All About Our Sliding Stall Fronts

March 27, 2023

Our Sliding Horse Stall Fronts are popular with equestrians across the nation. They are incredibly versatile in their design and overall functionality. Additionally, they are universally well-suited for all horse breeds. That is a reason why they are popular with private barns and commercial equestrian facilities alike. 

If you are considering our Sliding Horse Stalls, it is likely that you're experiencing an information overload. After all, there are so many design options available. We would like to walk you through the in's and out's of our Sliding Horse Stalls. This way, you can choose the best option for your barn. Let's start off with some of the basics. 

Door Placement – Off-Centered or Centered?

The first thing to consider is your door's placement along your Sliding Stall Front. Since all of our horse stalls are custom built to order, we can build your stall to be oriented in one of three ways as shown below.

We always recommend clients to choose a centered door orientation though. This will allow your stall front to have two distinct corners for feed and water. Aesthetically, a centered horse stall door also provides for a more cleaner look. Lastly, since most individuals are right-handed, we always recommend clients to have their centered stall doors slide to the left. This allows you to slide open the horse stall door with your left hand and accordingly use your right hand to turn out your horse. This is a safety tip as the rider or handler does not need to change hands during turnout. The same logic applies if you are left-handed (in that case, we would recommend a right slide). 

Consideration: Off-centered Stall Doors are complimentary and slide either to the left or right. Centering the door is a slight upgrade fee. However, the centered position allows for more visibility to your horse along with more functional division between feed and water. Read our in-depth blog post about off-centered versus centered doors here. 

Yoke or No Yoke?

Sliding Horse Stalls are so popular since they are well-suited for all horse breeds. One big reason is the ability to add a yoke (or not). Let's start off with, what is a yoke? A yoke is an opening in the horse stall door that allows your horse to hang its head out of the horse stall. This allows your horse to see its surroundings and also communicate with its friends. 

As seen above, our yokes are available in a variety of shapes and styles. That includes v-shaped yokes, rectangular yokes, and our European arched yokes. That being said, yokes are not for every horse and horse barn. At the end of the day, it is truly a personal preference. For example, you might not want fully open yoke openings in your horse stalls if you have a breeding barn with mares, foals, and stallions. Another example is that you might not want open yokes if you operate a large equestrian facility with many visitors. 

In these cases, our clients can choose either a full-grilled top for their stall doors. Alternatively, you can also choose a hinged, fold-down yoke and even a yoke-fill piece. The hinged yoke can be dropped down using our Plunger Latch to easily open and close as needed. Another option is the Removable Yoke-Fill Piece. This allows you to take the entire yoke out as needed. One positive of this option is that there is no hinged yoke that is beneath the yoke. This ensures less noise when your Sliding Horse Stall Door is opened and closed. It is also one less "toy" for your horse to play with when they are bored or impatient. [Read "3 Yoke Options for Sliding Stall Fronts"]

Vented Bottom Options

One of the most popular trends is the addition of mesh or 1" bars on the horse stall bottom. These additions give your stalls a much more open look and feel. They also offer practical benefits such as improved visibility into your stall. This is especially important if you have a breeding barn with foals. Vented bottoms also improve your horse stall's ventilation since airflow can easily pass between. 

For "vented" bottoms, you can either choose our heavy-duty welded mesh or welded 1" bars. Mesh provides a much more modern aesthetic while 1" bars will provide a more classic styling. In terms of safety, below are some things to consider:

• Mesh Design: If you choose mesh, we recommend that you ensure that the gauge is heavy-duty. Light-gauge mesh will bend and break upon impact. In contrast, we use exceptionally strong and heavy-duty mesh that withstands impact. Lastly, mesh includes both a horizontal rod and vertical rod. Make sure that vertical rod is always facing the inside of your stall while the horizontal rod faces the aisle. This will ensure that no hoof rides up the mesh. 
• 1" Bars Design: If you choose 1" bars, make sure that they are welded on 2.5" centers as we do it at American Stalls. This spacing ensures only 1.5" of space from each bar's end to end. Lastly, be sure that the gauge of the "1 bars are heavy-duty to withstand impact and kicking. This combination will deliver a beautiful look while also ensuring no hoof gets caught in-between the bars.

The above considerations will ensure that your design is safe and built to last. One last consideration is that you can add this vented bottom both in the stall door, but also throughout the entire Stall Front as well. Full mesh or full 1" bars design can especially work well for veterinary facilities, breeding barns, and other applications where ventilations is needed. 

Shavings Guard

If you do choose the addition of a vented bottom, we then always recommend clients to add a Shavings Guard. This option will keep shavings and other bedding inside the horse stall where they belong. We offer two designs for our shavings guards – including one filled with lumber (most common) and one filled with powder-coated to match steel. 

Steel-filled shavings guards will provide a more modern, sleek aesthetic. In contrast, lumber-filled shavings guard will deliver a more warm and classic styling. 

Expert consideration: If possible, we recommend clients to choose a wood-filled Shavings Guard. Long-term, the bottom of the stall door's weld points are often susceptible to rust 15-20 years down the line. This is because the horse stall bottom is where so much moisture builds up. For this reason, a steel-filled shavings guard might be susceptible to corrosion over time. In contrast, a wood-filled Shavings Guard allows clients the ease of future maintenance. Simply take out the lumber and install a newly-stained piece of lumber. Your horse stall's shavings guard is as good as new!

Decorative Options

Last but not least, let's review some upgrades that are purely decorative. 

The most common upgrade is what we call "HVH." This stands for horizontal-vertical-horizontal – referring to horizontal lumber in the stall middle, vertical lumber fill, and again a horizontal lumber fill in the stall bottom. The bottom portion acting as a Shavings Guard. This combination provides your stall design with more warmth and elegance. Our HVH design can be turned into HMH (to include mesh) or HGH (to include 1" bars). These design choices can be added to both the horse stall door, but also the entire horse stall front. 

Another common upgrade is to bolster your Stall Front's standard 2"x2" steel frame to do a 2"x4" frame. This upgraded framing provides more heft and modernity to your stall's design. One last popular upgrade is the addition of an arched top. This delivers a sense of grandeur – especially when accompanied with brass finials. 

Last but not least, we offer a variety of fill options and powder coat finishes. Each fill option and finish allows you to truly customize your stall's look, feel, and function.

We hope that that this article has helped provide a great starting point for your Sliding Horse Stalls project. Do you have an upcoming project that you require assistance? Please give our team a call at (855) 957-8255 or send us an email at sales@americanstalls.com. We look forward to assisting you! 

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