The Horse’s Stall and
Associated Behaviors

Many horse owners have stalls. Many horse owners use them quite often, but does it relate to behavioral problems? Yes it does!

Horses are prey animals, their eyes are set on the ‘sides of their heads’ to allow them to see danger from each side, right and left at the same time. Thus, allowing them to escape a dangerous situation by running away. Horses that are kept in stalls for 8 hours a day or more are more susceptible to behaviors & conditions such as nervousness, flighty under saddle, cribbing, soreness from workouts and so on.

Horses were never meant to be stalled up, nature created the equine to move, graze and defecate frequently so they would not be burdened from a full gut while trying to flee its predators. Horses need to view the horizon while eating, which is why they need to be fed low as possible. Feeders placed high on the stall wall do nothing for the horse’s teeth except create un-natural wear patterns and have been proven to contribute to choking in a small number of instances. Removing feed buckets from stalls altogether and feeding by placing the bucket on the ground will allow the horse to “be a more complete horse” rather than placing it high in the stall for the comfort of the human. An old tire will keep the bucket from being turned over by the horse. Remove by rolling the old tire when the horse is finished will remove any possibilities of the horse tripping over it.

Companies who made these products years ago, used to recommend placing the bucket or feeder low on whatever the consumer was going to attach it to. Laziness of the human has prevailed however in placing the feed bucket where we can reach or retrieve them easiest. I have always taught my Horsemanship Students to interact with their horse(s), feed them by entering the areas where they keep their horse(s) and train their horse(s) not to “rush them” when they enter. This is so easy to do, yet many horse owners are ‘bullied’ by their horses when feeding them.

Horses that are stalled up most of the day do not benefit from the needed movement as gained from being turned out. Horses need to move for circulation purposes, cartilage flexibility and the general well being of the horse. Many horse owners who contact me to correct behavioral aspects in their horses are always asked first, “how often is your horse turned out?” Many times, horses with behavioral problems, associated with being stalled up for most of the day, will in many cases be completely free of these behaviors once turned out for most of the day or at the minimum, turned out for at least one hour multiple times daily.

It sounds very easy, but most of the time behavioral correction is “pilot error” from a lack of inexperience or local “folklore” practices. Just because your Grand pappy did it a certain way, does not mean that in today’s modern bloodlines, that you should do it too. The horses of the earlier centuries are very different from what is roaming around in our pastures today.

Many of the problems seen in horses today stem from a lack of understanding the horse beyond the ordinary. Yes, we all know horses like hay, drink water and poop a lot, but to some folks that’s all they know. The attitude of “I’ll learn it as I go” can be a costly learning process and detrimental to a few who cannot even take good care of themselves, much less take on the responsibility of a thousand pound animal.

I answered a farm call for a young lady who was “given” a horse for a gift. She lived in a mobile home park and the horse was tied to one of the anchors with a swivel attachment. She had called wanting me to “train it so she could ride it”. This horse is now being kept at a local stable by my insistence to her that this was a potentially dangerous situation. After a few of my Horsemanship Workshops she is now a very capable horse owner who now realizes, in her own words, “how stupid it was to try and keep her horse that way”. Yet, the instinctual requirements of horses are in many cases, forsaken for the laziness and in some situations, incompetence of their owners.

Below are some tips that will work for any horse and owner who wants to do the best thing for their horse. Should any horse owner have questions or desire to progress your skills, contact me here at my office anytime.

• Turn your horse out often and interact with it.
• Keep fresh, clean water available at all times.
• In winter weather, if you don’t have an electrical outlet for a tank heater. Place a “heavy” rubber ball in the water tank. As it moves around it will not allow the water to freeze.
• Keep dark, north facing stalls clean and consider installing a sky light in the roof of it. Clear panels are inexpensive and a viable alternative to installing electrical lighting.
• Keep stalls “free choice” for horses to come and go as they please.
• Bad quality or changing hay type, poor feeding management can cause stress in a horse as well as other gastric problems.
• Feed horses at regular intervals. Feeding at irregular or sporadic intervals causes stress. If you must increase amounts of feed, feed smaller amounts more often rather than increasing the volume in regular feedings.
• Protein does not make a horse “hot”, this is a myth. It is caused by the fat content in feeds.
• Feed according to the activity level of your horse. If you ride on the weekends only or less, your horse may not need a 12% feed or even be fed everyday.
• Do not change feeds often because you see a dollar or three difference at another feed store. Seek the expertise from a licensed equine nutritionist. Not the sales folks at the local feed & seed. They are selling a brand, not objective advice. And just to clarify, Veterinarians in their schooling have just 3 hours of nutrition related education! Vets are mechanics to fix what is broken, not consultants for training, horsemanship or nutrition.
• Introduce “new horses” gradually, the mindset that turning a new horse in with others and letting them “get to know each other naturally” is pure fantasy and sounds good in theory…until you have to call the vet!
• Inspect your stalls or shelters often. Look for nails or screws that protrude. Look at the fence connectors or insulators used with wire fencing. Never use barbed wire with horses!!!