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An equestrian facility is created and maintained for the purpose of accommodating, training or competing
equids Equidae (sometimes known as the horse family) is the taxonomic family of horses and related animals, including the extant horses, asses, and zebras, and many other species known only from fossils. All extant species are in the genus '' Equus'', ...
, especially
horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...
s. Based on their use, they may be known as a barn, stables, or
riding hall A riding hall, indoor arena, indoor school (UK English), or indoor ring (US English) is a building (part of an equestrian facility) that is specially designed for indoor horse riding. Smaller, private buildings contain only space for riding, whi ...
and may include commercial operations described by terms such as a boarding stable, livery yard, or livery stable. Larger facilities may be called equestrian centers and co-located with complementary services such as a riding school,
farrier A farrier is a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of horses' hooves and the placing of shoes on their hooves, if necessary. A farrier combines some blacksmith's skills (fabricating, adapting, and adjus ...
s, vets, tack shops, or equipment repair.


Horse accommodation

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 stall or box for each horse, which prevents horses injuring each other, separates horses of different genders, allows for individual care
regimen A regimen is a plan, or course of action such as a Diet (nutrition), diet, exercise or medical treatment. A salt#Health effects, low-salt diet is a regimen. A course of penicillin is a regimen, and there are many chemotherapy regimens in the treat ...
s 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 Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building ...
(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 show An agricultural show is a public event exhibiting the equipment, animals, sports and recreation associated with agriculture and animal husbandry. The largest comprise a livestock show (a judged event or display in which breeding stock is exhibit ...
s or at
race tracks A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also ...
, which can house hundreds of animals. Terminology relating to horse accommodation differs between American and
British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
, 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 American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...
(AmE) the singular form "stable" is also used to describe a building. In
British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
(BrE), the singular term "stable" refers only to a box for a single horse, while in the USA the term "box stall" or "stall" describes such an individual enclosure.


Types of box

In most stables, each horse is kept in a box or stall of its own. These are of two principal types: *Boxes allowing freedom of movement – Horses are able to turn around, choose which way to face and lie down if they wish. These can also be known as a loose box (BrE), a stable (BrE), a stall (AmE) or box stall (AmE). *Stalls restricting movement – These are known as a stall (BrE) or a tie stall (AmE). The horse is restricted in movement, can normally face only in one direction, and may or may not be able to lie down, depending on width and if or how tightly the animal is tied. They are usually restrained through being tied at one end of the stall by a rope to a halter or headcollar. Common dimensions are wide by long. 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 The British Horse Society (BHS) is a membership-based equine charity, with a stated vision of "a Society which provides a strong voice for horses and people and which spreads awareness through support, training and education". It currently has ...
recommends that horses be kept only in boxes which allow freedom of movement, and that these should measure a minimum of square for ponies, and square for horses. Common practice in the United States follows similar sizes.
Stallion A stallion is a male horse that has not been gelded (castrated). Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cresty" nec ...
s are sometimes kept in larger boxes, up to square, and
mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four ...
s about to foal or with foal at side are sometimes kept in a double-sized stall.


Method of operation

Stables can be maintained privately for an owner's own horses or operated as a public business where a fee is charged for keeping other people's horses. In some places, stables are run as
riding school An equestrian facility is created and maintained for the purpose of accommodating, training or competing equids, especially horses. Based on their use, they may be known as a barn, stables, or riding hall and may include commercial operations descr ...
s, where horses are kept for the purpose of providing lessons for people learning to ride or even as a livery stable (US) or hireling yard (UK), where horses are loaned out for activities in exchange for money. When operated as a business where owners bring their horses to be boarded, they are known as "
livery yard A livery yard, livery stable or boarding stable, is a stable where horse owners pay a weekly or monthly fee to keep their horses. A livery or boarding yard is not usually a riding school and the horses are not normally for hire (unless on work ...
s" (BrE) or "boarding stables" (AmE and Australian English). There are a number of arrangements that horse owners can make with operators of these stables. The least expensive is when the horse owner does all of the work related to the care of the horse themselves, called "do-it-yourself" (DIY) or "self-board". In the middle range, the term "full board" is used in the US to refer to several options, depending on the part of the country, from a facility that simply feeds the animals and possibly provides turnout, to one that handles all care of the horse, sometimes including exercise under saddle but not training ''per se''. At the top end, the facility operator manages the entire care of the horse, including riding and training. In the UK, this is called "full livery". In the US, such settings may be called a "training stable". There are intermediate stages of care with parts of the care of the horse undertaken by each party, using terms such as "part livery" or "part board", with the terms not universal, even within individual countries, and usually agreed between owner and operator. Some stables also offer a service for horses to live on pasture only, without a space inside the stable buildings, known as "grass livery" (BrE), "agistment" (BrE), or "pasture board" (AmE). Where the stables also house a riding school or hireling operation, some operators may also offer a "working livery" (UK) or "partial lease" (US), where the horse owner pays a discounted rate (or no money at all) for their own horse's care in return for the riding school being able to offer the horse to paying customers other than the owner.


Schools, arenas and pens

Horses are often exercised under human control, ridden or competed within designated fenced or enclosed places, usually called schools, pens or arenas. These can be of almost any size, provided they are sufficiently large for a horse to move freely, and can be located indoors or outdoors. The smallest are the
round pen The round pen, sometimes called a bullpen, is a round enclosure used for horse training. They range in diameter from a minimum of to a maximum of , with most designs in diameter. Footing is usually sandnatural horsemanship Natural horsemanship is a collective term for a variety of horse training techniques which have seen rapid growth in popularity since the 1980s. The techniques vary in their precise tenets but generally share principles of "a kinder and gentler ...
practitioners, which generally start at in diameter. Most arenas designed to allow more than one horse and rider pair to exercise safely at the same time are rectangular in shape and at the barest minimum are wide and at least long. The largest are commercial facilities designed for competitive events open to the general public with a performance space well over A riding academy or riding center is a school for instruction in
equestrianism Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, Driving (horse), driving, and Equestrian vaulting, vaulting ...
, or for hiring of
horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...
s for
pleasure riding Pleasure riding is a form of equestrianism that encompasses many forms of recreational riding for personal enjoyment, absent elements of competition. In horse show competition, a wide variety of classes are labeled pleasure classes with judging st ...
. Most feature a large indoor riding arena. At the time of the
Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
large buildings were constructed for them, like
Moscow Manege The Moscow Manege ( rus, Мане́ж, p=mɐˈnʲeʂ, a=Ru-манеж.ogg) is an oblong building along the west side of Manege Square, which was cleared in the 1930s and lies adjacent to Red Square. It is the site of Moscow Design Museum sinc ...
, Mikhailovsky and Konnogvardeisky maneges in
St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
.


Grazing and open space

Many horses are turned out in to
fields Fields may refer to: Music * Fields (band), an indie rock band formed in 2006 * Fields (progressive rock band), a progressive rock band formed in 1971 * ''Fields'' (album), an LP by Swedish-based indie rock band Junip (2010) * "Fields", a song b ...
to graze, exercise, or exhibit other natural behaviours, either on their own or more usually as part of a
herd A herd is a social group of certain animals of the same species, either wild or domestic. The form of collective animal behavior associated with this is called ''herding''. These animals are known as gregarious animals. The term ''herd'' is ...
, where they may also engage in play activity and social bonding. The area where the horses are placed can be of any size, from a small pen with room to run, to wide areas covering thousands of square miles. In the United Kingdom this may range from open
moorland Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generally ...
without internal subdivision, down to small, fenced areas of grass, called
pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...
s or
paddock A paddock is a small enclosure for horses. In the United Kingdom, this term also applies to a field for a general automobile racing competition, particularly Formula 1. Description In Canada and the United States of America, a paddock is a small ...
s in British English. A large turnout of several acres is a paddock in Australia, a pasture is significantly larger. In the United States, similar large spaces ranging from a few to many acres are called pastures or, for larger areas of public land or private unfenced ranch land approaching 100 acres or more,
rangeland Rangelands are grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, wetlands, and deserts that are grazed by domestic livestock or wild animals. Types of rangelands include tallgrass and shortgrass prairies, desert grasslands and shrublands, woodlands, savannas ...
. Where the purpose of turning the horses out is to encourage activity and not for
forage Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term ''forage'' has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used m ...
, for instance where a horse is stabled for a large portion of the day, or where additional forage is not desired, they may be turned out in to areas with no grass, to encourage activity and prevent grazing. In the USA, such spaces are called a paddock or, in the western United States, a corral, in the British Isles, a paddock, and in Australia, a pen. Sometimes the colloquialism "starvation" is prefixed to these grassless areas, though the intent is not to starve the horse, but simply to regulate diet. This also could include a space such as a riding arena, doing double-duty as a turnout area. Equine nutritionists and management specialists also recommend a grassless area, which they sometimes call a "sacrifice area," be fenced off from pastures intended for forage where horses can be placed when it is wet or muddy, to prevent the grass from being trampled, and during times of drought, to prevent or minimize
overgrazing Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature res ...
.


References

{{Authority control Horse management Horse health Equestrianism