Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Can leave door open without horse getting out . |
| Disadvantages: |
Difficult to shimmy under with a full bucket of water . |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
I will try anything once. I bought one of the Weatherbeeta Rubber Stall Guards a few years ago as someone else had one and seemed to use it, so I thought I would give it a try. I bought it from one of my favourite websites, equestrianclearance which sells slightly cheaper horse items and it cost £9.99. They are available on line if you search and certain tack shops.
What is a Weatherbeeta Rubber Stall Guard?
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The Weaterbeeta Rubber Stall Guard is designed to go across the stable doorway to enable you to leave the door open whilst the
horse is in there, to prevent them from absconding. This is so that you can duck in and out without having to bother opening and closing doors. It is the length of the width of a standard stable door. It is a heavy duty chain, covered with rubber to make it softer if the horse should come into contanct with it. It is simple to attach before use. The chain attaches to a ring each side of the stable door, so you need to attach the ring. These stay in place permanantly so once they are there, you don`t need to worry about it each time.
Fitting the Weatherbeeta Rubber Stall Guard.
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As I have already mentioned, you need to attach the rings first which as far as I can remember come with the guard. You can probably just bang this in with a hammer, but you may need a drill depening on how the wood is around the door, or whether you have to insert it into the concrete. It is important to get the height right which can be easier said than done. It cannot be too low as the horse will be able to step over it. Likewise it cannot be too high as the horse will shimmy under it. Most won`t bother but my friend has some to keep her horse in a little concrete area when she is in the stable so that she can go in and out. She is in the field at other times. She has got the height right now but initially the horse went under, it is suprising how low they can go. It is also important when deciding where to locate the ring, that the door can be closed with the ring in situ. It would completey defeat the object if you couldn`t close the door with them in.
Gate.
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Incidentally, our yard is enclosed by a gate so that if any horses get out of their stable when someone is there, the gate enclosing the yard is shut so they can`t get out. This needs to be closed so that they can`t get onto the road which safeguards other people as well as themselves. I just thought that I would mention this because when I refer to my horses getting out of the stable, they, or nobody else, is going to come to any harm.
Uses.
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As I have already mentioned, it is to be used instead of closing the door. If for some reason you can`t take your horse out (like my mare with the fractured pelvis) and you need to muck out around them, you can leave the door open and this will prevent them from escaping.
You can leave the stall guard across in hot weather as it allows more air to circulate, but you need to be in close vicinity. If you are at the yard cleaning your tack or something, it would be perfect.
You could even have it across the doorway when tacking the horse up so that the door needs not to be closed when tacking up. I had a problem the other day with my naughty horse. He was in the stable, I had already brushed him off and was putting the saddle on. The door was closed but not locked. He saw 2 horses approaching the mounting block to go for a ride and he decided that he wanted to leave the stable. I put my arm across to try to prevent him, said halt, stand and back. He still kept going. He was able to leave the stable (they are strong) and the saddle as I had not done the girth up, ended up on the floor. I ended up with a bruise on my arm. If I had the stall guard up, he would not have got out. By the way, he is not usually naughty.
You can push the wheelbarrow underneath when mucking out, which is quite handy.
Disadvantages.
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Whist these can be handy at times, I don`t really use it very often.
When mucking out my mare, I usually fill up her haynet first and I find that she will stay put. It is then easy to muck out around her. I close the door but don`t lock it so it is easy to go in and out. If I did use the stall guard, I find it a bit of a pain as it is difficult to shimmy under it with a full bucket of water. OK, you can put it down and pick it up again, but it is much easier not to bother. Obviously if the horse were to attempt to leave frequently, you would need to use one, or tie them up. When you have left the stable with the wheelbarrow or bucket, it takes a second to kick the kick bolt and shut the door and a second to kick it to get in again.
A stall guard is not a secure as a stable door. I do not consider it safe to leave the horse unattened with just the stall guard. It is alright if you are in the yard still, but I wouldn`t feel safe going anywhere. Horses are quite heavy and if they decided to lean on it, it could easily ping out of the doorway.
Horses can shimmy under it, which is quite funny to see. They can be mischevious and if they want to, they will. It is usually the smaller ones, the bigger ones will just use brute force to get out.
Horses can step over it if it is too low.
It doesn`t keep chickens out, they like to go in and steal the horses feed given half the chance.
Do I recommend?
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Well they are quite a good idea, but not a thing that I use often. Horses are monkeys and I would not feel safe leaving them unattened. Even if they were in an American Barn type stabling where it is undercover and there may be a door at the entrance, I still would not like to leave them unattended it there was anything else in there, especially feed. They are nosey and could get into mischief if they wanted to. Maybe I am a bit cautious, they enjoy the door being open on a hot day, but I would consider it necessary for the owner to be in close vicinity. The other people I know who have one very rarely use it either, just use the kickbolt, it is quicker.
