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

[jawa]

I have a 3 stall center aisle barn that has a T aisle. The top of the T is the 3 stalls that have dutch doors that lead to a dry lot. One of the stalls has a 12X48’ medical paddock. On the right hand of the stem of the T is the tack room that has a bathroom and a washer/dryer. The left of the T is the feed and hay room, along with stairs that lead to 1/3 or the overhead space as the hayloft. The other 2/3’s of the space is a barn apartment. 2 bedrooms, 1 full bath, den and kitchenette. Frig, microwave, toaster oven, sink and table to seat 4.

The space between the tack and feed rooms is my tack up area and wash stall. I have a roll up garage doors on the N, E and W ends of the barn that I can open and close to control the amount of ventilation in the barn. So far the only time I’ve had the 3 closed was during the polar vortex. The dutch doors on the S were open. I was able to do barn chores in a turtle neck, scarf, and down vest in temps that were in the teens due to the lack of wind.

I would talk to your vet about the medical paddock. From what I read, long and skinny was better than wide. You are able to increase the length of the paddock as they get better, but with it skinny they can’t canter in a circle around a wide ( but not wide enough paddock). They might trot/canter to the end and stop and make the turn and trot/canter back, but they can’t trot/canter an endless circle. a 12’ width is one that can accommodate a round pen panel that can be moved to enlarge the paddock by 8’ increments.

[mvp]

@jawa

I have a 3 stall center aisle barn that has a T aisle. The top of the T is the 3 stalls that have dutch doors that lead to a dry lot. One of the stalls has a 12X48’ medical paddock. On the right hand of the stem of the T is the tack room that has a bathroom and a washer/dryer. The left of the T is the feed and hay room, along with stairs that lead to 1/3 or the overhead space as the hayloft. The other 2/3’s of the space is a barn apartment. 2 bedrooms, 1 full bath, den and kitchenette. Frig, microwave, toaster oven, sink and table to seat 4.

The space between the tack and feed rooms is my tack up area and wash stall. I have a roll up garage doors on the N, E and W ends of the barn that I can open and close to control the amount of ventilation in the barn. So far the only time I’ve had the 3 closed was during the polar vortex. The dutch doors on the S were open. I was able to do barn chores in a turtle neck, scarf, and down vest in temps that were in the teens due to the lack of wind.

I would talk to your vet about the medical paddock. From what I read, long and skinny was better than wide. You are able to increase the length of the paddock as they get better, but with it skinny they can’t canter in a circle around a wide ( but not wide enough paddock). They might trot/canter to the end and stop and make the turn and trot/canter back, but they can’t trot/canter an endless circle. a 12’ width is one that can accommodate a round pen panel that can be moved to enlarge the paddock by 8’ increments.

Nice ideas!

How many square feet is the apartment? And the apartment is on the ground level, on the right side of the T or is it above?

And I take it that top of the T faced South?

[jawa]

@mvp

Nice ideas!

How many square feet is the apartment? And the apartment is on the ground level, on the right side of the T or is it above?

And I take it that top of the T faced South?

The apartment is above. It is just under 576 sq ft. On bedroom is 12x12 (queen size bed, dresser, 2 small side tables), the other is 12x13 ( king size bed, two small side tables, dresser, and a corner cabinet). The bathroom is 8x12 ( full size shower/tub, large single sink vanity, toilet, and linen closet). The rest of the space is approximately a 12x30 open floor plan. On one wall is the tv, cabinets, microwave, toaster over, and sink. We have a small square table with for seats in a corner near the kitchenette. The other end of the space has a love seat, sofa and big screen tv.

There are 2 ways to access the apartment. The main entrance is via an exterior set of stairs that lead to a 12x12 deck. I hope to put a “deck gutter” under it this spring. The deck is accessible from one of the paddocks, so it would be nice to be able to use it as a shelter. The secondary entrance is via the stairs in the feed room that lead to the hay loft. At the top of those stairs is a “back door” that connects to a hallway between the small bed room and the bathroom. I insisted on having 2 ways to get into and out of the apartment just in case of a fire.

You are correct that the stalls are on the southern side of the barn. There is a 12’ matted lean to that has been absolutely fabulous! I had to add a couple of fly screens to protect the horses from the strong morning and evening sun during the summer. The low angle of the winter sun on a southern facing porch has meant that I’ve been able to remove blankets from fully clipped horses for an hour or two on days when it’s sunny and in the upper 30’s and above.

I have a limited amount of pasture, so I have the barn surrounded by pasture on 3 sides. Directly behind the barn is an area that is 36’x approximately 150’. I had the area that abuts the porch graded and had footing added to allow for a dry area within the “dry lot”. I couldn’t afford to do the whole length. I can tell the horses do go into the mucky area because it is torn up, but they tend to spend their time loafing in their stalls, on the porch, or on the footing.

The horses are fed fed their hay under the porch unless the conditions are brutal. It has saved on wasted hay and my 32 year old pony’s respiratory system is much improved with this living situation.

[mvp]

@jawa thanks so much for the detailed description of what you built and how it rolls in practice. I love the South-facing stalls with a porch on the North side of those. I’ll build that way as well. I’ll have to look into the fly screens you mention.

[GoodTimes]

Lighting is so important! You can never have too many lights in a barn. Light coloured panels inside that also reflect and can be pressure washed look better too.

I’m not sure what kind of stalls you’re putting in, but make sure you have something strong that can support/hold a horses head up during a dentistry.

[mvp]

@GoodTimes

Lighting is so important! You can never have too many lights in a barn. Light coloured panels inside that also reflect and can be pressure washed look better too.

I’m not sure what kind of stalls you’re putting in, but make sure you have something strong that can support/hold a horses head up during a dentistry.

Ooh… yes-- the horse’s head hanging from the lintel of the stall door. Good call.

I will have to think about that since I was going to use some stall fronts that didn’t have those. I do think I have a place to put a door-with-lintel though. Thank you!

With regard to lighting— would any of you make this open-at-both ends wash rack white as opposed to stained wood?

[enjoytheride]

I use two farriers. One has a very small truck that he can get all the way in my barn and out of the weather. He prefers this.

My other farrier pulls a trailer with her equipment and she hot shoes so she needs a water source and an electrical outlet, as well as room to turn around her trailer.

Neither one likes to be on top of the horses with their trucks.

I do have a matted cross tie area and they appreciate both the open doors on 3 sides and the ability to close those doors!

[Jarpur]

Agree on the dislike of cross-ties. Also on having plenty of light, plus outlets everywhere, and lighting that can be turned on/off from multiple locations (for example, each end of an aisle, or from sliding door of the wash rack area as well as the aisle).

We have very, very rarely used our stocks/wash rack with our small number of horses (never more than five at this location), so it hasn’t been a great use of space, and I probably wouldn’t get one again. At the time, we had broodmares, and I thought it’d be useful.

[Bluey]

We used our stocks even before we had painted them.
We had a horse bitten on his ankle by a rattler.
The vet put him in there to treat him, before hauling him to his clinic to get antivenom in him.

By the time we got to the vet’s clinic, his leg was swollen up to his shoulder/withers, but the antivenom stopped that cold.
No more swelling after some of that.
We left him there, as he was an older horse with Cushings and at high risk to foundering.
He was fine in a few days.

Stocks do use room in there, but they also make great hitching posts to groom, saddle and wash horses tied to them.

[jawa]

@mvp

Ooh… yes-- the horse’s head hanging from the lintel of the stall door. Good call.

I will have to think about that since I was going to use some stall fronts that didn’t have those. I do think I have a place to put a door-with-lintel though. Thank you!

With regard to lighting— would any of you make this open-at-both ends wash rack white as opposed to stained wood?

I used an almond colored fiberglass reinforced waterproof product. White will certainly be brighter, but it will show every bit of discoloration in sharp contrast. I felt like the almond color also blended well with the pine wood tones in the barn.

[jawa]

My wash stall area is similar to Bluey’s in that the roll up door opens to the main drive to the barn. If you have the option, place one or two outdoor receptacles near that location so the vet or farrier can plug in their vehicle to run anything they may need.

[Jarpur]

We have people gaps between the barn and the fences, so that we can get in and out of the small corral off the back of the barn without either going through the stalls or opening a gate, and so that we can get in and out of the sacrifice paddock (which can be entered either through the small corral or from the area surrounding the front of the barn).

It’s very convenient to avoid having to open and close gates every time we want to slip in or out of the corral or the paddock, plus we can shortcut through the corral using the gaps. To create these, we had the fence builder leave very small spaces between the last fence posts and the barn building. Our paddock and corral fences are diamond V-mesh with top boards; the fencing stops at the end posts, and is not attached directly to our MD barn, allowing the people gaps.

These spaces are just large enough for a person to turn sideways and fit through – and an especially large or wide person wouldn’t be able to do so. I can do it with a filled hay net if I hold the net out in front of my body so that it goes through first.

Back when we had foals, we used plywood bolted to the fence posts to temporarily fill the gaps, until the babies were too large to try to fit through (the gaps weren’t so big that they could succeed, but we didn’t want them to possibly be injured attempting it).

We use these shortcuts multiple times daily and would absolutely install them again.

Our pasture cross-fencing is Horseguard tape, which we can easily slip through or over, so we didn’t need people gaps for that.

[foggythistle]

Something that has come in quite handy at our barn is the ‘hospital turnout’. We have about 10’ between the barn and the 4-board fencing that is around the regular turnouts. A number of times we have taken 2 pipe gates and put them across the space to to create an ‘adjustable’ paddock. One end fastens onto the fence, and then a screw eye and snap for the gate closure.

This space can be adjusted as the problem child heals, giving them gradually more space to move in until they are ready for the regular turnout. And, because they ‘go outside’, it helps their brains as well

[mvp]

@Libby2563

I like the idea of a sliding rear wall on the wash stall for the farrier etc. I agree with @fordtraktor that it needs to be wood or wood-lined at the bottom for safety, but that shouldn’t be too hard. It would be nice if the top half had some windows for natural light too! My aisle doors don’t have windows and I wish they did, or at least the south-facing one. I looked into adding them after the fact and it would be almost impossible because of the way they’re constructed.

I can’t quite make out your drawing so you may already have this, but I’d want at least a 4’ overhang on what I’d call the rear of your stalls (the north side), for shade and to keep rain out of the stalls. I do not have much of a rear overhang and wish I did. It is not easy to add unfortunately.

You might also want to price out enclosing the 12’ overhang. I have what I call an enclosed shedrow (12’ stalls on one side, 10’ aisle on the other) and I love it. I considered just a shedrow or just an overhang for cost reasons but the enclosed aisle is 100% worth it. I guess if you are in an area that doesn’t get cold, wet, or windy you could do without though.

I can’t find a picture of this so I made an awful line drawing for you lol. There’s a barn near me with a pass-through that doesn’t stick out into the paddock. Basically there is a small, human-sized gap in the paddock fence (with a post on each side obviously), and on the outside of the paddock there’s a short stretch of the same three-board fence that is parallel to the paddock fence and extends past the gap on each sides. The horses couldn’t fit through the gap in the main fence or between the main fence and the parallel fence. They didn’t even try because of the visual of the second layer of fence. But there was nothing sticking out into the paddock, which I think is safer. I wish I had put one of these in my dry lot fence!

Thank you! I could understand the line drawing. It was very nice.

The overhangs for the stalls-- in the aisle/front/South-fancing, and the “back porches” will both be 12’. Those porches will be matted. The idea is to make it so that if you had a great big party for a weekend and wished to cram many more horses on the place, you could close one in each stall and one in the porch and paddock behind it.

The other really important thing here in the hot Southeast** is to make sure that each stall has an overhang. I think that if you build a stall with a window and no overhang, the horses end up huddling near the inside wall of the stall in order to get out of the sun. Nosirreebob, I don’t want to build that problem.

** I haven’t lived here for a summer yet. I have a helluva lot to learn about how horse-keeping will go here. But I’m trying to build a building for the summer, not the mild winters.

[Jarpur]

@mvp

. . . But I’m trying to build a building for the summer, not the mild winters.

This was exactly my feeling when we were siting and designing our barn – build for the weather we have for the vast majority of the year, not for the brief cold spells. Not sorry about our decision to do so.

[jawa]

Ventilation and ways to control the ventilation will be your friend whether your main climate is hot or cold.

The other thing to be able to control is the solar gain. In a hot environment, overhangs and shade cloths strategically placed help to provide shade without completing blocking air flow. In a cold environment, South facing stalls and a matted lean to will provide a place for the horses to hang out and sunbathe.

[Lyons_Show_Jumpers_L]

@js

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

Putting an apartment on top will double the price of the barn.

[mvp]

@Jarpur

This was exactly my feeling when we were siting and designing our barn – build for the weather we have for the vast majority of the year, not for the brief cold spells. Not sorry about our decision to do so.

Along these lines: Would you build a big, round high-up window on the South wall of a stall?

Long story, but there’s a bit of an architectural reason to put 4-paned round window on the South wall (bottom, facing out of the C-shape of the barn) of that single stall. But I don’t want to spend that extra money just to end up cooking the horse in that one stall.

[Bluey]

@mvp

Along these lines: Would you build a big, round high-up window on the South wall of a stall?

Long story, but there’s a bit of an architectural reason to put 4-paned round window on the South wall (bottom, facing out of the C-shape of the barn) of that single stall. But I don’t want to spend that extra money just to end up cooking the horse in that one stall.

You can put that window up there for looks and then use cairns inside to keep light off in the summers.

A bit like the shutters in some houses in the tropics, where you can push the wooden rod in the middle of the cairns up or down to regulate air flow and sun.
Or add regular house blinds on the inside, that you can hardly see from the outside when open.

That is also the way many agricultural buildings are designed.

[Jarpur]

I’m all for cross-ventilation, but I don’t know about a large - possibly un-shaded - south-facing window concentrating heat, light, and potential rain on a stall. Would this window open and close, or is it mostly for appearances? If for looks only, could it possibly be a “dummy” window – something done with trim, not an actual window?

Or perhaps install something like a round gable vent, maybe blocked on the inside: https://shutterlovers.com/round-gable-vent/?msclkid=ca7d18dca78a14b17d7a44ae64ab72b6&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=**LP%20-%20Shopping%20-%20Vents%20%26%20Trim&utm_term=4585788121708840&utm_content=145%20|%20Round%20Gable%20Vent%20|%20%2452.38

However, I can see the concern about presenting a balanced appearance, either by matching a real window used elsewhere, or using one to fill a blank gable area (thinking here of a roof with enough of a pitch that the gable area is relatively large).

As far as the heat and light, perhaps a window could be screened with a sun-blocking solar screen on the outside (we have those on upstairs southwest-facing windows in our home and they do help), or covered on the inside with solar fabric: https://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/cat1;ft_shade_cloth_material_1;ft_sunblocker_bulk_shade_cloth_1.html

I boarded in a barn that had several south facing stalls – one of which, located at the outside southwest corner, could get pretty brutal – and shade fabric had to be installed to give relief. This barn did not have a deep wraparound “porch,” just ordinary overhangs of a few feet.