Safety for young horses
The walls in brick and breeze block stables are often rough, and you might like to consider getting rubber matting to cover them, giving your youngster the best protection possible. Rubber matting is also available for floors, and as well as protecting delicate legs and feet, it can make a labour-saving way of keeping the stable clean.
The stable yard
The world is a fresh, new and endlessly fascinating place for a baby horse. He is finding his way with nobody to guide him but you and a few horses who've forgotten what it is to be young: small wonder that he will try out everything he can, with little caution over whether it's sensible or not to do so.
If your stable yard is a place of cosy chaos, here's the bad news: you will have to make it the essence of order and efficiency before you can realistically expect a young horse to live there without coming to harm. Forks, shovels, barrows and brooms will need a place to live that's tucked well away; buckets will need to be picked up: and tack will need to be put away.
Even rugs, normally left hanging over doors, can prove a safety hazard. A young horse at a friend's yard took an experimental tug at a stable blanket hanging over a door, and it promptly slid to the floor and terrified him half to death. He reared up and back, broke his halter rope and fell over. Fortunately he was only bruised and shaken - but it could have been so much worse.
Handling the young horse safely
By far the best way to avoid accidents when you and your horse are moving around the yard is to teach the horse how to behave. If your horse leads calmly, from both sides, and follows you willingly without needing to be pulled along, or wandering off to the side as the fancy takes him, you will be in a much better position to control him if the unexpected happens.
It is a good idea, too, to teach your horse at an early stage to walk backwards for a few steps when you are encouraging him from the ground, using a single word of command such as "Back!" If you both get into a jam, you can then simply reverse out.
Standing still is an essential skill for a young horse:
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