Silence Is a Luxury You Can Afford
Silence is something whose value we often underestimate. It calms us, provides a sense of comfort and security, allows us to rest and helps us regain our concentration. We need peace and quiet to work, recover and sleep well.
The same applies to horses – for them, a calm environment is particularly important.
As flight animals, horses are highly attentive to their surroundings. Their natural strategy for protecting themselves is to identify potential threats as early as possible and flee if necessary. Sudden and unpredictable sounds can therefore immediately attract their attention and trigger an alarm response.
What may be nothing more than an irritating noise to a person can mean something very different to a horse: “Check whether you are safe.”
It’s Not Just About Silence – It’s About the Absence of Sudden Noise
What matters is not only the volume of a sound, but also its character.
A stable can be very quiet for most of the day. However, if this calm is repeatedly interrupted by the slamming of metal doors, the squeaking of a mechanism or the impact of steel components, it can affect the horses’ sense of comfort and well-being.
Sudden peaks in noise are particularly significant. Consistent, predictable sounds can gradually become part of the familiar background environment. An unexpected bang, on the other hand, occurs without warning and immediately draws the horse’s attention.
A horse may suddenly raise its head, tense its muscles, stop eating or be startled out of a period of rest. It does not even have to become visibly frightened for the noise to disturb its sense of calm.
Horses need peace and quiet to eat, rest and sleep. In order to truly relax, they need to feel safe in their surroundings.
That is why it is not enough for a stable to be quiet most of the time. It is equally important to create an environment in which this calm is not repeatedly interrupted by sudden, harsh or metallic sounds.
CEO
A Problem We First Had to Hear
Tomasz Dąbrowski, Managing Director of REMTOR, became aware of this aspect during numerous visits to equestrian facilities.
“Over the course of my professional career, I have visited many stables. Especially in private stables, there is an extraordinary sense of peace and quiet most of the time. However, there is one element that often disrupts this harmony: the banging, rattling and squeaking of sliding or closing stall doors.
I personally value peace and quiet very much, and I know how difficult it can be to truly relax when that calm is suddenly interrupted by a loud noise. At some point, I began looking at this issue from the horses’ perspective as well – animals that spend significantly more time in this environment than we do.
That was when I realized that reducing unnecessary noise should become an important priority for us.”
REMTOR Analyzes Noise Down to the Smallest Detail
While the noise generated by conventional hinged doors can be reduced relatively easily, sliding doors present a much greater challenge.
Their construction is more complex, which means there are also more potential sources of noise. These include the impact when closing, squeaking mechanisms, the running noise of rollers along the track, as well as vibrations and the impact of individual components against one another.
That is why the REMTOR team did not focus on optimizing just a single component. Instead, the entire movement and closing process was analyzed – from the very beginning of the opening movement, through the interaction between the rollers and track, to the closing mechanism and the final securing of the door.
During this process, eight different sources of noise were identified. Each one was analyzed separately, and a solution was developed for each source in order to reduce the resulting noise as much as possible.
“We analyzed the entire system down to the smallest detail. We identified eight points responsible for generating noise, and for each one we looked for a suitable solution.
The result is a system in which the doors move smoothly and effortlessly and close without the need for force or the characteristic metallic noise.
We are proud of the result we have achieved. We have been able to significantly reduce the noise generated by the doors. But the greatest satisfaction comes when the doors are being used and there is still peace and quiet throughout the stable.”
You Hear the Difference Best When You Hear Nothing at All
In a stable with a dozen or several dozen stalls, doors are opened and closed countless times every day. A single slam may initially seem like a minor detail. But noises that are repeated day after day become a permanent part of the environment in which a horse lives, eats and rests.
A Good Solution Is One You Eventually Stop Noticing
The sliding door moves smoothly and evenly. The rollers operate quietly. The mechanism does not squeak. There is no metallic bang when the door closes. The horse does not have to interrupt its rest because of another sudden noise.
And that is exactly what we set out to achieve.
A stable should be a place where horses can eat, rest and sleep in peace. The goal is not to eliminate all the natural sounds of a stable. Rather, it is about reducing unnecessary noise generated by the stable’s equipment.
Silence calms. Silence creates comfort. Silence allows us to rest.
For people, silence is a luxury. For horses, it is an important part of an environment in which they can feel safe. That is why, in a well-designed stable, peace and quiet should not be a coincidence. It should be part of the design.