Whether you are building a new barn or renovating an existing barn, there are only two primary styles in horse stalls:
In both styles, we can build them in two ways:
- Fully Welded Horse Stall System – This will be a fully welded stall system that includes welded stall front panels, stall doors, and hardware. This system allows you to install right away once the stall is onsite in your barn.
- Kit Horse Stall – This will be a DIY system that includes your stall door, grills or wings, and hardware to assemble your horse stall onsite.
Your choice in a horse stall system will be largely driven by your aesthetic preference, your project budget, and other variables that are unique to you and your horses.
In a previous article, we spoke about many of the differences and considerations when deciding between hinged horse stalls and sliding horse stalls.
In this article, we'd like to go more in-depth about why we recommend sliding horse stalls. Read on below to learn why we recommend sliding stall fronts to all clients – including everyone from smaller private barns to large horse show barns.
Saving Space & Maximize Your Barn's Space
When building a new barn, we know firsthand that each square foot counts. We want to ensure that each square foot is mindfully designed and built to get the most bang for your buck. That means building the maximum of horse stalls and including other amenities such as tack rooms, wash bays, and locker rooms.
Compared to European (hinged) stall fronts, sliding sliding fronts allow our clients to save valuable space. This is because the sliding stall door slides against the stall front panel or existing horse stall front. Hence, the door doesn’t swing outward into the barn aisle like a hinged door. This space-saving feature makes sliding doors a perfect fit for busy facilities including horse boarding barns, training barns, and large venues.
Improve Safety in Your Barn
When it comes to our horses, we work hard to ensure every small detail is mindfully planned to keep our horses safe. We regularly recommend sliding horse stalls for private hobby barns and larger commercial facilities because they don't protrude into the aisle like a hinged door.
To begin, for example, a hinged stall door can get caught by the wind. This can injure a horse or human if the stall door is left open in the aisle. In contrast, a sliding stall door can be safely secured against the stall front.
Secondly, a sliding stall front features safe design that ensures the least amount of handling and steps. For example, a hinged door needs to be closed when the horse is not in the horse stall. Therefore, the handler has one more additional action to do when leading a horse out of its stall to close or open a latch. In contrast, when you are leading the horse back into the stall and the sliding door has been left open, there is less action involved to ultimately close the stall door.
Thirdly, when horses are turned out and a sliding door has been left open, a human can simply look down the aisle and tell who is out and who is not.
IMPROVE THE FIRE SAFETY IN YOUR BARN
Lastly, we recommend sliding doors especially from a fire safety standpoint. In the case of a fire, you have very little time to make crucial, life-saving decisions. In this case, you simply pull our pin-lock latch or push up a latch and slide open the door as you move to the next stall.
Our state-of-the-art pin lock latch features the highest quality materials and a seamless design. This design allows you to quickly unlock each stall door – allowing you to go from one stall to the next in the case of an emergency. If safety is your top concern, read up on our 4 safety tips for a safer horse barn aisle.
Do you have more questions about stall components or barn safety in general? Our team is here to help you with our decades of experience in building safe, functional, and elegant horse stall and barn products. Contact an American Stalls team member today!
