# Opinions, please - Swing vs Sliding Stall Doors



## clwhizy (Aug 20, 2014)

I prefer sliding doors, the swing ones always seem to be in the way ;-) I wish my doors had a yoke grill!! It would be nice to have the hinged ones that you could open and close.


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

I have been around but not used sliding STALL doors, though my barn has a sliding door to the adjacent shelter. The sliding doors are really space economical and probably, in the long run safer with most horses. I have trained my horses to put their heads over the gates to get haltered/unhaltered, and two of my stalls are constructed from round pen panels, 3 sides + one gate section. They are small openings. However, my horses have learned to be comfortable walking through a 32" wide front barn door. Most barn doors are much wider, although I believe that a small door is one of the BEST ways to trailer train because your horse walks into a darker building though a small opening, akin to loading into a trailer.
If you use sliding doors, be sure to grease them. White lithium grease comes in a spray can with a small attachable straw and you can really get into the tiny space with it.
Not sure what you mean by a "Yoke", unless it is this:
Horse Tack, Horse & Equine Supplies - Statelinetack.com


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## jenkat86 (May 20, 2014)

I actually have both on my stalls. Each stall has a solid sliding door, and a swinging gate. In the summer I leave the sliding doors open and just use the gates. The only down side to a swinging door or gate is that over time they can sag...well, not sag, but the one side drops lower than the other, know what I mean? You have to redo the hinges every now and then.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

Depending upon the kind of swing gate you have you may need to reinforce the door opening to support that added weight.
On a aisle that wide you should not have difficulty being able to fully open the door back against the stall front.
If you plan on keeping objects, whatever, in the aisleway the doors will not be able to be fully opened and you 12' aisle just became 8' wide at most. If you have 2 stalls open across from each other and not doors flat open to stall wall you will barely have room to walk through yourself forget the horse.

Sliders are nice. You need to keep the rollers in good shape, possibly grease them periodically so they slide easily.
To open them fully you cannot put anything against the wall space in front of the stall either as that is the "storage" spot for the door...it needs a few inches of clearance space.

As to yokes or not...
I prefer a solid door with no ability to hang the head out. 
Swing or slide makes no difference, just a "style"...
Solid prevents a horse from having their head out and someone walk past and either horse snap at them, the stalled horse snap at a passing horse or if in a boarding situation a human walk past and give a swat to the horses face if they for some reason don't like the horse or its action that day...
_Your horse is best protected behind a solid door_....as long as there is adequate ventilation you don't have a problem.
Also keeps those bored from ripping items kept in front of their stall such as blankets or chewing the edges of the stall or barn wood...

Just my thoughts and experiences....
:wink:


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## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

At the places I've boarded, I preferred the place that had doors that swung in to the stall. They were only "half height" doors so the horses could always stick their heads out, though it was a little high to be comfortable for some of the horses to keep their heads out all the time (mine included).

I've never used sliding doors that slid easily. They always seem heavy and the place I'm at now they're especially bad (almost certainly poorly maintained). I have to be careful to make sure I don't spook horses at the wrong moment by opening my door, it's so loud  Fortunately at this place the horses are out a lot more: 24/7 in the summer and I installed a stall chain across his door so I don't have to mess with the door if he's only in there short term while I do chores or he's eating. The doors do have closeable windows/yokes, which are nice. They're generally kept open.


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## DuckDodgers (May 28, 2013)

Easy to open/close, well maintained sliding doors are my preference. That said, most are not well maintained and can be a pain in the butt. It's nice to not have the door in the way.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## MsCuriosity (Apr 20, 2015)

Ah, I see. I've heard that sliding doors are much harder to install properly but I hadn't thought about the maintenance that goes with them to keep them working properly. 

Thanks, y'all!


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## 4horses (Nov 26, 2012)

When we had our barn built I specifically did not want sliding doors. Only the people we hired ordered them anyway.

I hate sliding doors. They get stuck and are a pain. Never again!


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## SummerShy (Aug 3, 2014)

Our swing stall doors don't get in the way. I like being able to shut them fast in case I'm working with a butthead of a horse. The sliding stall doors I've used at other barns would rust, get hard to slide over time, and in general slide pretty slowly or feel heavy. I suppose if you had an elite set up sliding doors would be fine but probably still not my preference.


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## mkmurphy81 (May 8, 2015)

I've also never met a slide door that operated easily. They always seem to get stuck. I prefer swing doors that can open all the way back against the front of the stall. One barn where I boarded had swing half-doors and tack boxes in front of the stalls. The doors would swing against the tack boxes, but the aisle was plenty wide to accommodate the tack boxes, so the doors were never in the way.

Whether or not I'd want a yolk would depend on the kind of barn. In a boarding barn with a lot of high strung show horses and unfamiliar people, I'd want full height doors. In my own backyard barn with my own horses, I want the horses to be able to stick their heads out.


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## Kay Armstrong (Jun 28, 2015)

I suppose it would depend on the quality you are considering. I've boarded at barns that have had both style doors. The only drawback I see with sliding doors is you can't hang anything on the outside of the stall where the door slides. The only drawback I see with doors that swing is there is a tendency to leave the door open once your horse comes out into the aisle. 

Regarding to yoke or not to yoke, I think it depends on your horse(s). My last horse felt very claustrophobic in a stall where he couldn't hang his head out into the aisle. I always felt like a solid front door felt a little like going to the zoo....to confining for my liking.

Let us know what you decide.


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## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

MUCH prefer sliding doors. I had the Behlen galvanized stalls in my barn in TX..in 7 years, never had a problem. I actually still have those panels, so it will be interesting to see if sitting for 4 years affects them!

Now, I have some custom built stall fronts from a company in Indiana, probably Amish. They are what my Amish barn builder used. They work great! No problems in 4 years. 

If you are building the barn, I highly recommend making the aisle a little wider. It makes a huge difference in usability!


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

I have both and I prefer the swing door. I have a "Dutch" door that opens top & bottom, and it's nice because I can leave the top open for the horse to stick his nose out and socialize or be petted, or I can close it if the horse is being a pest or wants to get in another horse's business as they walk by. 

The sliders aren't a problem IF you maintain them (2X a year, clean the track and spray the white grease on the track). They slide easily and stay out of the way and the wind can't blow them shut on you but they don't have the option to open or close the top half. The stall is either open or closed.

If it's an option, I too would make my stall 15 feet wide rather than 12 feet. I have 12 and have been in barns with the wider aisle and while 12 is ok, 15 is a whole lot nicer.


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## Kristyjog (Nov 11, 2013)

I've had both and prefer the sliding doors. We used castlebrook fronts, the top can open like a dutch door so horse can hang their head out and there is also small feeding doors to throw hay and dump grain through. These doors work great for my family. The kids can easily feed without every having to open a stall door. My husband is great at maintaining the stall doors so maybe that's why we have yet to have a problem. We've had them 4 years.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

For what it's worth, I prefer sliding doors


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

Sliding doors is my preference, too.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

At the risk of hijacking the thread... how does one fix a poorly maintained sliding door? 

I wiped the thick layer of dust off the track and put some grease on it and now it doesn't make a horrible screeching sound anymore, but is still very heavy to move. I couldn't find any manuals for installation or maintenance from the manufacturer (Priefert). I'm wondering if the rollers need to be replaced, but I can't find any replacement parts, either


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## Kristyjog (Nov 11, 2013)

Tractor supply normally has all the parts we need, from the wheels to the tracks. Ramm fence online has a lot of parts as well. The main thing for us was making sure the track is level and wheels oiled or replaced.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Zexious (Aug 2, 2013)

Add me to Team Sliding Door haha~


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

You HAVE to use white lithium grease on them. My barn sliding doors are more than 50 years old, and that is how I maintain them. If you own a trailer you already have some. If not, any hardware store sells it. Don't be against something if you don't know how to maintain it.


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## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

Corporal said:


> You HAVE to use white lithium grease on them. My barn sliding doors are more than 50 years old, and that is how I maintain them. If you own a trailer you already have some. If not, any hardware store sells it.


I'll get some and try it out. Hopefully that fixes the problem 



Corporal said:


> Don't be against something if you don't know how to maintain it.


I would hope I'm not expected to know how to maintain everything at the barn... my horse is boarded, not at home, and you'd hope that the BO would be the one doing the maintaining, though clearly that doesn't always happen!


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

UNfortunately, not everybody keeps up with all maintenance. You will really like having a spray can of white lithium grease! You'll find yourself using it with the straw to spray everything that squeaks around the house. =D


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