Horse

Welfare Regulations

These requirements are enacted to help players adapt to standards that will be mandatory on SWE's release. These standards are not only representative of good welfare for horses, but could potentially be integrated as systems impacting horse health and happiness in the mod for future releases.

Building / Barn Principles

The following should always be considered for SWEM horses:

Doorways - 2B+ Wide and 4B+ tall
Walkways - 5B+ Wide and 5B+ tall (4.5 optional on edges for detailing if using stairs or slabs)
Secure - It is recommended:

All barn areas or property access routes have a secure gate to present escape.
Make walls or barriers tall enough to avoid escape, check perimeter for blocks they can use to jump over!
Avoid using scalable blocks that horses can hop over (unless 2B+): single blocks, glass pane, bars.
- Non-scalable blocks are 1.5B and include walls and fences.

Horses cannot jump on troughs or feeders unless another block or high shavings level allows them to step up onto it.

Food & Water

Horses should always have reasonable access to:

Water - As either a replenishing (infinite) water source or adequately filled water container (trough, barrel)
Food - As either forage (grazing on grass) or feed (quality bale, timothy, alfalfa or sweet feed)

Stalls

Stall requirements are implemented for welfare and safety of both horse and rider. A good sized stall allows a horse space to turn around in, lay down (future feature) and decreases the chances of them getting stuck in walls (small stalls). It allows space for a rider to provide unobstructed feed items, bedding and to safely interact with and manoeuvre a horse into and out of the stall. Too large stalls are discourages for realism as such stalls have poor thermal efficiency (retaining heat or cool) as well as being an inefficient use of space. One exception is foaling stalls that are normally very large but currently have no formal standards.

Fundamentals (Information)

	Fundamentals - Stalls
Location	Horses must always be housed above ground - underground stalls are never permitted as they prohibit fresh air and natural light.
Purpose	A safe sheltered area with dry, comfortable footing and access to constant food and water.
Floorspace	The minimum required area (in blocks) which excludes walls and doorways.
Floorspace	Detail: Troughs, feeders, and shavings can be placed within the stall, they do not impact floorspace.
Width / Length	A minimum of 5 blocks (Width x Length) of floorspace to comfortably allow turning, lying down, movement and animal handling.
Height	Stalls should be 5 blocks in height at its lowest point (floor to ceiling)
Sunlight	Stalls should be well lit with an element of natural lighting (ie window, bars, half slabs) but be protected from most direct sunlight.
Sunlight	Detail: Skylights (roof windows) should be 15% or less of stall roof blocks - too much direct sunlight could overheat or sunburn a horse.
Occupancy	With the exception of foaling stalls, stalls are not intended for multiple occupancy unless two regulation stalls are merged and can be blocked off again if needed.

Recommended sizings are SWEM defaults and the size(s) that have been used regularly by beta testers and staff builders. It offers a functional space for the horse, neither too large or too small for the average barn, that looks good and works well with most styles and shapes of barns.

	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	INDEX
4	16	20	24	28	32	36	40	44	48		Not permitted (too small/large)
5	20	25	30	35	40	45	50	55	60		Not permitted (poor use of space)
6	24	30	36	42	48	54	60	66	72		Permitted with a paddock (5x5+)
7	28	35	42	49	56	63	70	77	84		Permitted
8	32	40	48	56	64	72	80	88	96		Recommended sizing
9	36	45	54	63	72	81	90	99	108		Foaling stall (Minimum recommended sizes)
10	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	110	120	Foaling stalls are for pregnant mares (V2) and mares with nursing foals. These stalls are expected to be larger than standard regulations for comfort and safety.
11	44	55	66	77	88	99	110	121	132
12	48	60	72	84	96	108	120	132	144

Paddocks

Paddocks are small enclosed 'runs' attached to a stall, it can offer limited grazing space or just outdoor access with soft footing.

Fundamentals (Information)

	Fundamentals - Paddocks
Requirements	Paddocks are only required if the floorspace of a stall does not meet minimum requirements. Otherwise, it is an optional addition.
Purpose	A paddock is intended to extend the floorspace of a smaller (interior) stall and allow access to fresh air, grass and sunlight.
Purpose	It is not intended for, or substitute to, turning a horse out into a pasture for grazing, exercise, and/or socialisation.
Floorspace	The minimum required area (in blocks) which excludes walls, fences and doorways.
Floorspace	Detail: Troughs and feeders can be placed within the paddock, they do not impact floorspace.
Access	If a stall requires a paddock to meet the minimum sizing requirements, horses should have constant access to both areas.
	With shared paddocks, stalls must have a door to close off access to a stall if/when a horse is being fed or temporarily isolated.
	Exception: Short periods of times for feeding, tacking up, awaiting exercise or turnout while owner/stable staff are online.
Sunlight	Paddocks should be uncovered from all but a 1 block wide roof overhang (if applicable).
Terrain	Terrain should be even, or with a gradual slope up/down 3 blocks. Does not necessarily have to be grass but must be soft terrain.
Security	Fences/walls must be at least 1.5b (1 fence/wall/block) and ideally 2b+ (Double fence, single with a half fence on top, double block)
Privacy	Paddocks may be shared between stalls provided that the paddocks meet the size requirements of ALL stalls sharing access to it.

All paddocks should be at least 5 wide x 5 long, but depending on the size of your stall it may be that the width of the external wall varies. Example a 7 x 8 stall could have an 7 x 5 or an 8 x 5 paddock depending on which way the stall is rotated.

As a general rule, we do not recommend paddocks be any larger than 3x the size of the stall, and some larger maximum paddocks do not result in an ideal shape.

	Minimum	Maximum
5 x 5	5 x 5	5 x 15
5 x 6	5 x 5	5 x 18	6 x 15
5 x 7	5 x 5	5 x 21	7 x 15
5 x 8	5 x 5	5 x 24	8 x 15
5 x 9	5 x 5	5 x 27	9 x 15
5 x 10	5 x 5	5 x 30	10 x 15
5 x 11	5 x 5	5 x 33	11 x 15
6 x 6	6 x 5	6 x 18
6 x 7	6 x 5	6 x 21	7 x 18
6 x 8	6 x 5	6 x 24	8 x 18
6 x 9	6 x 5	6 x 27	9 x 18
6 x 10	6 x 5	6 x 30	10 x 18
6 x 11	6 x 5	6 x 33	11 x 18
7 x 7	7 x 5	7 x 21
7 x 8	7 x 5	7 x 24	8 x 21
7 x 9	7 x 5	7 x 27	8 x 21
7 x 10	7 x 5	7 x 30	8 x 21
7 x 11	7 x 5	7 x 33	8 x 21
8 x 8	8 x 5	8 x 24
8 x 9	8 x 5	8 x 27	9 x 24
8 x 10	8 x 5	8 x 30	10 x 24
8 x 11	8 x 5	8 x 33	11 x 24
9 x 9	9 x 5	9 x 27
9 x 10	9 x 5	9 x 30	10 x 27
9 x 11	9 x 5	9 x 33	11 x 27
10 x 10	10 x 5	10 x 30
10 x 11	10 x 5	10 x 33	11 x 30
11 x 11	11 x 5	11 x 33