When is a 12’ x 12’ stable not a 12’ x 12’ stable (bit of a rant)....................

[Toby_Zaphod]

When it’s a wooden one! So many stables are advertised as 12’ x 12’ & also similarly advertised on livery yard vacancies when really they’re not. They are always measured on the outside & this is wrong. When you actually measure the interior, which is what really matters, they’re only around 11’02” x 11’02” which is considerably smaller (Stable wall board 1” thick, frame 3”x2” & kickboards 1” = 5” each side so total of 10” off each measurement. This makes a big difference!

I moved from a yard with “12’ x 12’” stables to one with ‘proper sized’ stables & the difference was tremendous. My horses, 2 x 16h2”, are cleaner, when they stand at the door they are off their beds, they don’t churn their beds up, & I have saved loads on bedding as it stays cleaner for a lot longer. Basically the larger the stable the more you’ll save on bedding.

 

[ivandenisovich10]

I'm hoping to save loads then. My brick built 16x16 stables are being built at the moment, I can't wait. Bear in mind my two aren't over 15 hands, they will be able to throw a party

 

[Littlelegs]

I know exactly what you mean. My 2 are in a 14x12 (14.2) & 10x12 (11.1). Friends often comment on how huge my boxes are, thinking its because both are ponies, or because its a barn with partitions only at door height. Whereas actually its because unlike most places, that's the inside measurement. One yard nearby has 10x10 pony boxes & 12x12 horse boxes. It's suprising how tiny they are as that measurement includes the breezeblocks they are built from.

 

[Maesfen]

Reminds me of when we bought a second hand line of three and tack room; never been used for horses only storage at a garden centre and didn't even have the divisions built in; advertised as block 36 x 10; stupidly we didn't measure them and the garden centre didn't either! We just had the concrete laid and came up short with an overhang of boxes teetering over the edge! They weren't the 10 x 10 boxes plus 6 x 10 we were expecting at all; they were 12 x 12 plus 6 x 12 so we had to get some more concrete down pretty quick! Best £1500 (including dismantling and delivery!) we ever spent!
Incidentally, we only have the thickness of a house brick's width between our walls so we've lost much less than your 10" Tony, more like only 6" at most.

 

[jeeve]

Given that due to your weather, you must stable your horses a lot (live in more hours) more than we do over here, am surprised to hear that your stables are so small. When my dad built me a stable for my pony (i was 12 yrs old), I told him the smallest acceptable was 14' x 14' for my 14.2 hh pony.

 

[Littlelegs]

Except the odd time we have them in to dry legs for farrier, or other short periods mine are only in 12hrs a night for 3/4 mnths of the year. And the low partitions do give a lot of extra space too.