# Any Great Ideas For Latches On Sliding Barn Doors, Horse Friendl



## Drizler (Jun 16, 2002)

This is on a horse barn. It is open all along one side with 10' sliding barn doors. Steel pole building on 6 x 6 poles. The doors are all 1" pine on the usual stanley national roller track setup (no tracks on bottom or door stops. Plenty heavy so they won't be too prone to wind bashing around 400 lbs each and 10 w by 9 high each. My daughter has her horses living there. They come and go freely most of the time so I can't have anything "sticking out" within horse reach. They can get at both sides of the door as well. 
With that in mind what is a good way to pin or secure those doors when closed? I'm not interested in security, just protection from racking in the ugly NY winds we get here and I am on a hill:rocker:. The ends lay against the outside of the 6x6 post and I was considering some sort of sliding pin setup possibly homemade up fairly high (above foot lift level) with a simple blocking cover in front made of wood . This isn't the sort of thing that is going to be used frequently so convenience isn't such a big deal. Anybody got a super idea before I reinvent the wheel?


----------



## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

I am horrible at visualizing stuff like this. Can you post a picture?


----------



## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

I just use a simple latch intended for padlocking shed doors and and instead of a padlock, I discourage the Houdini personalities by simply holding it in place with a normal snap from an old lead or single rein that's laying around.


----------



## aoconnor1 (Jun 19, 2014)

wr said:


> I just use a simple latch intended for padlocking shed doors and and instead of a padlock, I discourage the Houdini personalities by simply holding it in place with a normal snap from an old lead or single rein that's laying around.


I do exactly the same on my barn doors.


----------



## Drizler (Jun 16, 2002)

I'm a bit picture challenged right now. I will see if I can get a couple tomorrow. Rather than latches I was thinking of something to pull them in towards the barn and hold them there. Someone suggested these but I can't see how to mount the thing where some horse won't rake into it. Sorry about the huge picture, it was the best I could do.


----------



## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

Drizler said:


> I'm a bit picture challenged right now. I will see if I can get a couple tomorrow. Rather than latches I was thinking of something to pull them in towards the barn and hold them there. Someone suggested these but I can't see how to mount the thing where some horse won't rake into it. Sorry about the huge picture, it was the best I could do.


We just have a chunk of rod in the ground in front a couple inches from either end of our doors to keep them from moving outward. It kinda acts like a bottom track. Outsiders can't work their way into the barn and if an insider escapes from a stall, they can't push the door outward.


----------



## cfuhrer (Jun 11, 2013)

Our sliding doors have a rebar stop on the back (like mentioned above) and we latch them with horseshoes and eye bolts.


----------



## Teej (Jan 14, 2012)

We use some like this. 

http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/national-hardware-v2120-6-safety-hook-zinc?cm_vc=-10005

It does catch some tail hair now and again but have never had a horse injured by it.


----------



## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

I have this type on the stall doors and there is nothing that sticks out:

http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...all-gate-latch-zinc-355312599--1?cm_vc=IOPDP1


----------



## aoconnor1 (Jun 19, 2014)

Irish Pixie said:


> I have this type on the stall doors and there is nothing that sticks out:
> 
> http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...all-gate-latch-zinc-355312599--1?cm_vc=IOPDP1


Unfortunately, my horses know how to lift that latch up and slide it. I have to have a snap or a carabiner on the latch to keep them from letting each other out. I do like that type of latch though, other than the smart horses thing.


----------



## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

aoconnor1 said:


> Unfortunately, my horses know how to lift that latch up and slide it. I have to have a snap or a carabiner on the latch to keep them from letting each other out. I do like that type of latch though, other than the smart horses thing.


How do they reach the latch from inside the stall?


----------



## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

Nearly everyone's doors are built differently. My stall doors have a roller on one side and a stop on the other. Made of oak. 1 inch solid vertical on outside and framed in 1 inch on inside with diagonal bracing.
http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/national-hardware-v2120-6-safety-hook-zinc?cm_vc=IOPDP1

with the hook on the inside of the door, screwed into the vertical oak exterior, so it is set in from the door's inside boards. 
Then the smaller metal piece is screwed into the doorway. By itself, it could catch tail hair or injure. So, I screwed in a 4x4x1 inch square block, with rounded edges, next to the latch. That little covering on the hook makes it fairly tamper-proof, but you must get the placement of hook and latch just right.

This is only for unlatching from inside the stall. The other stall door that opens to the barn's interior hallway is like what IP posted and is outside the stall. Care must be taken to pull the pin all the way over. If not, that rod will rake down the side of the horse as it moves through.


----------



## aoconnor1 (Jun 19, 2014)

Irish Pixie said:


> How do they reach the latch from inside the stall?


I don't have full doors, only half doors. One of my geldings is a whiz at lifting the latch and sliding it, he has taught his side stall mates to do the same. I shouldn't have said ALL of mine know how to open that latch, but several know how to play with it until it opens. They will play with others until they are also open. Makes for interesting mornings first opening the barn sometimes.

I also have to use added latches on my feed room doors, (my feed room is external, until we build our big barn). My TB gelding knows how to turn the handle and pull open the door. He is a menace!


----------



## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

aoconnor1 said:


> I don't have full doors, only half doors. One of my geldings is a whiz at lifting the latch and sliding it, he has taught his side stall mates to do the same. I shouldn't have said ALL of mine know how to open that latch, but several know how to play with it until it opens. They will play with others until they are also open. Makes for interesting mornings first opening the barn sometimes.
> 
> I also have to use added latches on my feed room doors, (my feed room is external, until we build our big barn). My TB gelding knows how to turn the handle and pull open the door. He is a menace!


I have one of those menaces that my daughter gave additional training for a specific scene in a Jackie Chan movie and to this day, I curse her, Jackie Chan and my friend that gave her the job every time I'm in a hurry to saddle him. 

He can't always remember chickens don't have a long history of killing horses but he can remember the subtle cue to throw the saddle pad on the ground three times and the other subtle request to step neatly out from under the saddle :rotfl:


----------



## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

aoconnor1 said:


> I don't have full doors, only half doors. One of my geldings is a whiz at lifting the latch and sliding it, he has taught his side stall mates to do the same. I shouldn't have said ALL of mine know how to open that latch, but several know how to play with it until it opens. They will play with others until they are also open. Makes for interesting mornings first opening the barn sometimes.
> 
> I also have to use added latches on my feed room doors, (my feed room is external, until we build our big barn). My TB gelding knows how to turn the handle and pull open the door. He is a menace!


That's one of the reasons I don't have half doors, another is that I've seen foals (and others) get stuck on them, and I just don't think they're safe. 

Mine are full doors but the top is metal rods set close together. No way to get hurt or get their head into the aisle.


----------



## aoconnor1 (Jun 19, 2014)

Irish Pixie said:


> That's one of the reasons I don't have half doors, another is that I've seen foals (and others) get stuck on them, and I just don't think they're safe.
> 
> Mine are full doors but the top is metal rods set close together. No way to get hurt or get their head into the aisle.


My barn, for now, is an old cow hay barn that is over 40 years old. A ramshackle disaster, but all I have for now. The stalls are temporary. When we get our new barn finished the doors will be much different.


----------



## Alder (Aug 18, 2014)

A hasp and snap set-up seems to be the most foolproof for me. They won't be pushed or sat on like stall doors, so you just mostly need something to keep them latched together. If you are worried about the doors blowing open in a windstorm (even if they are latched together), I'd go with eyebolts and a chain on one end with a snap.

The commercial built buildings have the door latch that is shown above. I find them a pain because around here, with the deep frost and shifting, they don't always line up well enough to close in winter. Good thing about them is that they DO hold the doors tight against the building.


----------



## OffGridCooker (Jan 29, 2010)

I Like the idea of a catch that could be broken loose if the horses got too excited, so if there is a fire they would be able to bust out.


----------



## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

I think any latch that would "give way" to a horse in an emergency would require a clear understanding between you and the horse as to what could be considered an emergency. Otherwise, they would just break out and go any time the mood struck them. If I don't latch the 5 foot wide solid oak sliding doors, my horses will shove the doors open. 
Here are two photos of the latch inside and the block of wood that protects the horses from getting cut on the catch and the hook lays out of the way when unhooked.


----------



## RLStewart (Sep 10, 2006)

We have the type latches that you pictured for our big barn doors but our horses don't come in and out there at free will. You're right they probably would manage to take their hide off or an eye if given the chance. So where horses come and go we have either the typical stall door type latches, with snap because all our horses can open them or the type that Haypoint suggests.


----------



## mulemom (Feb 17, 2013)

I have latches like wr showed on my 10x10 front and rear aisle doors. Ours are mounted inside on the side of the post aimed toward the opposite door not in the door opening. No bracket on the door-just a piece of chain screwed to the edge of the 2x6 next to the outside sheeting. The hook will flip over on top of the latch when you're not using it, that's the hard part-it's really easy to forget to do that. Never had a horse hit one (lucky) but tractor tires are hard on them and they don't work well bent. Our alternative for the other side is 1/2 a bungy cord screwed to the post which hooks into chain on the door the same way. I like Haypoints latch but I think we'd wipe them off trying to squeeze our hay wagon through the opening.


----------

