Filed under: February 2017 | Tags: Draft horse, draft horse feeders, horse manger, horse safety, tie chains, Tie stalls for draft horses
February 18, 2017
My draft horse tie stalls are ten feet wide.I made my mangers like the one pictured above. I had several people ask me questions about their size and how they are made. The mangers have a bottom that is about 18 inches above the floor. The ten foot width is divided in half. Each horse has a compartment that is five feet long, thirty three inches wide and twenty six inches deep.
I installed a corner feeder in each section for the horse’s grain. The size of the manger easily holds a half of a 50# bale. The horses have plenty of room to “root” around in their hay, without pushing it out onto the floor to be wasted. The mangers pictured have been in use since the year 2000. The top board is a 2×8 inch piece of red oak. The top edge of which is forty four inches high, when measured from the floor to the top edge.
I drilled a hole in the 2×8 inch top board. I off set it just enough to have a little more wood on the top of the hole than the bottom part. The chain is long enough to allow the horse access to the bottom of the corner feeder. That length is long enough to allow the horse to lie down easily, but not so long so the horse can get tangled. I use a big heavy snap to connect at their halter. I moved the snap a link at a time until I found the desired link for the proper length. This should be somewhere between 18 to 24 inches, depending upon the size of the horse, looseness of his halter etc. I cut the extra links off the chain to keep them from becoming entangled in the snap once it is attached to the horse’s halter.
On the end of the chain that is inside the manger, I attached these big rings. The rings can’t pull through the hole. They are heavy so as the horse moves forward, the ring pulls the slack in the chain to the inside of the manger. It slides up and down easily keeping the chain taut while not pulling on the horse. The horses had no trouble adjusting to the chain and ring.
My double tie stalls keep my horses safe and clean. They are turned out or used each day, so don’t need the exercise a boxstall allows. They can lie down whenever they want and often do. I would not make a double stall any wider than ten feet, nor a single stall and wider than five feet, otherwise, the horse may try to roll in his stall. I stable my horses in the same manner that they are hitched, each horse shares a stall with its team mate.
It is possible to harness that horses in their double stall. They are roomy for the horses and makes caring for them easy. I have used tie stalls since 1986. The key is that the horses need to be used or exercised daily. The mangers are a key component to keeping them safe, fed and secure.
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RicelandMeadows 
How deep are the stalls themselfs (the wall length)?
Comment by Jorge October 6, 2019 @ 10:51 pmThe overall length is 10 feet. The manger takes up about 3 feet. The double stall starts out at 10 feet X 10 feet. This gives the horse 7 feet by 5 feet each. My horses are quite large 17 hands and close to a ton each. I hope this helps.
Comment by ricelandmeadows October 8, 2019 @ 2:07 pm