Correctly designing a loose box is essential, both for the horse’s safety and for that of people, as well as to make it practical and pleasant in its every day use.
Minimum height at the lowest point of the slope : 3m. Under a height of 2,50m a ceiling is considered dangerous. The height should allow you to place the openings above the horse (minimum 1,80m). Any opening below this height requires padding.
Volume : The height of the box should be sufficient to provide 40 m³ of volume (27m3 being a minimum).
The separations between boxes should be at least 2,40m high. The solid part should be at least 1,30m high.
Frontage
Solid frontage is to be avoided as it gives a rather dull atmosphere to the stable : better to have wood plank finishings to the concrete walls on the aisle side for example.
The door can be central on the facade, but it is not essential. With outside boxes, placing the door on the edge of the facade gives the horse a larger quiet sheltered volume when the top half of the door is open, this is of course advisable.
Partitions
The bottom half must be solid enough to stand up to kicks and to pressure cleaning.
For stables in barns, partitions with bars on the top half allow the horse to see the horse next door, and satisfy his need for sociability. They also facilitate ventilation and contribute to a brighter inside atmosphere.
Solid indoor partitions right up to the ceiling reduce the risk of contamination via nasl contact and draughts. They are necessary when stabling in outdoor boxes (precisely because of the draughts). An intermediary solution consists in using full partitions every other box, and using partitions with bars for the others.
Using partitions with bars
The bars should be close enough together so that a horse cannot get a hoof stuck if he rears : vertical bars, 8 cms apart (horizontal bars should be banned as they favor cribbing or windsucking).
Stable doors
The door should be 1,20m x 2,40m, with a 5mm gap around the sides and maximum 2,5cm between the ground and the bottom of the door to avoid the horse getting a hoof or a shoe stuck. The doorway should not present any sharp edges on which the horse could injure himself.
Any double winged doors should open outwards and swing open completely. In any case the doors should open to make evacuation of the horses in the case of fire as easy as possible.
It is always surprising to note the number of stable doors that horses manage to open, incurring any number of serious consequences. The type of latch or closing system should be chosen with the following in mind :
Resistance to repeated violent pushing, and which a smart horse is not able to manoeuver.
Ease of manipulation for the personnel who most often only has one free hand : the door should be easy to open.
To avoid the door getting warped due to constant pushing from the horses’s knees and lower limbs, two latches are advisable, the bottom one should be easily activated with a foot, (otherwise it will probably remain open 3/4 of the time) or coupled with the top latch.
The outside box is usually equipped with a double winged door (top and bottom) allowing the horse to put his head out. This type of door can have a glass fanlight window above it for ventilation and natural light.
The bottom wing should be 1,30m high. To prevent weaving, horses continually shifting their weight from one limb to the other, a V shaped grid can be added to the top of the bottom wing of the door.
The top wing can have a metal corner iron (do not use a soft metal that the horse could rip off) which forms an overlap to align the two wings. Another solution is to truncate the junction between the two door wings.
In this case the door is usually made of bars on the top half. Sliding doors are more and more commonly used compared to hinged doors : they are a must when the service corridor is less than 2,50m wide. The only reliable sliding door is the hanging sliding door, with stops on the ground to restrict the movements of the door.
Detailed plans of the different types of door, the hinges for swinging doors, the rails for sliding doors etc, can all be found in the book « Organisation and equipment for equestrian centres » available from the book store.
Mangers/ Feeders
Positioning the manger
It is often advisable to place the manger on the corridor side in the left hand corner as you come into the box. A horse tends to stand in front of the manger, when this layout is used, it allows the staff to approach the horse from the usual side, i.e. from the left, which can make things a lot easier when putting a headcollar on an uncooperative horse.
Height of the manger
It is often recommended to place the manger at a height of between 1 to 1,30m frrom the ground to avoid the horse being able to put a hoof in it. Anglo-Saxons tend to favor a lower position (between 0,60 and 0,90 m high), which allows th horse to eat in a position which is much closer to his natural position, and which also reduces the risk of the horse banging his head when searching for pellets fallen under the manger….
Types of manger
Mangers are usually fixed, sometimes swivelling. It is best to choose the unbreakable antiwaste models, with a large capacity (16 to 25 l) and with an emptying plug allowing them to be flushed out with water. Some models are designed to be placed in a corner, others along a wall.
Trapdoors for mangers
Trapdoors allow grain and pellets to be distributed without entering the box, this when the mangers are placed along the corridor. Angle swivel mangers can also be found, wich can also be filled from outside the box. Having a flap for the trapdoor is not essential.
Some people will argue that a trapdoor reduces the number of times that man enters the box, thereby reducing contact between man and the horse, especially for the special moment (feed time) which then becomes lost.
Drinking troughs
Position of the drinking trough
When the trough is located in a corner, it saves space in the box . The recommended height is between 1m and 1,30m.
Water supply to the troughs
Important vital recommendations are few :
Provide the supply network with a slope towards a general purge which is easy to use.
Equip each individual drinking trough with a stop valve (quarter turn). In this way, when there is a leak in one of the troughs, there is no need to turn off the water supply in the whole of the stable.
Anti-freeze systems
True antifreeze systems do exist, the simplest being a resistor wrapped around the pipe network. The troughs themselves can also be protected with a built-in resistor. Unfortunately these systems are expensive and quite fragile.
An inexpensive solution consists in installing a probe and alarm which triggers when the temperature drops to below a given temperature (say 1 or 2° C ) : this imples the adequate intervention of the staff.
Different types of auto drinkers
Nudge system : the horse activates a paddle or bar which triggers water flow. It is a very good system, but sometimes requires of the horse a certain time to learn to use it. Its use is therefore restricted to long term stays.
Ballcock drinker : a ballcock floater and valve, accessible by undoing a cover, keep the level of water constant.
For both of these types of drinker , regular cleaning is paramount, facilitated by a drain bung.
Protection of the drinker
In normal conditions, the unbreakable versions do not require any specific protection. Nevertheless, a curved tube which fits snugly round the drinker (without a space where a foot could get stuck) is a good protective measure.
Tie rings
There never seem to be enough. The minimum is one tie ring per box, two is even better. In fact it is useful to be able to tie a horse up :
Next to the feed trough
To the rear wall (for example when mucking out)
Outside the box for farriery or for grooming out of the loose box.
Rings placed too low down, the horse can get a foot caught, it is therefore advisable to place them at least at 1,30m from the ground. The anglo-saxons tend to advise even higher up (1,60m) but thought should be given to the users, particularly in pony clubs, where there are children.
Typically, tie rings made of galvanised steel are used, with an external diameter of 70mm. They need to be securely fixed to resist strong pulling. A ring which comes loose can cause a serious accident.
For further information
The technical points and design drawings are available in the book « Organisation and equipment of an equestrian center », which can be found in the book store of the Haras Nationaux (French National stud).
Know more about our authors
Département Innovation Des Equipements Equestres (IDEE) de l'Ifce
Translated from french by : Karen DUFFY Translator
