Do you have to make 4 sides? Or can you just run something across and make 1 side?

They sell cattle panels that are 16 ft x 4 ft here in MS. at Sutherlands Lumber. Last I checked, they were about $20. We've run t-posts in the ground and attached the cattle panels to them to block off or enclose an area before.

My blog: http://msredneck.blogspot.com

Here is a link that might be useful: cattle panel

What about Pallets? They are free and if you nail several together will be stronger.
Get on Craigs List and got to Farm and Garden and send a plea for help ALSO in the Materials. Builders pften have leftovers and home owners probably have stuff theyd like to get rid of. . Check the FREE section and ask in the WANTED section also Call habitat and ask for scraps.
They also have a Barter section.Think what you could trade for the materials and even help.
Im sure they will be warmer all together. Good LUCK

Thanks for the advice. I am checking craigslist daily and have listed my need for material, as well.

Do you have trees? You can cut some poles and make a frame for a stall, then stretch and nail some canvas in place.

electric fence tape can make a very effective stall also. Don't have to worry about the horses leaning on it or chewing on it. Safer than anything that isn't permanent (solid).
Just a thought,

Dave

such great advice, thanks!

I would suggest a slow and careful introduction to the electric tape if you do use it - it can badly scare some horses. I would suggest that you introduce it with the horse(s) on the outside of the pen, rather than on the inside, so the animal(s) have room to run away and then stand and snort and think about coming back to it. Entice them to touch it with a nose, by baiting them with a handful of sweetfeed or hay - it's best if they get a thorough intro to it while you can watch with all 3 mares, rather than have one touch it not knowing what will happen, panic and do herself a damage when you aren't around.

That said, you can make a very effective temporary enclosure with electric tape. Just be aware that if any of them are blanketed, the charge may or may not go through the blanket, and they may try to walk through it - which is why I suggest tape rather than wire - it makes a more solid visual barrier.

If there is no power out to the barn, and if your days aren't totally cloudy for days on end, then a small solar charger should be enough to charge that small an area - in fact, it could probably do it and a small paddock area with no problem. If there is not enough sunlight to keep it charges, then a battery powered one might work, although then you would have to keep switching out batteries....

I would suggest being careful in my ideas for shelter and containment. Cattle panel might work if covered so hooves can't get thru. If there are holes, a horse will try to injure themselves by sticking a leg into it. And the Vet bills will take a second mortgage to pay off! Many wonderful new meds and they all cost a mint.

OTTB are not the most trained of animals, just be fairly nice in a stall, walk quietly to the track with the pony horse, and run as directed. No exposure to farm equipment, often no horsey social manners because they have not been in herd settings. Seldom even out in paddocks.

As Dibbet said, electric wire may be NEW, something they don't know how to deal with. We bought a 10yr old horse who had never seen electric, but very exposed to other things, not a feather brain. His first touch of electric, with his feet in a puddle, knocked him down flat! We were lucky his TB side didn't kick in then, and after he jumped back up, he stood stiff in the center of paddock, afraid to move anyplace instead of racing madly THRU the wire to escape the invisible monster. He did come around but that first touch was terrible, we again were lucky he held onto his brains instead of just reacting as other horses might have. Hot Wire or tape in a stall setting, REALLY sounds like trouble because you don't know what he will do when surprised with the shock. Or what part of him will hit it, could be an ear, lip, as well as body parts. Tender spots!! How would you react if hit there by surprise? I figure he will jump exactly opposite the shock spot, may hit the other side of fence!! Going to get nasty then.

The stall walls and Make-Do stuff is rather fragile if horse of 1000# decided to do anything like rub on it. Blankets get pretty itchy. Most animals don't need blankets until they shiver. KY is not as cold as many places. Blankets are easy to get snagged on things, even catch a leg in the girths. Some horses don't leave their clothes on, have problems being fitted well so blankets are always twisted, may fight with them. First thing horse does when "grabbed" is jump the opposite way, and try to escape. They will fight tangled leg in fence, girth, blanket snagged on anything. I almost never have something on horses out in paddocks or fields, too easy to hurt them with it. This would include halters.

Young animals from the track usually have to be managed a bit carefully until they learn basic things about turnout, good manners in fields, outside sheds. Stuff suggested here might work for some farm raised ponies, minis, but would be a problem with larger horses, especially silly young ones. It just is not designed for big bodies, with weight and mucle behind them.

Pallets I have known are made of mostly junk wood. Break fairly easy if you just jump on them! Not designed to last out in weather, they rot pretty quick. Have lots of rough edges, nails exposed. Do make a visual barrier, but not good when leaned on or kicked by horses.

Not sure if you can locate a local Salvage type place to shop at. They have a little of everything so you might be able to find mis-matched sheet metal for walls, put plywood inside to prevent kicking thru. Might have fence posts or local auctions where you could find them cheaply. We have farm sales and there is often much to be found there, less expensively. Make sure metal edges are covered, roof is high enough he won't hit even if he does the telescope neck when being "looky" or frightened. Make doors very wide.

Handle him with attention, don't get distracted so he could react before you can change things. Being in the paddock to watch will help get him used to many things, but farm stuff is very different than track setting. Don't need you getting run over or smashed against the wall.

Best of luck to you and him.

Here is a thought, one to be taken with a grain of salt because I'm not a horse person. Can you move one of the other two? Will they get jealous over loosing their stall? I think that you might have an easier time getting one of the other two who are more stable to stay in the new stall that maybe isn't as sturdy as you would like and keeping the OTTB in the reliable and sturdy stall.

If you have to walk on egg shells around a horse cause he/she might freak out, and you are experienced enough and comfortable that you have tried everything to fix it, the Butcher would get more use out of it (gotta put a value on your and your family's health and well being too). If you have an outside fenced area, make your "stall of electric tape in the middle of it (at least far enough from hard stuff to avoid injury), put him in and let him figure it out.
Good Luck,

Dave

Some people really object to the idea of eating horses, I think those of us who don;t are in the minority. A strong personal compulsion to do something is an okay reason to do it, especially if its not radically destructive to your life.

The OP got the horse to prevent it being slaughtered. Many of us do not object to slaughter, it is how the animal is treated along the way which we object to. Often not humane, expecially because now there are NO USA slaughter plants. Animals must ride to Canada or Mexico to be slaughtered, and it is NOT a nice trip. Enough of that.

My post was to help the OP, paying closer attention to the fact that OTTB has not been exposed to many things that other breeds of young horses will have seen, dealt with in their short lives. OTTB in most cases is a larger animal, young, powerful!, with everything new and different at the farm setting. Horse is not usually mean, just over-reactive to new stimuli. Horse doesn't understand how to work with the MUCH more casual horsekeeping most folks have at home, than at a track setting. OP needs to just be more aware, make things as safe as possible in daily handling, to prevent problems for horse or themselves. Horse can learn, just safer to take time, try to learn one new thing at a time well. Horses are not smart, trying too much at once can make them short circut in the learning dept.

A new horse here is turned out alone, learns the fence, can watch others but not touch over the fence. They are stalled beside our other horses. Couple days later, ONE of our horses they stall next to is introduced into the LARGE paddock or field. Room for either animal to run away. They are then turned out together for a couple days. Then our horse is removed, horse from other side of stall is introduced to new animal in paddock. Again they learn each other, chase around to decide who is in charge. We work thru the whole herd, one horse at a time with the new one. Then new horse is turned out with two horses they already know, herd place is developed. And other horses are gradually brought into the group to make a herd.

Takes a while here, to get new horse worked into their turnout group. Yep, it is a bit of a pain, takes time. Again, horses are not smart, one on one, works best for us. None of ours are mean, but they WILL NOT be giving up herd status to a newcomer, unless they are bested. Best to not distract them with other animals as they learn each other. Someone gets really hurt that way.

Horse may be a real sweetie, yet a young TB doesn't have the same kind of thinking that an old horse, draft horse, even Western horses do. TB is bred to run, so JUMP then RUN, will be his first reaction when startled 99% of the time. Be aware of that when around him.

I think a new stall in the little barn sounds good. They said they had room. Just make it solid enough, high enough to hold a scared horse. I don't like half doors they can stick heads out of or jump over! Full door is safer, maybe with some bars at a window to look out of. Horse will be much happier near the other two. The older ones already are extremely attached to each other, bad idea to stall apart.

My daughter and I rescued an OTTB and worked at a physicility that retrained many others. You should strongly consider placing any OTTB in a sturdy stall. These horses were breed to have an explosive quality...much like a bomb with the fuse lit. I would consider, if at all possible, maybe giving the TB an established stall and letting your girls use the current barn as a run in. The girls can come inside when cold and outside when they choose. TB's are used to being in their stalls for 22-23 hours a day and many have bad habits such as stall weaving and cribbing. The TB is usually taken outside just for the purpose of training or racing then placed back into their stalls.

Since this was posted a couple weeks ago, you may already have a solution. You may also have found out about their tendency to spook. Your safety and that of your new horse is in teaching him manners. Many TB's have never been trained how to properly lead. I have found that teaching simple handling and lunging takes anywhere from 6 months to a year depending on the animal. NEVER, EVER walk infront of a TB! They will spook and they will run forward...that is what they were trained to do. When turned out, they see open areas and think they are on the track and tend to run themselves into a lather...the larger the paddock the worse they can become and I have seen many horses run themselves into exhaustion. For this reason, we always train our fresh of the track horses to lunge safely. Some required lunging up to 2 hours a day to make them safe enough to be taught to walk a lead line and be quiet enough to be turned out with other horses. Remember that racer's were never allowed to be babies as many start racing as young as 2 years old. Many can easily become herd bound as well and part of their training should be introducing them to a herd and leaving them as well. The one big advantage I have found with most OTTB's is that they trailer load well and stand well for grooming...although be careful if you cross tie as this will need to be taught as well. Make sure your cross ties have an emergency clip that if a horse spooks will release. You don't want to go near any horse that is flailing in cross ties.

The key to a well manered and safe OTTB is patience and CONSISTENCY. They must be worked with daily in order to make them safe. Once trained and you really get to see their nature, OTTB usually become quite attached to their human and even loving. Our boy is now almost 19 years old and is quite fat and lazy now BUT he even has that built in gene that makes him want to run and spook so as I said before, never, ever walk in front of him.

His safety and most importantly yours must always be considered when owing a TB. If you are not well skilled in teaching a young, explosive horse, I would recommend finding a trainer to not only teach him but yourself as well. Good luck. Kim

Do you know anyone that has an old barn that they would like taken apart, or one that has already fallen partially down? I took one down a couple of years ago and my neighbors and myself are re-using the wood for all kinds of projects.

You could easily make a new 4 walled stall from the materials I took out of my old barn.