Page 70 - Libro_MariaA_26agosto

María Alejandra Romelli

Stalls

The quality of stalls in a barn is another key point you must take into account
because your horse is going to spend a good part of his time there. Keep in mind
that beautiful new stalls are not necessary better than old stalls. Your horse won’t
care how new a stall is as long as it has a healthy environment and is comfortable.
Besides allowing your horse to look outside, stalls must be large enough to allow
room for the three needs your horse requires in a stall: eat, lay down and relieve
himself. A horse that spends several hours in his stall, must live in a stall that is at
least 12x12 feet if he is a standard horse, 12x14 feet if he is a large horse (Hill, 2000),
and they should be at least 12 feet high (Cochrane, 2017). Always make sure that the
walls of the stalls are built with a material strong enough to resist a horse’s kick to
prevent serious leg injuries. Horses kick on their stalls when they are full of energy,
uncomfortable or irritated, so the walls should be built with materials such as inch-
thick, tongue-and-groove, rough sawn lumber or bricks to prevent injurie on your
horse or his neighbor (Hill, 2000). If your horse tends to kick a lot on his stall, then
you can include rubber mats on the walls of his stall to protect his legs and feet (Hill,
2000). Finally, make sure your stall includes a comfortable, warm and absorbent
bedding, a feeder and a watering.

Training

Another good point to consider is choosing a place where there are good trainers
of the discipline that you want to practice with your horse. Don’t choose a show jum-
ping barn in you want to focus on dressage, or don’t choose a farm where everybody
does endurance if you want to jump. Remember that both your horse and you are
athletes, so you require the proper training in the discipline you both want to focus
on. It is pretty common to find barns where there are both jumping and dressage

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