# Two horses one stall



## ShutUpJoe (Nov 10, 2009)

My husband is building a run in shelter that will eventually become another stall. Because of this his tools are spread throughout the area that I had temporarily fixed into another stall for Willow. These aren't small easily movable tools and there are a lot of them. I'm pretty sure he has them all set the way he wants to see them in the morning so that he knows where everything is. 

Anywho, it's a pretty cold and rainy night. I know the horses would do fine outside but would rather have them in. I have a pretty large stall that measures approx 20X15. Willow (12hh) and the yearling get along really good. I'm not worried about cleaning up more poop because I'd have to clean it up in two different stalls if I had them separated. I stuck them in there without food to try it out and nothing happened. They just sniffed around and then picked a spot to rest after being out in the cold rain most of the day. 

I've never had two horses in the same stall before but have heard of people doing this. Thoughts? I kind of feel like it's wrong and I should just go turn them all out.


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## My Beau (Jan 2, 2009)

There was a time, when I worked at a boarding barn, where we didn't have enough stalls for all the horses. The young ones would stay out with blankets in the field with the run-in shed, the rest went inside. But, we were still one stall short. We had 2 older (35+) horses who were best buds - so they would stay the night together in the foaling stall. The stall was about 12x16. 

That being said, if your 2 get along well together, I would go ahead and bunk them up together if you feel the need 

We never had any problems with Zephyr & Lil Mac together...


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## kmacdougall (Feb 12, 2010)

My horses run inside into the same pretty small stall all the time, especially when its cold (and it gets COLD where I live.. think average temperature from December to late February around -10 Celsius). Sometimes in the winter I put them out for a few minutes (they go shackwhacky inside ALL day), clean one stall, take them inside and put them both in the same stall while I clean another one. Usually they just groom each other in there haha.
I wouldn\'t worry, especially not for just one night. They\'ll be fine.


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## MacabreMikolaj (May 9, 2009)

I've heard of it done, Shay-las mares were kept in the same stall for the first 3 years of their life with no problems. I would just weigh the options carefully - Shay-la once had to put Flika and Mini Man in the same shed once, I don't even remember why, and she came back to Flika having backed Mini Man into a corner and kicking the daylights out of him. He was amazingly uninjured except she kicked a front tooth right out. These were two horses that were BEST friends in the pasture, never fought, never disagreed and for some reason in close quarters she told him to get lost and he couldn't and she went on the fight.

This was the same mare kept in a stall for the first 3 years of her life with Dove. So it really depends on the personalities and who it's with, it's just if one horse gets annoyed the other horse has nowhere to go so it can be a catch 22 sometimes.


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

I personally would never stall two horses together. Even horses that get along can wind up fussing with each other and there is just too much chance of injury for me. Our mares are out 24x7 all year and our stalls are really only used to limit movement for a day or two after the rare bad sprain or for me to trim hooves when it's raining outside.


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## ShutUpJoe (Nov 10, 2009)

I went out and checked on them and Davinci is lying down with Willow standing next to him. I told my husband to let them out when he gets home from work.


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

When I was shopping for the horse the place where I got my qh from kept 2 horses in 1 stall. They'd actually keep my (future) qh with other horse too, but she's that kind of horse that must keep stall for herself. :wink:


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## Indyhorse (Dec 3, 2009)

Joe, I always got the impression Willow was the maternal sort. Since Davinci is a youngster, that makes extra sense that Willow has buddied up with him. In our pasture, which contains a couple of bullies, Willow was low on the totem pole and always ran away and avoided confrontation. I don't see her being an aggressor, and since Davinci still has kiddo mentality I don't imagine he will either. I think they will be fine. If Willow had stalled here this winter, Freyja and Fiona would have been sharing a box stall. They still will if Amarea ends up getting another horse before winter is over. If they get along it shouldn't be a problem, I saw your stalls, it's not like they are small! :lol:


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## Spastic_Dove (Oct 4, 2007)

A german exchange student I knew was showing me pictures of the stabling in her barn, and pairing two horses together was the norm. She said she found it shocking that we would just put one horse in a stall by itself. I don't know if this is a German thing or just a Annika (the girl) thing. 

We have put our babies in stalls together and never had much trouble with it.


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## ShutUpJoe (Nov 10, 2009)

Thanks Indy your approval puts me at ease. Both of them are pretty non-confrontational. I've never seen Willow go after Davinci. Even with Davinci lying down Willow still had plenty of room to turn around and move. 


Thanks to everyone else that replied. This isn't a permanent situation. The run in should be done by the end of the week.


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## AlexS (Aug 9, 2010)

ShutUpJoe said:


> Because of this his tools are spread throughout the area that I had temporarily fixed into another stall for Willow. These aren't small easily movable tools and there are a lot of them. I'm pretty sure he has them all set the way he wants to see them in the morning so that he knows where everything is.


Sounds like you are married to my husband!  


As long as there is no feed in there and if there is hay, plenty of it, all over the place, I am sure they will be fine.


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## Amarea (May 25, 2010)

Eh it will be fine. Like Indy said, Willow was always the maternal kind. We even were told that by her previous owners too. I really don't think you'll have any issues with those 2. Glad to hear they are doing ok together


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## rosethorn (May 6, 2010)

There are 2 horses where I board my boy and they are so attached to each other that when we put them in seperated stalls for the night when we came back the next morning the dividing wall was gone and they where standing together!!!! That's what I call friendship!!!!!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## ShutUpJoe (Nov 10, 2009)

Just wanted to let everyone know that the horses were fine when I turned them out this morning. I woke up early to check on them and let them out. Although they were standing at opposites side of the stall there are no marks or anything on either one of them. The stall isn't even that dirty either. In fact Annalie's stall is dirtier than theirs....


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## Amarea (May 25, 2010)

LOL! She was probably jealous that she had to sleep by herself! Hehe...


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

That is a pretty big space. With two animals that in general get along it seems like an OK situation. Glad it all worked out fine.


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## Walkamile (Dec 29, 2008)

Considering how large your stall is and both horses get along well, I wouldn't be very concerned.

My two are together in one large stall and they do fine. They are not closed in though, go in and out into a paddock as they please. I have found them both in the stall though, laying down and comfy. No problems or injuries and it's been over 10 years now.


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## GreyRay (Jun 15, 2010)

Pffft! We only have three stalls total so we pack all 'em in sardine style!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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