Building Our Foaling Stalls

[Little Wolf Ranch]

We currently have a "barn" of sorts that we used this season as a foaling stall. It is a 10x20 barn that has a metal roof, has metal siding 2/3 the way up and then chicken wire on the top 1/3 for fresh air flow. It works really well and we have a blue tarp up on the side that the rain comes in so it won't make it in and it works great. With that being said, I let my one and only mare due for 2010 have a whole 10x10 section to herself which was WAY big for her - she could run laps and buck in there! I have cameras set up in the barn so I can view them as well so I would like to have them all under the same roof.

So I have four broodmares, all of which are being exposed for 2011 foals. They are 31.5", 32.5", 33.5" and 37.5" (dontcha just love the half inchers? lol). I am wanting to divide up the barn into four stalls which would be about 5x10's. . . . .would that be big enough for all the different sized mares? I know while watching MareStare this year some barns had stalls that were so small that the stall was just big enough for them to lay down, turns around & foal.

They would only be in the barn at night and during bad weather and during the day they would be turned out (under camera & marestare watch) in a dry lot paddock with a run in shelter. I have two that don't show any signs whatsoever except right before they foal so I need them under camera 24/7 and would really like to have them all in the same barn and this is the only one I can do it with.

Thanks for your thoughts and opinions! Pictures would be nice!

 

[GrandmaC]

I'll make this suggestion. Stake out a 5 x 10 area and have you and one other person go in it. Or visit a local storage facility as 5 x 10 is a standard size small unit. It's much easier to see /feel a space out that you can be in it.

Ask yourself, if in the event of an emergency can with the mini and you and one other person who you may need to help you can comfortably work withing the 5 x 10 space.

After reading your post I literally went into my bathroom which is a 5 x 8 and there's no way I could work comfortably in that small an area with a mini sprawled out and another person assisting me. Not to mention a foal on the ground.

One thing that people do is make a frame on the wall in the center of a stall for boards to slide in that you can easily take out and put back in so if needed. Remove the center boards and all of a sudden your 5 x 10 is a 10 x 10. and when you put them back you have your two 5 x 10's. Let me know if you'd like pictures of this. I can go to my friends farm and snap some photos from my cell.

Their stalls are 12 x 12' but they have it set up that when needed they take out the center boards and have a 12 x 24 stall.

 

[LittleRibbie]

Hi Katie, IMO 5x10 would be too small for a preggo mare even if it is only during the night and bad weather. My smallest is 8x11 and even that seems too small at times.By the time a have a 5 gal h2o bucket,feed and salt and mineral tubs plus a mat for hay the space seems to dissappear. I will say how ever most of my minis are a little bigger than yours. I did visit a mini barn not too long ago and this person had their horses in 8x8's and they were fine..I was actually surprised at how much room they had. I am lucky b/c Ive actually stole part of my food area to use as a foaling stall now I think its about 18x22. Once the foal is on his own Im stealing that space back. All my stalls are 15x12. Go with your gut...Im sure you will make all your Mommies comfortable!!

 

[Make A Wish Miniatures]

Katie, My foaling stalls are 10' by 10' and they are as small as I would go. They work well and you have room for a couple of people if needed even while a mare is laying out flat. The smaller stalls could be dangerous if you have a mare having a foal wedged up against a side .I doubt you would have room for a vet to work with your mare if help was needed. try to stagger your breeding so your mares won't need to be in the barn at the same time.

 

[happy appy]

My stalls are 12x12 and 10x12. I put a divider in them when not used for foaling. I put the 2 mares in the larger ones and weaning/yearlings in the smaller ones. It is tight and only for bad weather in the divied ones though. Way too small for foaling when they are divided though.

 

[AnnaC]

So glad to read that you guys are favouring large stalls to foal down in. Quite apart from the room necessary to foal a mare - let alone if something goes wrong - one must also consider the weather! If you suddenly get a wet day, are your stalls big enough to give a foal room to run round, have a buck and a kick? It is not always possible to get a new foal out for daily exercise, and I think it is important to consider this when thinking about stall size.

Most of my stalls are 15 x 13 and 15 x 12 and even in one of these I just ended up foaling a maiden mare via her open door into the corridor (load of straw hastily plonked in the doorway!) - there simply wasn't the time to get her up and move her! A few days ago I foaled a little 30" mare in an 8 x 10 and really felt the lack of space. An experienced mare and a straightforward foaling, but with two of us at her rear end, it didn't leave a lot of free space.

I think you should always opt for as much space as you possibly can for foaling mares, but then I like to see all my minis in large stalls anyway. Could you rig up a sort of lean-to on the side of your barn to give you a little extra room?

Anna

 

[Joanne]

I would not go smaller than 10 x 10. You need every inch in an emergency. I think the mare is much more likely to cast in a small spot than in a large one.

I too have seen tiny foaling stalls on mare stare and I do not have a clue as to what these people are thinking. When you are down on your hands and knees and the mare is flat down and pushing, you still need space to help her. in a 5 x 10 if she is laying flat there is no more room.

 

[Loess Hills]

We have two 12 x 12 fully enclosed stalls on concrete floors that are matted. And sometimes they seem small! Both stalls have a hallway between them that can be used for more space, if needed. They open out to separate dry lots where the mare and foal can get some exercise if needed, but we can be watch them from the house. Bless my husband, with his engineering ability, because we planned and built everything ourselves.

 

I don't know where you are at, but our Springs can be chilly, and the mare and foal need to be somewhere dry and free of drafts.

 

[Miniv]

I swear by 12 x 12 stalls....even if they aren't used during foaling season.

GrandmaC mentioned setting up a divider when not using the stall for foaling and I agree with her. At our previous place, my hubby built dividers without a whole lot of trouble.

Even with our 12 x 12 stalls, we will occasionally still have a mare lay down with her butt up against the wall during labor. If she was doing that in a small stall, it would be much more difficult to move her.

 

[tagalong]

Our regular mini stalls are 6 X 12. There is a 12 X 12 box stall and I can pull out the tongue and groove boards between two more to have three regular sized box stalls for foaling or for "sick bay".

 

[GrandmaC]

I swear by 12 x 12 stalls....even if they aren't used during foaling season.

GrandmaC mentioned setting up a divider when not using the stall for foaling and I agree with her. At our previous place, my hubby built dividers without a whole lot of trouble.

Even with our 12 x 12 stalls, we will occasionally still have a mare lay down with her butt up against the wall during labor. If she was doing that in a small stall, it would be much more difficult to move her.

It's really easy and I can email pics from my cell phone if anyone wants to see it.

I think my acquaintance nailed two 4 x 4 (almost post size) about 2 1/2 inches apart on each side of the stall walls

leaving a 2 inch space between them and going about 5 to 6 ft up from the bottom.

You just buy boards that slide drown in between the two 4 x 4's, I think her's are like 2 x8's or 2 x 10's.

Either way I'd be happy later in the week and take actually measurements.

During foaling season you have nice sized foaling stalls and during emergencies (storms, etc) you have double the stall space.

 

[JaiteraMiniatures]

Our foaling stall is 12x12 and it was the perfect size for our mare who foaled last year. A 10x12 would probably be suitable, if you're limited by space, but I honestly wouldn't even try going smaller than that. Haveing a small runout area is also nice for the mare and/or foal to have little more room to run around in and nibble on some grass...just as a little suggestion if you ever decide to add to your barn

 

[Little Wolf Ranch]

Hmm. . .I'll have to see what we can do then seeing as 5x10 will be too small. I am thinking about maybe adding on but I am not exactly sure how I should go about it.. . .

Glad to know that I'm not the only one who saw tiny foaling stalls on marestare!

I think I will stick to 10x10 stalls. . .I'll be back in a few I need to go run out to the barn and get the brain thinking LOL

 

[wildoak]

My foaling stalls are 12 x 14, and can be divided as someone described by dropping in a panel down the middle. I had a mare foal early this year in a stall I hadn't yet "undivided"...she had already foaled and was cast against the wall when I found her, and we lost the foal.

That was in a 7 x 12 space, just not enough room for a foaling mare.

Jan

 

[Little Wolf Ranch]

Went outside and got to looking around and thinking and I remembered on MareStare I saw a few farms who had a camera overlooking a little paddock area with pregnant mares in it. I am hoping to expect 4 foals in 2011 - two out of two experienced broomares and two out of two high risk mares (a maiden and my red bag mare from this year). I thought maybe what I will do is put the two high-risk mares up in the foaling barn with the cameras and then keep the other two experienced mares in a small paddock and shelter with cameras on them as well.

This paddock and shelter would be only 20ft from the foaling barn and camper (where i stay at night while mare watching) so it's not far away at all. I am just wondering if others would find this a suitable idea? Adding on to two more 10x10 stalls to the current structure isn't really feasible as the current building isn't very add-on-able LOL.

My new mare Pepsi has never foaled in a stall - always in the pasture unassisted so I'm not sure if she would be good in a stall or not, and definately don't want to make her "hold out" on me LOL.

OPINIONS APPRECIATED!

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Even the most experienced mare will panic in some situations and not all mares have "making it easy for the owner" high on their list of priorities

I do not know what the weather is like in your area but, if your mares are already in foal they are going to be foaling fairly early and 5 X 10 is just too small for a mare and foal. Sorry.

If you are hoping to have them all in for foaling, or after foaling, you will need to start thinking of extending the barn, I think.

My stalls are all left over form the Arabs, so they are 12 X 12 with the foaling box 20 X 18.

I did divide the other foaling box up into four 6 X 8 stalls and they are really tight, even though they only have youngsters in them.

The two colts are in a sub divided 15 X 15 stall, so they each have 7 1/2 X 15, because of the shape I would not be too happy about foaling in there, but it would probably be big enough, in a pinch, for a mare and foal.

 

[~Lisa~]

My foaling stalls are 16x16 they were used for large horses prior to us living here. Frankly I would not go any smaller it is plenty large allows baby to have more then enough room to run around and play on days weather keeps them in - but most important while no one wants to think about it god forbid something goes wrong you need enough room for a very upset and in pain mare, yourself a vet and sometimes an assistent and still have room to work without stepping all over eachother.

Now I realize mine are very large and my regular stalls are 10x20 now for me I would not go any smaller then 10x10 and would prefer a 12x12