Providing a home for your horse is not always easy. Indeed, how to reconcile his needs of mobility, social contacts, sensory stimulation and the constraints of care, maintenance and work which fall to any owner? Unless you have significant financial means and a very free schedule, the proposed habitat is often the result of compromises more or less well experienced by the main person concerned: the horse. How to choose a stall for your horse? What are the advices to find the right boarding? Should I put my horse on half board? What are the secrets of a non-shelter for horses or a good box for his horses? And above all, what does ethology think about stalls, boxes, paddocks…
Housing of the horse : The stall
In a stall, the horse is tethered, face to wall, and is separated from his fellow horses by a fixed wooden panel or a bench. Traditionally, it is estimated that the width of the stall measures 1.75 m and the length 3 m. Communication between each horse is possible directly or through a gate. In front of him, the horse has a manger and a drinking trough. The attachment is often provided by a lanyard tied in a ring or, even better, finished with a log to allow the horse to raise and lower its head at will.
This rustic style of housing is still used in some riding schools for training horses or in working horse stables. The reason for this is that it can only be tolerated without damage by the horse if it has a lot of room to move outside the tether. “Chaining your horse to the wall for more than eight consecutive hours would not be without consequences.
Some club owners prefer this type of housing, as it allows the horses not to self-contaminate (as horses in stalls do when they eat their own manure). 11 is also economical (less straw than a stall) and greatly facilitates the work of the grooms. However, it is very impressive for beginner riders who approach a horse with its back to them!
The ethological aspect of horse stalls
In terms of social contacts, contrary to appearances, the stall allows more possibilities of exchanges and sensory stimulations than some closed boxes. On the other hand, the animal’s need for movement is clearly limited if the work is not daily (several outings pe+B20r day). The narrowness of the stall does not allow the horse to roll around either. This type of accommodation therefore requires a lot of attention from the owner.
The horse box
This is the most common type of horse stall in our country (the one used by horse clubs), even if the types of stalls are as numerous as they are varied. Made of wood or cement, they can be lined up indoors in a single row, facing each other, built around a riding arena, outside with a view of nature, with communication gates or even a canopy to protect the rider from bad weather.
However, whatever the type, they all have more or less 9 to 12 m2 of living space, with a ceiling height of 2.80 m or 3.40 m to provide the horse with a volume of air of 40 m3 (a minimum to allow the evacuation of ammonia emanations from the litter, if the stall does not open directly onto the outside). Ideally, there should be an opening to the outside (glass, Plexiglas or translucent sheets on the ceiling) to bring in light.
In the stall, the horse is fed 3 times a day; the drinking trough generally distributes water at will (they are often automatic) and the manure is removed every day. The box is cleaned once a week.
If the horse can do everything in its box (eating, drinking, moving and even lying down), it is essential to plan a daily activity: one hour of work per day or a simple outing, and a few periods in the pasture or paddock during the week, without forgetting a period in the pasture once a year in summer. In addition to the boredom, it is the isolation that threatens the horse in the box. To overcome this inconvenience, some clubs build a low wall between the stalls or, even better, install a communication gate to avoid quarrels. An opening directly to the outside allows the horses’ curiosity to be satisfied.
The ethological aspect of horse stalls
Too many horse stalls offer little opportunity for social contact, limit the horse’s field of vision and restrict its movements. This can change the structure of the horse’s space when it lives permanently in the box and lead it to develop a strong territorial instinct (hence a certain aggressiveness towards anyone who enters its territory – horse or rider). The absence of various sensory stimuli often leads to a state of depression that causes behavioral tics to appear (bear tic, support tic, etc.). This is why it is recommended to allow the horses in the box to follow the life of the club by offering an opening directly on the comings and goings of the riders and visitors.
Accommodation of the horse: The box with paddock
This type of accommodation combines both the comfort of the box and the pleasure of grazing. It consists of a paddock on one side of the box, large enough for the horse to have a galloping track. The paddock adjacent to the stall can be shared by a single stall, by several stalls at the same time in an equestrian center, or by all stalls in turn. A removable electric fence can also be installed to separate the horses in the paddock when it is shared by several stalls. In fact, there are many possibilities.
The paddock is not a pasture. This surface is often covered with sand and its only function is to allow the horse greater mobility than that offered by the box.
The box with paddock is currently considered to be the most suitable accommodation for sport horses, which are still too often confined to their boxes outside their work sessions. No or little confinement stress, regular and intense social contacts, maximum ventilation, good luminosity, multiple sensory stimulations… The advantages for the horse are numerous. But all this comes at a price…the highest of all current housing methods!
The ethological aspect of the paddock
When the access to the exercise pen is free, this type of housing diversifies the daily life of the horse. In addition, horses can see and smell each other. However, the absence of a horse entering a paddock that is not its own does not allow horses to form strong social bonds (e.g., through mutual grooming), so separation anxiety is a concern for some psychologically fragile horses.
In addition, the exercise pen should not exempt the rider from offering his horse a real work session, mobility and diversity of sensory stimulation.
The meadow and the shelter of the horse
The meadow and a shelter: this is the type of accommodation that owners dream of giving their horse. It allows both to satisfy the natural needs of the horse to move and to minimize the constraints of the owner.
In our temperate climates, this type of housing is possible all year round for most healthy horses. However, it is generally reserved for groups of horses: either in breeding farms, or in an equestrian center, or when a rider owns several horses. Indeed, it is not recommended to put a single horse in pasture all year long, because it would get depressed very quickly.
Ideally, the pasture should not be too far from a populated area in order to be able to keep a regular eye on it and not to create too much stress for a daily visit. It is generally estimated that 1 ha per horse is required. This ratio may be less important if the horses do not have to feed exclusively on the grass that grows naturally on the pasture.
The shelter is essential. It should be built in a dry place and sheltered from the prevailing wind. It can be located under trees if a precaution has been taken in case of storm (lightning rod). The access to the shelter must be free, preferably with an opening located on the east side, on the rising sun side, to allow the horse to benefit from the summer sun in the morning and the shade in the afternoon.
If the pasture does not have a stream with safe access to water, a water trough should be placed inside the shelter, isolated from dirt.
On pasture, the emphasis should be on safety. This is why it is necessary to regularly inspect the land, to clear it of any potential danger (sharp or toxic objects, unplugged holes, protruding roots, etc.), to clean it of toxic plants and to ensure that it is enriched with fertilizer or, on the contrary, to treat it according to its weaknesses.
Putting several horses out to pasture requires some precautions, starting with removing the shoes from the hindquarters and harmonizing the temperaments. Sometimes, in order to make sure that the horses get along, it is advisable to install a temporary paddock (with an electric fence) inside the pasture to introduce a new arrival.
The ethological aspect of shelter and pasture
The pasture, or free stall, is the habitat that best suits the ethological needs of horses. They benefit from an active social life, movement and various stimuli.
However, if the need for contact and hierarchy is satisfied, it can be detrimental to the weaker horses (dominated by the whole group or by a single individual) and to the work. Indeed, in “semi-free range”, affinities (often in pairs) develop, so that the separation of one of the members of the group can lead to behavioral problems (call of the horse that has remained in the pasture, lack of concentration at work of the one that has left). This is why it is important to get into the habit of removing each individual from the group regularly and frequently.
