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Re: [RC] Shedrow - D'Arcy Demianoff-ThompsonHi Susan,
I have had just about every configuration, type, style, that the imagination can muster up. Here is what has worked the best and kep the horses the safest!
Box stalls with front and back doors (12x12) back door opens to a 12x24 run, the first 12 feet of the run is covered. The back of the run has a gate that opens to the pasture. Rails: 4 to 5 rails high (keeps their heads in). No WIRE - it breaks, in time, and they can get caught, cut, and stuck! the distance between the ground and the bottom of the rail is 14-18 inches depending on the soil! This prevents them from getting hung up if they cast themselves. They can still cast themselves but they are readily able to get themselves out and up. No in the run: They slip and can not get up if they cast themselves. Do not put boards lined with metal on the top. They can loosen the metal up with their teeth, get a hoof caught and rip it off! Not to mention what it can do to their mouth!
Next best: (But megabucks) MD Barn with runs off the stalls - the runs are non-climb wire set into the ground 4 inches and covered with gravel and then topped with DG. Wire is bent over the peeler cores and topped off with a slanted 2x6 top rail that is treated to not CHEW! I have seen one place in Santa Inez and took the non-climb over the top rail. The wire is done on both sides with one side the goes around the top rail and wood screwed down. However, I did see a stallion kick up when he got very excited (fence / run was 5 feet high) and took that top rail off and got his leg caught inbetween the wired sides and ripped off the skin from his flank to his pastern. I don't know if I have the video I took of the old TJ Stables, in Stevinson, CA, when a friend of mine bought it. The turn outs were absolutely the BEST! If I can find it I'll post it to Facebook and get you the link.
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