Hi Folks - We're about to meet with a few local builders and come up with some pricing for a new 4 stall horse barn. We're looking to build something similar to this -
What I'd appreciate from all you current horse owners is "What would you do different?". Our goal is to build a small barn that will serve both the horses and us well until we move to our larger lot (5 to 10 years out). One of the things I've read about is keeping the hay on the same level as the horses. I had intended to have a hay loft, but I can see the ease in not having to cart bales of hay up and down stairs. It's little tips like that which will make a good barn even better.
Here are a few areas I'm especially interested in hearing your solutions to;
stall sub-flooring surface?
Water in each stall?
Enhancements to ease clean-up?
Ventilation?
Lighting?
The first thing I would do is make your stalls 12x12 with floor drains and automatic waterers. I'd install concrete and put in 1" rubber mats. The next most important thing is I would make at least a 24x12 tack room and rest area with a full bathroom especially if you are going to be spending alot of time there. I would also put in hay chutes so you can just drop your hay down from the loft into each individual stall. That way your hay mess stays in the loft and not down in the main part of the barn. Have a 12' alleyway so that you can get any equipment in and out that you need and horses have plenty of room. Also make your wall height in the alleyway at 12' to get anything you need in and out of there easily.
I'd also set up a wash station (middle of aisle with D-rings on each side for cross tying) and a small sink area with hot water and cabinets for medicinal supplies. I saw a small 2.5 gallon hot water heater at Lowes that runs on 110V and will fit under a sink (heat the undersink area for freeze protection. You don't need hot water often, but if you have a horse that needs doctoring, it's nice to have it close.
Thanks guys - I'm taking a lot of notes - I appreciate you sharing your experience here.
Doc - ignorant question - do you put shavings over the rubber mats - or do you just use the mats and hose them down? I planned on keeping a pretty thick bed of shavings in there... Katie's girls seem to like rolling around in the wood shavings. A little roll and fart and they seem to be good for the evening [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]
Next time you are down at town hall say hi to Marianne from the folks up in Canterbury. You can tell her things have only got worse up here since she left so she probably made the right decision, but I'm sure she knows that. When we get rid of our Supreme Leader maybe she can come back up here and do here horsey zoning thing up her like she's doing for you guys.
Now for the barn. I would recommend against the hay in the loft. Mold and dust filtering down on your horses, not a good thing, especially if they are cooped up for days on end in the winter. And if you have Farm Family as an insurer they will insist that you store hay in a separate building from your livestock.
Ventilation – yes, as much as you can stand in the winter. Make sure your roof is insulated to help keep it cool in the summer and prevent condensation (a must for a metal roof). A shuttered fan on a thermostat in the gable will also help on those +90 days in the summer. We also like to run ours in the evenings to change out the hot air in the summer.
I agree with Richard on the stall size and the tack room size. But the bathroom could wait on a 4 stall barn unless you’re going to live out there. Hot water is nice though. We put all our plumbing in our heated tack room and plumbed the wash stall through a common wall. That has worked out well, no frozen pipes yet.
Flooring, I would go with a 1†rubber mat on top of 6†stone dust, on top of at least a foot of gravel. Remove the top soil and put down the gravel as part of your site prep. Add the stone dust and tamp after the stalls are done.
Richard, I thought you used preach keeping your horses on fines. I’m surprised to hear you switched. Can I ask why?
That’s just how I would do it though. To each his own. We built our pole barn about 4 years ago and I’m very proud of it (it being the first thing I ever built and all). There are some things I would do differently if I had to do it again, but aren’t there always. If you’d like to come up and see our barn I’d be happy to invite you guys up. Send me a PM if you’re interested.
Oh yes we put 4-6" of shavings over the mats. Also I saw on another post where you were going to do crushed gravel. Spend the money and do concrete. You will never be sorry. If not you will constantly be cussing the crush. It makes everything in the barn go 100% better.
There was a recent study done that compared the shock absorption of horses on concrete and on fines. If you used a 1" mat with 4-6" of shavings there was no difference in shock value. The thinking before was that the concrete was too hard on the horses legs standing on it all day. This study shows otherwise. Even done exactly right you still have to go back at times and redo your stalls. The mats come up and get shaving under them, the fines may settle in one area, it's harder to get good drain and it's impossible to clean the ammonia out of underneath the stalls. Another relative study showed that ammonia in stalls was the #1 cause of health problems in stalled horses. They recommended cleaning under the mats at least once/month. Based on this new research it certainly makes more sense to have concrete floors. I try to always be learning new and better ways.
Excellent points... I can see your point on ammonia build up. I'll have to see how this thing costs out. Right now building costs up here are astronomical. Thats why we decided to build the barn by our current house, and look at moving to our larger lot in 5 or 10 years. The land is paid for, and not going anywhere. Besides, I think building a smaller barn now will give me a good education, and I should be ready for something bigger when we build in East Haddam.
Put shavings and hay on the same level as stalls...less work in the long run. Also if you are close to house...run a switch/electrical from house to turn lights on and off..works great for those early morning winter feedings - lights on before you reach the barn. We did this both for interior of barn and exterior. Also intercom between house and barn.
Also if you are pouring concrete slab... pure a small slab outside of barn for wash area - 12'x12' pad with external water hook-ups/hot and cold - under roof is possible.
Thanks for the tips Lloyd - It's all helpful. I especially like the idea of the switch at the house. Re: shavings and hay - I'd like to put them in another building, but for now I'll likely have them in an upper level, and keep a working stock down on the 1st floor. When we get the $$ I'll probably get another building just for storage.
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