Stabling Your Horse

Before you bring your horse home you should be prepared to stable him. It is better to buy your saddle and bridle after you have the horse in order to get tack that will fit and something that suits the type of animal you have purchased.

Stabling depends on the part of the country in which you live. Naturally where there is extreme cold and snow the horse should have a fairly warm place, free of drafts, to feed. However, don't pamper your animal. The horse is a hardy animal and nature provides a coat heavy enough to survive any temperature. The animal will fare all right as long as he has plenty of feed and water.

You can go all out and build a picture barn with Dutch doors and the like, or just a makeshift lean-to, depending on how much money you have to spend. A horse can get along just as well with a lean-to against a garage or any other building—something to protect the manger from the weather and the horse from wind. It will not be necessary to hang a door on the corral side of the stable because the animal will then have the privilege of going and coming as he chooses. Double doors on the outside on the entrance side are good, so the horse can look over the bottom door section and yet be protected from drafts if the weather is cold. You will find that a horse will stand in the driving rain with his tail toward the downpour, but wind will almost always drive him inside the stall. A drop door just above the manger will make feeding easier without having to go inside the stall.

The stall should be well drained. Many horse owners like shavings or straw bedding. However, it is not necessary, and only raises the cost of keeping the horse and certainly takes more care. A wood floor is acceptable but can be noisy. It is easy, however, to keep clean by sweeping and the use of dehydrated lime. This floor can be well drained if the spaces between the studding are filled with small gravel. The presence of the gravel filled to the level of the boards so they rest on rock makes a steadier floor because there will be no give between the studding. By using gravel you can get by with 1 x 12's of redwood or any local wood instead of 2 x 12's.

The best floor is clay. A four-inch layer of red rock or gray slag, sprinkled and then rolled, makes a firm footing, not slippery, easy to rake, and drains well. It can easily be repaired by adding more clay and rolling with a lawn roller.

If you have a half acre or more your horse should have a small corral adjoining the stall, at least 20 x 20 feet. If you have only room for a corral and can make it a large one, then your stable need only be 10 x 10 feet with a corner manger. It is a good idea to draw a plan for stable and corral that will give you an idea for a more compact area to care for your horse and equipment.

Look for used lumber—1 x 6 or 2 x 6 rails are good. At the same time, look for metal nosing. Used nosing can usually be had for the asking. Nailed to the inside edge of the boards and painted the same color as the fence, it will insure an unchewed fence indefinitely. Nosing can also be nailed to the edges of fence posts. Horses appear to have a taste for some woods and will chew a post in two in a few days. If you live in a part of the country that has trees that grow tall and straight and about four inches in diameter, these will make an excellent rail fence. Usually rails that have been dried thoroughly will last indefinitely and the horses will only be able to pull off the bark. An owner of a grove may allow you to thin the trees for the rails. They should be ten to twenty feet long. Some woods will work well above ground but will quickly rot if used as posts. Railroad ties that have been discarded make substantial posts and usually have been treated against rot. Never agree to barbed wire. Many a good horse has been ruined by deep cuts, not to mention constant scarring.

An electric fence is reasonable and simple to install but it will not always hold all horses. It is easily grounded and easily broken. If you have enough land it is better to put your horse in the corral at night and turn him into the pasture during the daytime. It keeps him out of mischief at night and gives him something to look forward to. The animal's water should be in the corral.

A double laundry tub (chipped or damaged seconds) can be bought from any plumber for about a dollar. This can be filled with the hose, or water piped and a faucet used, or one half of the tub boarded over to cover a float such as the type used for chickens. This will insure the horse having constant fresh water. An animal will drink out of almost anything, but it appreciates clean water.

A horse is naturally a clean animal. Many horses will choose a spot in the corral or pasture to place their droppings. Many will never urinate in a stall; however, there are dirty horses just as there are untidy people. A garden rake, a barn broom, and a scoop shovel will make cleaning easy, and a small wheelbarrow will aid in removing the droppings. If you have only one horse, you can dispose of the droppings around the flowers. Or you may designate a place in a corner of the yard where the manure can be put to use later. A little fly spray on the fresh droppings will dispel any flies, and more on the pile will keep them away. If manure is spread out so it is dried by the sun, the flies won't bother it anyway, because they are attracted by the dampness. Also, if the manure is well dried before it is piled there will be almost no odor and there will be no need to spray. As to the odor itself, most people do not object to it, it is not a menace to health, and if you follow the above there will be no fly problem. Horses should not be subjected to flies. The animal is easy to keep clean and should have the privilege of enjoying clean surroundings. The walls of the stable can be sprayed safely every two weeks; use dehydrated lime on all wet spots in the corral or stable. This will sweeten the ground and eliminate the odor of urine. As nearly adjacent to the stable plan your equipment storage.

If you cannot have a tack room then plan a corner of your hay storage for a place for the saddle and bridle. A one-pound coffee can nailed to the wall will make a good bridle rack. A wooden rack can be built for the saddle. A clean grain sack kept over the saddle will keep off the dust.

The type of riding you will do will decide the kind of saddle to buy. The fMcClellan saddle (American military saddle) is good for children. It is said to have one of the best-balanced seats of any saddle. A western saddle should have stirrups that are easily adjusted and are free moving. A lightweight saddle is easy to handle. Be sure the leather is in good condition, neither dry nor cracked. Look at the sheepskin lining to see that it is not too worn, and there should be no loose nails. A small wooden box nailed to the wall will hold your grooming tools. The feed area should be large enough to hold from one to three tons of hay.

The price of hay always goes up in the wintertime, so it is best to buy your year's supply in June. The hay area should be approximately 8x10 feet. This will allow bales to be stacked three deep. Most bales are two- or three-strand wire. It takes twenty-four bales of two-strand to make a ton and fifteen of the three-strand. For years now hay has averaged from thirty-five to forty dollars a ton in areas where the hay must be hauled in. In parts of the country where you can go to the field, hay may be purchased for ten to twenty dollars a ton depending on the type. The kind of hay will also depend on the part of the country in which you live.

Prairie hay is excellent horse feed. It is high in minerals, palatable, and nourishing. It is also less dusty than other hays.

Timothy hay is a good horse fodder if it is raised properly and cut and cured the correct way. It can be too heavy and woody in the stock, and might result in a lot of waste. Too much dust from the pollen can give a horse heaves and broken wind.

Oat hay is an excellent food, but if purchased once a year the mice and rats will eat most of the grain and actually you will be feeding straw, and then extra grain must be supplemented.

Cane hay is raised in Texas and Louisiana with fine results. It has lots of leaves and a big head full of sweet oily seeds.

Johnson grass can also be fed. It is coarse hay, usable if cured properly, but once started it can take over the farm.

Blue grass is recognized as one of the finest grasses for pasture feeding and is especially recommended for breeding farms because of its mineral content.

Alfalfa is an all-around feed. Rarely do you have to feed grain, with the exception of mares in foal. It is high in protein. It is said to be heating, but in areas where it is raised the work horses eat nothing else and riding stock does extremely well. Feeding the horse will depend on the animal himself.

Usually the Department of Agriculture will be glad to suggest a combination of dry-land pasture for your horse if you have room to grow supplementary feed. Normally, a short-backed, big-barreled animal with well-filled-out rumps will make good use of his feed.

A horse should be fed the minimum that will keep him from losing weight. If you are working your horse daily, then he should have a feeding of prepared horse feed every day or so.

A little-used horse can get by on red oat hay alone, but a well-rounded diet for an active animal should include alfalfa and a prepared feed. Many fine high-protein foods in pellet form are being used today. A horse who has access to pasture or lawn cuttings will be that much better off.

It is difficult to say how much a horse will eat, but the average saddle horse will eat one pound of hay for every hundred pounds of body weight. A three-strand bale of hay will last a horse nine days. This means your horse will eat three and one half bales a month or three and one half or four tons a year for approximately nine dollars a month if you use the figure of thirty-five dollars per ton. A working horse should have a prepared horse feed. Most feeds of this kind have vitamins, minerals, and enough worm medicine to keep down parasites. There are many horse feeds on the market today. Try them all, and find one that benefits your horse the most. Feeding on schedule and keeping your animal clean will cut down the cost of upkeep. Routine is important, because the horse is a creature of habit and it should influence the horse owner.

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