. I didn't board the front wall of the stable, just the ones adjoining other stables. She was fine with the front unboarded.

I also put her bed at the back of the stable, away from the front, unboarded bars - keeps her from rolling near the bars?

Try not to worry though if yours aren't silly or stroppy! Afterall, stable builders sell LOTS of these types of stables with no issues. The abrs are usually so close together that your horse would have to have small feet and legs to put one through!
 
Two friends of mine had serious issues with their horses getting seriously hurt. The first one managed to get her jaw stuck between the bars and broke it. The second got her hind leg stuck presumably whilst rolling and had to be cut free resulting in 4 months box rest and is still not back in work a year later. (she was stuck for up to an hour before she was found and struggled so much she almost lost an eye). Both stables (on different yards) had 3 inch gaps! Very unlucky but obviously there is a risk element.
 
If you're worried about it ask YO if you can board them up

I've not seen a leg injury but one of mine years ago wasn't great around food - he went to pull faces at the horse next door at feed time and bit a large chunk out of his toungue !!! litterally a golf ball size piece was missing - blood everywhere nothing vets could do in his mouth - just took ages to heal before I could ride again.
Hence I'm not a fan at all.
 
I have four monach type stables and four wooden stables with 'talk' bars inbetween. Touch wood, in the eight years we have been here, there has never been an issue. We did have one horse that needed them boarding up as she did not like seeing the other horses right next to her. This was easily done by attaching four of the brackets used to retain a kick bolt and slotting OSB board down through them. So it was secure, yet easily removed. The last time we used the boards was five years ago.
 
In the 9 years I've been at the yard where I keep mine we've had one horse injured by getting a back leg caught through the bars. He did tend to buck out at horses on either side of him during the winter when they were all in at night but he'd never got his legs that high before to reach the height where the bars started and it wasn't like he had tiny hooves but at the right angle it had obviously slipped through. These bars were no more than 3 inches apart. He was very very lucky - no serious lasting injury but was not a good morning that morning on the yard and one I won't forget in a hurry. However, as mine doesn't get lairy in his stable and is a pony the grills are not something that worry me so I don't have any objection to a stable with them if suitably high enough.
 
There was a thread on here two/three years ago when someone's horse was seriously injured because it got a leg stuck through the bars. The problem with them is that they spring apart with the force of the blow of the horse's foot, but then spring back to trap it. My OH has welded bars across my door grills to prevent this happening, not that my horses are silly or roll with any vigour, it was just for peace of mind.
 
I once saw a large horse thrashing around with colic, roll over and put its foot through the angled grille on the window. It then ripped the grille off and thrashed around with the grille flying after it. It was very lucky as it bent as its foot went through and when it stood up it twisted round and could be pulled off.. I can't remember if it damaged the horses leg it was soon put down as the colic was very bad.
 
Check if your local agg store sells stock board it is really easy to work with will not splinter and they can not chew it.
My youngster was getting silly with the pony next door and this is what we used.
 
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