a pet parking zone

Rock

I am working on an 18x18x3 house.  A couple of my characters have pack animals that usually remain with them even when logging out.  Thus I thought it might be a good idea to have a sort of parking spot for these pets so they don't stink up the house.

The lower (east) third is the area in question.  I have some questions:

1. Is it okay to tell a pet to stay in the open stable area and log out a good distance away, like on the third story or roof? I don't want the pet disappearing just because my character wasn't close enough.
2. Where can I obtain hay or something to indicate the pets have something to eat?  (When my carpenter's skill gets high enough he plans on adding a water trough
3. What other decorations are available for a sort of animal stable environment?
4. Do you have any alternative thoughts or general comments?

For context, here is an outside view:

Mariah

Always make sure your pack animals have empty packs before you log. Pets with items in their pack will not autolog.
Hay is a daily rare in Felucca, horse shoes are a stealable from blacksmith shops, there are two versions of a hitching post, the replica is craftable, the other was an 11th anniversary item and is an ultima store item. Both have limited uses, the purchased one can be re-charged twice.

Rock

Thank you @Mariah. Following your link I found the "Khaldun Hay" ... except I cannot pick it up.

Whenever I try on any of the three pieces, I am told, "You cannot pick that up." I tried it with and without Stealing (human JOAT steal level of 20), but both resulted in same comment.

Mariah

Someone got there before you. It's a daily rare and only the one piece of hay is removable (no stealing required). It spawns inside that crate and you can only see one tiny part of it in the bottom corner. Click on the image on the page to enlarge it, then compare it with your image.