Stables

[Mandy Goodwin]

Can anyone provide me with details on companies which supply kit forms for stables?  We are looking to build 6 stables with a barn and the quotes we have been given for someone to erect stables are extortionate!  Thanks Mandy

[Plato comes homePlato]

Well mandy....amongst my qualifications in Ag science (one of many quals,) is Horse management and I worked with the most famous horsebreaker born. Firstly he didn't use stables other than for clients who didn't understand horses but treated them like large dogs, kissing them and so on...fantasising as justification that horses LIKE being kissed and slapped on the neck and used for racing jumping and racing and gymkhanas ..all wrong!!...same as for dressage etc. Horses have never sought such "pleasures" . You do not need stables.

If you MUST have stables I can sketch you some essential matters and I did design some at one stage for the TAFE who regarded my horse work as unsurpassed and I as the most outstanding student ever... as do the major horse assurers who took my original claim forms and proposal forms designs("the best we have ever seen anywhere in the world")  and paid nothing for them but still use them 20 years later  nor for my diagnosing of how horses were seriously damaged in insurance claims they couldn't solve. I say these to let you know I am not a paper tiger when it comes to horses.

Unfortunately pony clubs embed ignorence,especially in mounting, holding reins, riding and safety. They also go on about stabling...and generally mislead young riders. As a result in part of this mistraining most Olympic 'jumpers' (not all came through pony clubs) are like sacks of potatoes riding a horse with flailing arms and loose reins, unbalanced, spoiling the horse's abilities to jump and  reflecting such poor riding skills as above In general "the horse world",  is a multimillion dollar sick joke. I add in finality there are several excellent olympic riders but most..pheeewww...

You have these things, as a few,  to consider in the stabling concept..........I am just going to rattle off stuff which might indicate that stabling is a major issue in design but a minor one in necessity. Stabling has one sound reasoning..keeping show horses clean for tomorrow!! I will introduce other more imporatnt issues as I go...

Access into and before the stable/s ,yarding,  injury, the points of impact when a horse rears,eye damage,  securing the horse properly for the often useless farrier who flogs horses with his file instead of using collar roping techniques in handling sulky horses, not encouraging termites, (by double panelling) doors (not for example using chip board as did the stables of multi million horse Paleface Adios..the worst stables I have ever seen...demonstrating wealth doesn't indicate intellect or expertise...) slipperiness, cleaning, feeding, safe lighting, and generally realising that horses throw themselves up down and sideways when pissed off or full of oats (feed is another obelisque to horse ignorence and oaten chaff is quite adaequate to horses on natural feed. Hand fulls of oats and great slabs of lucerne or rice products are asking for trouble and so often founder. You have to concern yourself with coplete hygeine and disposing of fouled straw and soils...clean water ..Horses typically need 5 acres to supply natural feed all year around in reasonable pastures. Remember they will not eat what they have defecated or urinated upon thus those numerous uneaten clumps of pasture...They lived in, in the past,  and still need far drier environments than France's clay pitted rain soaked lands...and Englands high rainfall pastures.They travelled vast distances in roaming and feeding and did not stay despoiling small areas. We treat horses quite ignorently a we demonstrate our suposed skills...If you own horses look for higher ground with acreage to run and good friable soils.Have a 22 foot diameter round yard at least 7 ft high to ride and train withing..forget using english dressage methods to' exercise'horses standing in teh centre with a horse in a halter (burn all halters as they are a menace...and only use your bit assemblies ..get a copy of Jimmy Wilton's book on horses....). Never ride any unknown horse without taking it in both directions around your 22 ft round yard to the walk trot and slow canter, testing it in forward and reverse reactions to reins and spurs..always use spurs. Horses only obey us because we a) feed them b) have them fooled by clever training. 

Back to stables...damage to legs and fetlocks needs to be considered and also the nervy horse's diet when he or she chews the place up as did many of our top racehorses.

Projecting iron roofs over entry are a problem and access around a sour horse must be considered, one does not need stables allowing a horse always to have complete movement. I could go on and on I realise but I suggest you steer clear of stables altogether but if you ARE obsessed with the idea take a look at the stables of yesteryear. Tell me what area you are in in France and I may have some suggestions..if you are still interested.

Better you have a few trees for them to stand under as they did in the wilds...anyone who judges someone by not having stables isn't worth being a client but anyone who has POOR stables shouldn't be allowed near horses...of course racehorse owners see them as essential because they do need to keep horses from fighting but their main reasoning is that they think it makes them look expert....it doesn't take much to be a racehorse trainer although training and feeding racehorses is both simple and a mystery to most of them...and so they fanatsy is needed to attract custom from even MORE ignorent clients.

Ponder these matters before deciding your need to have or agist or stable horses......

Cheers

[Plato comes homePlato]

Mandy..I was deliberately very and broadly confrontational over the horse business to really ask you to think about the whole area of your interest, one in which the blind-leading-the-blind "establishment" has a lot to "answer-for".  It sounds harsh but take the time to think about what I said and observe, even if you come up supporting the status quo, you will have had an interesting trip. So I thought I'd be more generous here as I realise I was quite energised...

The ideal spot for your stables is your barn, already built to effectively combat the temperature changes and requiring only well designed access and dividers. Look at older French stable set ups to see how the passage of time through when horses were essential transport provided a lot of knowledge.

Don't use a roof above the horses when building in the barn but DO ensure the area above the horses has the tiles prevented from falling onto the horses at least by adequate netting.

Some good example:!

People lead horses too tightly and mostly incorrectly. Bridles and bits and double length reins NOT held closely at the mouth should become the way you lead a horse, the extra length allowing you some latitude to allow the reins to slip through your hand if the horse shies away and the bit allowing control of the horse...halters are an irritation to the horse and useless in emergencies and give virtuallyno control. They put weight behind the horses ears too, the bit is the means the horse is used-to. Ideally you have also a 5 metre 2 inch (circumf) SOFT cotton rope "lariat"  around the neck, looped then above the eyes and then above the nose of the horse and coiled in your left hand in a manner which cannot trap your hand if the horse runs backwards and also holding the double reins.

The shyeing horse will run backwards 'not far' and you can allow the reins to leave your hand if necessary and more easily collect them once the horse stops and if you need to walk following the retreating horse...still holding the controlling 3 plus metres of SOFT COTTON rope... you will have distance between you which makes it less frightened and, engaging its yes you can walk slowly but certainly towrds it. 

When leading a horse you walk BEHIND  its eye(fairly regularly engaging its eye with yours as you walk and looking where you are going) and keep a loose hold in a firmish grip...(ie the right holding the double length preferably redhide reins with 18 inches of slack, from the bit and the rest of the reins and the soft rope held in the palm only, of the right.

You should engage a horses eye/es with your own before doing any action..including mounting a horse, look back at its eye as you mount. The inner rein should be a touch shorter than the other, pulling his head just a tiny tad to you  so that if the horse 'walks' as you mount it will walk 'around ' you..much safer than any other way....rein control is another story.

Cheers

[cary]

You obviously don't agree with stables then?

[Mandy Goodwin]

Hi Plato

Thank you very much for your constructive advice.  At present my horse is kept in the barn - which eventually will become our house.  However, we are looking to use the stables for those who are competing in the area or wish to have a stop over on their way to Spain or Toulouse. 

My horse has her own mind and with this cold weather she was offered the option to go out by me leaving the stable door open and free access into the field - her decision was - I'm not going out in this weather thank you very much.  Although she has trees etc to stand under and hedges to shelter her from the wind she detests the rain and as soon as it's starts she will go mad and automatically request to be brought in.  I must add that she is an ex race horse and when I first got her she had never even been in a field and it took a long time for her to adjust to being out in the open space of a field.

I take on board everything that you have said and have had dealings with people like Richard Maxwell and agree with the majority of things.  However, horses are individuals and therefore you must treat them as such.

If you would be able to give me some guidance on plans for stables that would be great.  Only if you do not object to someone putting stables up!

We live in 19.

Thanks again

Mandy