Horse Housing

Agdex#:	460/720
Publication Date:	07/05
Order#:	05-045
Last Reviewed:	07/05
History:
Written by:	Dr. Bob Wright - Lead Veterinarian, Disease Prevention, Equine and Alternate Species/OMAFRA

Introduction

Housing for horses has not changed significantly since our grandparents raised horses. The majority of horse stalls are still mucked out using a wheelbarrow and pitchfork. Horse owners still brave the elements as they trundle through snowbanks to dump manure from a wheelbarrow. There are, however, other ways of doing things, many of which will lead to healthier horses and more spare time for the handlers. This Factsheet will provide some practical ideas on the housing of horses that should take some of the work out of the day-to-day chores.

Before building or renovating a barn, visit the Canada Plan Service (CPS) web site. It is an excellent resource containing information for all livestock species. You will find plans for a variety of projects from building a truss to cement work, from constructing lamb feeders to building horse barns. Engineered blueprints are also available for many of the building designs. One CPS plan features the Gambrel Roof Barn (Plan #8315). This is the typical two-storey horse barn design. Visit the CPS web site at http:\\www.cps.gov.on.ca to view, print or order copies of CPS plans.

What are my Options for Housing Horses?

Horse housing can be indoor or outdoor housing, or a combination of both. The type of housing will be dictated by what the horse is used for on a day-to-day basis or the preference of the owner rather than by the breed of horse.

Indoor Housing

Indoor housing is often used for a horse that is being ridden every day in the winter. The old two-storey bank barn design is still commonly used in Ontario but it is not well suited for horses without a number of renovations. There is the added danger of fire when a large amount of hay is stored above the stalls. Newer single-storey barns are usually easier and cheaper to build and maintain. Hay storage is cheaper when built on the end of the barn rather than on a second storey. If hay storage is planned for inside a barn, consult with your local fire department for advice on fire prevention and fire barrier placement.

Traditionally, individual box stalls are commonly used for indoor housing. However, they require a considerable amount of daily manual labour for manure removal. Plan a mechanization system to decrease the labour cost of manure removal. Examples of mechanized systems include:

• a barn cleaner, which can be installed in the floor (as seen in a tie-stall dairy farm). It is installed either at the back of the stall or in the alleyway and is covered with grates that are lifted at convenient locations to facilitate dumping of the manure. A mechanical stable cleaner works well, although it requires extensive cement work and the daily lifting of floor panels.
• a dump station, which allows manure to be dumped into a small pit located inside the barn. An auger or elevator removes the manure to a storage area.
• sliding partitions or gates, which move out of the way, will allow a tractor to come through an end wall door and facilitate the clean-out of a line of stalls all at once. This makes stall cleaning easy. The gates are hinged to the wall and swing out of the way while the sliding partitions are built to slide into the alleyway.
• a garden tractor and dump wagon or a manure spreader, which is driven down the alleyway going from one stall to the next. Manure is dumped into the wagon and removed to storage or directly onto the land. Carbon monoxide and exhaust fumes can be both irritating and a danger in a closed barn.
  

Standing stalls have been used to house horses, especially of the draft horse breeds, since the beginning of time. Horses, which are exercised daily, get along well with standing stalls. The horse can be tied forward with a chain or rope tether that passes through the manger and is attached to a weighty block of wood. As the horse moves forward, the weight maintains some tension on the tether, which helps prevent the horse from getting caught in it. Horses can also be allowed to stand loose in a standing stall with two chains across the open end. If the stalls are wide enough, horses can go into the stall and turn around. They can then be fed and watered facing the alleyway.

Free-stall, open-sided housing works well to maintain horses in an open-air atmosphere while providing some protection from rain. Free-stall buildings are often used to house a band of mares or a group of horses that get along well together. They are often used as run-in sheds. Turkey curtains can be hung in the open sides or ends of buildings, and in arenas, to increase ventilation in mild weather while providing the option to roll the curtain down in inclement weather. The turkey curtain operates on a winch and can be adjusted for different weather conditions.

Open shed rows are basically box stalls in a row with doors that open to the outdoors. The doorway is often a split or Dutch door design to allow the upper half to be left open, which provides good ventilation. These are often used in mild climates and in some racetrack facilities. However, in most regions of Canada, they can be very cold places to work in.

Indoor exercise areas are an excellent addition to a horse facility, especially when the horses are housed indoors for lengthy periods of time or during inclement weather. Regular exercise is essential. On pregnant mare urine farms (PMU) in Western Canada, mares are turned out as a family group into an indoor exercise area. The family group consists of horses that are housed closely together in the winter and are herd mates during the summer. Horse owners in Eastern Canada, likewise, use their indoor riding arenas as an indoor exercise paddock during inclement weather. However, be aware of the danger of using oil products on arena surfaces to control dust and, then, feeding the horses on the ground in the arena. Use only new or virgin oil. Contamination of feed and poisoning of horses can occur when old oil is used; using contaminated products for arena dust abatement can create an environmental problem.

Outdoor Housing

Outdoor housing can be a very practical means of maintaining horses. Horses maintain their core body temperature (38°C) by thermoregulation. Adult horses acclimatized to mild Canadian winter temperatures had an estimated thermoneutral zone between -15°C and 10°C (5°F to 50°F). The thermoneutral zone is the range in temperatures within which a horse can maintain its core body temperature.

Precipitation, especially rain, increases evaporation heat loss directly by reducing the thermal insulation of a horse's hair coat and by increasing convection losses. Cold, wet weather reduces a horse's ability to thermoregulate and is reported to cause weight loss in mares fed at 150% of the energy intake levels as recommended by the Nutrient Requirements of Horses, National Research Council. Snowfall is less cooling than rain for cold-adapted horses with dense coats. Winter hair coats insulate against body heat loss, which is why you often see horses with two inches of snow on their backs after a snowfall (1).

The aim of outdoor housing is to reduce wind speed and prevent precipitation, especially rain, from causing heat losses from convection. Simple housing designs can provide the necessary protection from the elements and can be a very effective means of maintaining horses.

As an alternative to barn cleaning, consider using a skidable shed, which is a three-sided shed built on skids or runners. It can be moved from pasture to pasture or from a well-worn area to a new area, leaving the manure behind. Skidable sheds are usually made of a welded steel frame covered with steel siding.

Loose housing can be as simple as a three-sided structure or as elaborate as an open barn. When using these structures, position the hay feeder at least 150 m from the barn, so the horses will be less likely to walk back to the barn to defecate and the barn will be kept cleaner. If cleanliness is not a concern, feed hay in the barn, bearing in mind the possibility of an accident when horses must compete for feed in a confined space.

In areas with low annual rainfall, a windbreak may be all that is needed for outdoor housing. Windbreaks are essential for all animals housed outdoors to slow the wind speed and, therefore, the wind chill. Many different objects can be used as windbreaks: large bales stacked two or three high and stored adjacent to a paddock, solid board fences, cedar hedging, a bush lot or snow fences of at least six feet in height. In some areas, material such as shade cloth, as used in the ginseng industry, is attached to tall fence posts to act as a windbreak.

Whatever choices horse owners make for housing their horses, it is essential that the comfort and wellbeing of the horses be kept in mind. The best housing for a horse will depend on the owner's budget as well as the daily use, body condition and health of the horse. There are positives and negatives to all systems. Choosing the right housing for your horses will require the evaluation of the system and the individual horse's needs.

References

1. Cymbaluk NF, Christison GI. Environmental Effects on Thermoregulation and Nutrition of Horses. Vet Clinics of North America. Equine Practice 1990. Vol. 6, No. 2.

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