Do you have a horse that seems to be accident prone? It’s not unusual to have at least one horse in the barn that can’t quite go more than a few months without a visit from the veterinarian. Since wrapping horses in bubble wrap isn’t an option, the best way to avoid accidents is to take a good look at the area our horses call home and make sure that they are as safe as possible. When it comes to horse stalls and turnout areas, it can be helpful to take some time and investigate if there are any common problem areas that could be resolved to help prevent injury.
No Sharp Edges – When horse stalls are properly built, care will be taken to make sure that there are no sharp edges in the construction of the stalls. Utilizing strong, quality materials in the initial construction will help prevent a breakdown of the materials over time. For example, we only utilize 14-gauge pre-galvanized steel (and stronger) for all of our horse stalls, barn doors, windows, and farm entrance gates. We then utilize a variety of stainless steel, brass, and galvanized steel for our hardware. Throughout our production process, we undergo many quality control checks to ensure no sharp edges.
Even when selecting appropriate materials, it is still important to make sure that horse stalls are checked on a regular basis for any sharp edges that may have formed due to wear and tear. If you find that your existing property's horse stalls are not durable, it may be time to replac them with our higher quality stalls to promote a safer space. 
Safe Latches – Latches for both stalls and gates can be a pain point when it comes to horse safety. After all, every detail needs to be considered in injury presentation. Ensuring that doors and gates are wide enough for a horse to get through safely is a good place to start, but the types of latches and maintenance of these features is important for keeping horses safe.
Avoid any latches that are not flush in your horse stall system or wel lcovered. A latch that protrudes out from the door or gate is a common source of injury on shoulders, stifles and hips. Latches for stall doors and gates also need to be in good working order, if a latch is unreliable or does not move with ease, it can become an accident waiting to happen. That is why we take so much pride in our Pin Lock Latch for Sliding Horse Stalls and Plunger Latch for European Stall Fronts.
Quality Add-Ins – When adding in the essentials for your horse from water buckets to feeders, select items that have high safety ratings. For water buckets, the buck hooks can often cause injury, especially because they are located at eye level for the horse. Similarly, with plastic items like buckets and mineral feeders, if they crack from wear and tear, they are likely to have sharp edges and must be replaced if damaged.
When it comes to feeders, slow feeders and feeders that allow the horse to eat in a more natural position are popular for good reason. Just make sure that when selecting a feeder, the openings are small so that a horse can’t get a leg caught up in the netting. Be sure to examine for damage on a regular basis.
At American Stalls, we offer a variety of customizations when it comes to water and feed for your horse stall fronts. You can learn more about our three options in this helpful blog post.
Fencing for Horses – Outside of the stable, ensuring that fencing is horse safe is imperative to prevent injury. The fencing should be specifically designed for horses and not general livestock. What makes for a good horse fence? It should be highly visible, at the appropriate height (typically 54” high), and the material selected should ideally have both strength and some ‘give’ to it so that if the horse does encounter the fence, they are less likely to be injured.
For this reason, we absolutely love and recommend our HDPE Fencing.
Just like our luxury horse stalls, our HDPE Horse Fencing is the highest quality fencing for horse farms. Our fencing is safe, exceptionally durable, and beautiful. It is the perfect solution whether you are looking to redo your property’s perimeter fencing or simply looking to redo horse stall runs. You can learn the in's and out's of our HDPE Fencing in this HDPE Fencing 101 blog post.
When it comes to your horse's safety, it's essential to invest time and effort into creating a secure environment. By following these stable safety tips and considering the quality of materials and features, you can significantly reduce the risk of accidents in your horse's home. If you'd like more information on creating horse stalls and stable spaces designed with safety in mind, contact American Stalls at americanstalls.com, (855) 957-8255 or email us at sales@americanstalls.com. Your horse's well-being is worth the investment.
