Equestrian facility

An equestrian facility is created and maintained for the purpose of accommodating, training or competing equids, especially horses. Based on their use may be known as a barn or stables, riding hall, and may include commercial operations described by terms such as a boarding stable, livery yard, or livery stable. Larger facilities may be called an equestrian center and co-located with complementary services such as a riding school, farriers, vets and tack shops or equipment repair.

Horses are often kept inside buildings known as barns or stables, which provide shelter for the animals. These buildings are normally subdivided to provide a separate area or box for each horse, which prevents horses injuring each other, separates horses of different genders, allows for individual care regimens such as restricted or special feeding and makes handling easier.

The design of stables can vary widely, based on climate, building materials, historical period, and cultural styles of architecture. A wide range of building materials can be used, including masonry (bricks or stone), wood, and steel. Stables can range widely in size, from a small building to house only one or two animals, to facilities used at agricultural shows or at race tracks, which can house hundreds of animals.

Terminology relating to horse accommodation differs between American and British English, with additional regional variations of terms. The term "stables" to describe the overall building is used in most major variants of English, but in American English (AmE) the singular form "stable" is also used to describe a building. In British English (BrE), the singular term "stable" only refers to a box for a single horse, while in the USA the term "box stall" or "stall" describes an individual enclosure.

In most stables, each horse is kept in a box or stall of its own, and these are of two principal types:

The choice of type of box is likely to relate to the available space, local custom, welfare concerns and workload of the horses. In some countries, local organisations give recommendations as to the minimum size of accommodation for a horse. For instance, in Britain, the British Horse Society recommends that horses are only kept in boxes which allow freedom of movement, and that these should measure a minimum of 10 feet (3.0 m) square for ponies, and 12 feet (3.7 m) square for horses. Common practice in the United States follows similar sizes. Stallions are sometimes kept in larger boxes, up to 14 feet (4.3 m) square and mares about to foal or with foal at side are sometimes kept in a double-sized stall.

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