Barn building-- features for vets, farriers, emergencies and lay-ups

[mvp]

I will be building a barn and It’s Not About Me. It’s about the horses and also, those who will work in this barn.

More on the basic structure below, but I’m looking for recommendations about features to include that will make the lives of my farrier, vet, and sick/injured horses easier. What cool features have you seen that you’d like in a barn?

The basic structure–this is a 4 stall shed row barn that is a bit c-shaped (tack and wash rack at one end, one of the stalls isolated at the other). You won’t be able to drive up to the front.

Thinking about the farrier first, I want to have a sliding door that creates the back wall for the wash rack. This will let in natural light and the truck of any vet or farrier that needs to work there. In addition, I’d like lights in all four corners of the wash rack and some heat bulbs, too.

Other features-- frost-free hydrants-- 2 near the stalls for watering, no matter what.

An outlet at each stall and, of course, near the wash rack. This is in the Southeast, so the stalls will have fans wired in.

There is an isolation stall and the stalls will have 12’ overhang porch with mats behind them. Those small “runs” will open up into larger paddocks. The isolation stall might have a 12’ x 24’ covered porch.

Any ideas about how building a sacrifice paddock that is a good “intermediate” size between stall rest and unrestricted turn-out?

Anyone have experience with building styles or narrow, gateless human entries in fence lines? Tell me the good, the bad and the ugly before I build something that’s unsafe!

Any and all of your suggestions are welcome.

Thank you!

[mvp]

Thanks, Bluey! The fence will be either 3 board or wire with a sight rail at the top. I like those half-round metal walk through or the pointy one. Which do you think is safer?

[Obsidian_Fire]

Sacrifice paddock, what we’ve done is use round pen panels and gradually increase the size as horsey is allowed more space.
Keeping “layups” in view of the other horses also helps keep them quiet.

[js]

You might want to entertain a center aisle with a loft apartment, I’d do a cost comparison just to see.

[Bluey]

@js

You might want to entertain a center aisle with a loft apartment, I’d do a cost comparison just to see.

Well, generally building up, a second floor, is cheaper to build and heat per square foot, house or barn.

BUT, if you go that route, remember that if you are injured or get too old, stairs are your nemesis.
You may want to consider having some way to live downstairs if you have to and not have to go upstair for supplies any more than strictly necessary.

Also be sure you can have human dwellings over a barn.
Many places you need special permits for that, some insurance puts limits to those.

That plan looks sensible, but even if it didn’t, it has to be what YOU want.
YOU will have to live with it.

[2DogsFarm]

Maybe I’m reading it wrong, but assuming your wash rack (w/sliding door entry) will be stall-sized = 12X12.
That really doesn’t allow a lot of room for a vet or shoer to work.

I have a 2+stall center-aisle pole barn that is 36X36.
Stalls are on one wall - two 12X12 & 10X10 for the mini.
Then a 12’ aisle, but with no stalls on the other side of that, it becomes a much wider aisle.
I do have hay stacked on 4X4 pallets & space taken up for feed & tack & the furnishings for those areas. But aisle is at least 14’ at the narrowest (by pallets) & wider at the other end.
Shoer & his son work while I hold 2 horses & the one in the narrower aislespace does have to be nimble.
Vet always works in the wider space.

[Where_sMyWhite]

Morbid but ensure that either the front or the back of each stall can be disassembled (along with any run) so that a tractor can get in and remove a horse if the horse dies or must be put down in the stall.

Not pleasant to have to think about but worth designing and constructing with that in mind.

[mvp]

Thanks all!

This will all go on a 7.5 acre lot that has a buffer of trees around it. I’m not sure a center aisle barn with apartment on it that’s large enough will look OK on this lot, and I think the horses like to look out rather than into an aisle, and then there is the PITA of stairs. But that barn of Bluey’s was pretty.

I didn’t think 12’ wide was narrow for a wash rack, but I will ask farriers if they’d feel a bit trapped in there. I could have horses held in the aisle way, but thats farther from the truck. Or I could create a concrete apron (and overhang) behind the wash rack. I really hate cross ties in any kind of aisle, so those won’t be installed.

And Yes to thinking about how to get a dead horse out of a stall. There will be front and back doors to these stalls which will be in the middle of the stall. I don’t know about taking the front of a stall all the way off. I will ask the hardware manufacturer about that.

[OneTwoMany]

@mvp

Thanks all!

This will all go on a 7.5 acre lot that has a buffer of trees around it. I’m not sure a center aisle barn with apartment on it that’s large enough will look OK on this lot, and I think the horses like to look out rather than into an aisle, and then there is the PITA of stairs. But that barn of Bluey’s was pretty.

I didn’t think 12’ wide was narrow for a wash rack, but I will ask farriers if they’d feel a bit trapped in there. I could have horses held in the aisle way, but thats farther from the truck. Or I could create a concrete apron (and overhang) behind the wash rack. I really hate cross ties in any kind of aisle, so those won’t be installed.

And Yes to thinking about how to get a dead horse out of a stall. There will be front and back doors to these stalls which will be in the middle of the stall. I don’t know about taking the front of a stall all the way off. I will ask the hardware manufacturer about that.

Our wash stalls are 10’ wide by x 12’ deep and they are plenty wide enough for a farrier or vet to work. Most of our WB’s are between 16H and 17H but once in a while we have something larger. Like @mvp I’m not a huge fan of aisleway cross ties. They are less safe (IMO).

[mvp]

@OneTwoMany

Our wash stalls are 10’ wide by x 12’ deep and they are plenty wide enough for a farrier or vet to work. Most of our WB’s are between 16H and 17H but once in a while we have something larger. Like @mvp I’m not a huge fan of aisleway cross ties. They are less safe (IMO).

Yanno, I was thinking of building the wash stall narrower since I don’t like chasing a horse around there if he’s being an ass about bath time. But I widened it back out in my mind so that it could do double or triple duty as the place I’d tack up, bathe and have the best light and truck access.

Stalls will also have tie rings (useful for lots of things and safe), and if I could figure out where to put it, I’d put an eye-high tie ring on a wall somewhere near the tack room. I have a mare who would rather be tied this way than in cross ties anywhere.

[flexion]

A random feature that is annoying to not have when the vet needs it: enough room in the driveway for a lunging circle on hard ground.

[mvp]

@flexion

A random feature that is annoying to not have when the vet needs it: enough room in the driveway for a lunging circle on hard ground.

Yes ma’am! Good call.

But the driveway will be rocked, only, not paved. I think the street out front might be quiet enough for a quickie lameness exam.

[Rackonteur]

I think there is a reason that I haven’t seen a shedrow barn in my area of the Southeast since the 1960s. Center-aisle barns have much better ventilation. Even a 12x12 stall on a shedrow can be really dark and close, unless the front of the stall is barred, and then you have no protection against winds and rain coming in sideways.

The best plan for a barn apartment I ever saw was a Florida barn. A center-aisle barn, with a wide breezeway at one end and the apartment on the other side of the breezeway. Everything on ground level, no stairs, and the breezeway making a T-crossing with the center aisle looked like it would improve airflow. The breezeway was wide enough for a tractor, and the apartment had an entrance off the breezeway as well as a “back door” directly to the outside.

@Where’sMyWhite made a very good point about removable panels. Reading In the Presence of Horses was horrifying on that topic.

[PossumHorse]

A useful thing I saw at one farm was a series of pens, 12x12 then, 12x24 and 12x36. I thought that would be great for introducing an injured horse back to turnout.

[fordtraktor]

One thing about the sliding door idea is that if a metal barn, that is unsafe if a horse kicks out or panics in to in the crossties. They can stick a leg through exposed metal. Either have a wood door or line with wood 4-5 feet up.

i have a small rehab paddock and then one slightly larger but still under 1/2 acre for the fatties who can’t be on grass. They are so useful. Issues with grass are more and more common in horses I think.

[Bluey]

@Rackonteur

I think there is a reason that I haven’t seen a shedrow barn in my area of the Southeast since the 1960s. Center-aisle barns have much better ventilation. Even a 12x12 stall on a shedrow can be really dark and close, unless the front of the stall is barred, and then you have no protection against winds and rain coming in sideways.

The best plan for a barn apartment I ever saw was a Florida barn. A center-aisle barn, with a wide breezeway at one end and the apartment on the other side of the breezeway. Everything on ground level, no stairs, and the breezeway making a T-crossing with the center aisle looked like it would improve airflow. The breezeway was wide enough for a tractor, and the apartment had an entrance off the breezeway as well as a “back door” directly to the outside.

@Where’sMyWhite made a very good point about removable panels. Reading In the Presence of Horses was horrifying on that topic.

That is true, no matter what we decide to build, a center aisle of some kind should be the first to consider, since we are wanting a structure to help keep what we put under it out of the weather.
Center aisle barns can be made as open as we want them to be and still covering under them what needs protecting.
That is harder to achieve with shedrow barns, but they too can, with strategically placed screens, be made mostly weather proof.

There are times shedrow barns fit, when the space is too narrow for center aisle.
Or just the asthetics of them, some may prefer the looks of those to that of a barn.

For decades now we have used portable panels in any barn we built.
We learned the hard way your needs will change and moving portable stalls around is much easier than remodeling to what your current needs may require by having to take stalls down board by board.

[Simkie]

@mvp

​​​​​
And Yes to thinking about how to get a dead horse out of a stall. There will be front and back doors to these stalls which will be in the middle of the stall. I don’t know about taking the front of a stall all the way off. I will ask the hardware manufacturer about that.

Don’t think it’s possible (at least not EASY) to get a dead horse out of a 4’ stall door. If one side can open up the entire width of the stall, that would be ideal. Also useful if you have a horse down and needing assistance to rise–like if you need to sling and lift with a tractor. Morbid but better to think through now, right? There’s a reason why referral clinics usually have a full width gate on the stalls.

Has anyone mentioned side lights for the farrier? On the walls, belly height ish, to illuminate under the horse. And offset lights above–two banks instead of the one in the middle.

I can’t tell what the space in the upper left corner is in your drawing. Is that horse accessable? The door into the barn there looks a little narrow if so.

You might want to consider a quarantine stall, away from the main horse keeping wing?

[clanter]

@Simkie

Don’t think it’s possible (at least not EASY) to get a dead horse out of a 4’ stall door.

the people here can do it, over the years we have had two who died in their stalls, the people from Pine Hill removed both without issues. They were very compassionate and caring in removing the horse.

http://www.pinehillpet.com/

[Lucassb]

@mvp

Thanks all!

This will all go on a 7.5 acre lot that has a buffer of trees around it. I’m not sure a center aisle barn with apartment on it that’s large enough will look OK on this lot, and I think the horses like to look out rather than into an aisle, and then there is the PITA of stairs. But that barn of Bluey’s was pretty.

I didn’t think 12’ wide was narrow for a wash rack, but I will ask farriers if they’d feel a bit trapped in there. I could have horses held in the aisle way, but thats farther from the truck. Or I could create a concrete apron (and overhang) behind the wash rack. I really hate cross ties in any kind of aisle, so those won’t be installed.

And Yes to thinking about how to get a dead horse out of a stall. There will be front and back doors to these stalls which will be in the middle of the stall. I don’t know about taking the front of a stall all the way off. I will ask the hardware manufacturer about that.

I have six stalls + tack room + wash rack on 6.5 acres and it works just fine. My aisle is 12’ wide and my wash rack is 12 x 12, the same size as a stall. It is plenty spacious enough for a vet/farrier to work in. Probably the most appreciated feature is the good lighting.

I did put in a solarium and a fan to make it comfortable to work in regardless of weather. Across the aisle, in the climate controlled tack room, I have a nice coffee maker (also does tea, hot chocolate) and a small fridge that I keep stocked with water, gatorade and so on. In addition to the fan/solarium, THAT is the amenity that is most appreciated. The washrack is also fully matted, clean and stocked with clean towels, spare shanks, hoof picks, scrapers and so on. It is not fancy but it is very functional and I’ve had a lot of compliments on the set up.

[mvp]

@PossumHorse

A useful thing I saw at one farm was a series of pens, 12x12 then, 12x24 and 12x36. I thought that would be great for introducing an injured horse back to turnout.

When I had a horse to rehab, it was really useful that she had a stall attached to a 12x48 pen. I simply strung up electric braid ribbon between the three strands of hot wire on the fence where needed. She had some time with a 12x12 paddock right off her stall, then 12x24 and then the whole thing. It worked great!