Sliding Horse Stalls –Centered or Off-Centered Stall Doors?

September 28, 2021

When planning your barn project, there are hundreds of micro decisions made on just about everything. This includes everything from the barn's structure to the horse stalls to the barn doors to the lighting fixtures to even security cameras.

When clients have narrowed down to their horse stall fronts, we often get multiple questions. One of the most common questions we get is, "Should I center my horse stall door or leave it off-centered?" We get this question for both our hinged horse stalls using our Stall Gates and also our Sliding Horse Stalls.

For the purposes of this article, we will focus on Sliding Horse Stall Fronts and their door placement. In this article, you will find pros, cons, and things to consider regarding your horse stalls' door placement.

Consideration 1 – Centered Stall Doors Require More Welding
Although this might be a surprise, centered stall doors are usually more expensive to build compared to off-centered stall doors. This is because our team must cut into the steel frame and weld additional 2" square tubing to frame your door's opening. Although it is not a significant cost difference, it is something to consider for your barn project's budget.

Consideration 2 – Centered Stall Doors Provide Privacy
When clients choose Sliding Horse Stalls, they often add a yoke opening or a stall gate behind the door. This is because clients want their horses to have the ability to hang their heads out into the barn aisle. If the stall doors are off-centered (at the end of a stall), a horse can interact (in some cases, annoy) his neighbor who might be eating his food. For this reason, centered stall doors allow more privacy when heads are out of yokes.

Consideration 3 – Feed & Water Placement
We all know that each horse owner has their own way to feed and provide water to their horses. Although this is a subtle design detail, but your door placement can affect your feed and water style. This is a personal preference, but a centered stall door will allow you to separate feed (and hay) from water bucks. This way, your horse is less likely to drag hay into their water buckets.

Consideration 4 – Aesthetics
Although both door placements can make for an elegant stall, centered horse stall doors tend to be dressier than their off-centered counterparts. In many of our large-scale projects, architects and builders tend to prefer centered doors as they provide a cleaner visual. This is because the doors are all placed in the same opening - as opposed to off-centered doors that can have a left door on one row and a right door on the other side.

Despite the above four considerations, we firmly believe that you can build an elegant horse stall front – whether you choose a centered door or an off-centered stall door. Our team will help you build a stall front system that is elegant, safe, and functional.

Do you have any additional questions? Please kindly feel free to send us an email at sales@americanstalls.com or a call at (855) 957-8255. Alternatively, you can also complete a Contact Us Form.

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