Stall Fronts

[volcamp]

I am in the planning stage of doing a makeover for our horse barn. I was looking for new stall fronts and the prices for commercially made fronts is rediculous. I was wondering if anyone had any experience and suggestions on making your own. I would like to have 4' sliding access doors. Any help on designs/materials would be most appreciated.

 

[EddieWalker]

I don't know a thing about stalls, but I've been doing a bunch of research lately and was suprised to read that sliders were not recomended. They fall off there tracks, they clog up with debri and they are expensive.

I was searching on google and don't remember the site, but it was some sort of extension. I just don't remember what state.

They also said to avoid dutch doors since the horse would just chew on the bottom door, or cause problems with his head out the door.

As of right now, I'm leaning towards making a grill from 3/4 inch galvanized pipe and C channel. Weld it up like an old time prison window that you see in the movies and bolt it in. Cheap and strong with maximum air flow.

I agree, prices I found online were frightening.

Eddie

 

[John D]

Built mine with what they call horse channel and 2x6s. 4ft wide and 5ft tall. no top screen. built them to were they cant get their head over and push on the door. same thing with the stall walls. used 4 1/2 inch heavy comercial butt hindges. all welded. on the front walls I put 4x4x1/8-3/16 welded wire I got from burly fence. I built some slide latches for the doors. on the latch side you want to make it with some play because of shifting. jb

 

[BTDT]

Maybe I thought I heard this somewhere, but seems like they recommend leaving a fairly large opening between bottom of door and floor, so that in case of an accident (horse knocking you down, kicking you, etc) you can crawl out quickly (or be drug out, if need be).

 

[John D]

That would be a good idea if you had to go in the stall with the horse for some reason. I like to keep the cap at a point to were they cant hang a leg under. I do have 2 stalls with 10ft pipe gates on them that has a gap big enough at the bottom for someone to crawl under. jb

 

[Timber]

Sliding stall doors are fine, We used overhead track for them to roll on in my younger days. I have never had a problem with Horses in a stall. But I have been knocked around by some Brown Swiss cows in my day. Had one lean into me and pin me against the wall. I am sure she just wanted to let me know that she could and then let me go. Animals have personality and trust me some days it doesn't pay to piss them off

 

[Mike120]

I wouldn't have anything but sliders, they don't get in the way and a horse can kick them and they won't open. With a top rail there is nothing to get clogged up and they don't fall off their tracks.

When I built my new barn (16 stalls) I used components from J.W. Hall (www.jwhall.com). For quality and durability they can't be beat.

 

[weedsportpete]

We have sliding doors also. Every few years we put some 3in1 oil on them. Otherwise not a problem. Ours are not the tubular track you can buy at TSC, but just 1 & 1/2 inch pipe held up by J shaped brackets screwed into the ceiling - the bottom of the J holds up the pipe. The door has two rolling wheels that roll on the track. it is very heavy duty, and kind of overkill, but they always work, no debris, or other problems.

Some horse people like to allow their horses to stick their heads out of the stalls to relieve boredom. This can be accomplished in several ways - dutch doors, stall guards, pipe doors with a big V-shaped opening at the top for their heads only, etc. Stall guards are rubber-wrapped chain, and it does not take much for a horse to break them (they are more for temporarily opening the door to throw hay in or somethig similar and it keeps the horses in (for a few seconds anyway)). Allowing horses heads to stick out requires a minimum width aisle - so that they can't grab you or other things as you walk by. More often than not they will grab onto things hanging on the door front, like halters and lead ropes, blankets, etc and pull them off, rip them, eat them, etc. If we ever let our horses stick their heads out, we would go with the piping with the V opening.

You could put metal edging on dutch doors.. but the horses would still get into trouble.

The doors are double X-braced oak 2 x 4s with plywood on both sides. No problems with them.. we have a shelf on the door to put small objects and have hooks for halters.

If you are not going to get the swing out feeders or swing out water buckets, then you might want to put the door on the front wall such that you can open the door and just reach inside to dump grain in the grain bucket or reach in with a water hose to fill up the water buckets. I'd love to have the doors in the middle of the front wall, and have water buckets just inside to the left of the doorway and the grain bucket just inside to the right. I don't want to go all the way in the stall, both because I am lazy and also in case we have a less-than friendly horse.

Pete

 

[volcamp]

Some good ides. Am definately going with the sliding doors. I hope to get some pics up soon on what I'm doing and the large task at hand. This Fall I sectioned off a tack room from previous hay storage area. It's not finished yet, but functional. Today I just put my automatic water system in service. No more pulling the hose from stall to stall and filling buckets. Only one monir leak. But it was on a hose bib connection, so that was resolved easily. This was the first real PVC project I've ever undertaken and I was well pleased. No PVC leaks and only one miss-cut in the whole project. Next task is going to be resolving some roof leaks and poorly installed roof tin. Anyone with experience at horse barn makeovers, please, keep the tips and suggestions coming.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Hmmmmmm, I guess you haven't looked at the Priefert stall fronts or the knockoffs similar to them at TSC. I make custom stalls and I can't begin to compete with those prices. They hardly cover the cost of my materials. Of course I'm making these for customers and some of them have some expensive horses. I can't cut corners because cutting corners means usually corners cutting horses.

Sliders are the only way to go unless your doors can swing out into a paddock. If you're opening into an aisle then open swing doors present a hazard to equine and human traffic.

The biggest hazard that I see in most stall fronts is the guides for the sliding doors are exposed and horses can get a frog damaged in a heart beat.

I build my doors where they're secured in the open and closed positions without presenting a hazard.