Met the BO in 1999 when she was starting to figure out what she was going to build on a 75-acre farm she owned for several years. She outgrew her first property which had a small indoor. Talk about thinking big and building big. She’s great with horses but had zero capacity on computers. I did the online search for options - very educational. She required the indoor to be 80x200 with attached barn so that is what she built. Building is 120x200 with the stalls etc. taking up the 40x200 piece. It was the largest building in town for many years until the grocery store moved in. She is still in the top 5 taxpayers.
The doors into the arena and barn are sliders and huge. The primary door into the arena bit the dust after about 15 years so it was replaced by a garage-style door. There were people doors close by. The advantage to that arrangement is the ability to get large trucks, hay and grain deliveries and ambulances inside. Ambulance has been there a few times. A few horses have been put down; they didn’t have to be moved. These are things to consider if you are building something large. It’s a steel building from a company near Penn Yan in upstate New York. They have a local builder. The refuge organization chose the same company a few years ago, for an indoor and office/meeting space.
The barn my horse and I retired to is beautiful. It was built in 2006 on 10 acres with 10 wooded acres with some trails. It has 20 stalls with individual runs plus grassy fields for turnout. The town apparently had never done a horse facility before so they had to negotiate some things. Zoning ordinances required 100 parking spaces for square footage of the buildings. Same idea for sprinkler system and smoke detectors using retail store requirements. We have to use the bathroom in the house because they wouldn’t compromise on the size of the $30,000 septic system. There is running cold water to hydrants scattered around and there are heated Nelsons in the stalls. Sink in the tack room drains into a bucket and has an instant hot water maker.
Aisleways have nooks with a hydrant, electricity, room for muck buckets, hangers for pitch forks, shovels and brooms, an ice chopping tool and 2-step block. Half dozen shelves that boarders can use are at one end. Leaf blowers for aisleway cleanup. It is always clean and organized.
One thing that never occurred to them over the summer is avalanches - snow - off the roofs and overhangs over the stalls. There haven’t been any mishaps but a lot of horses are totally freaked out and some never get used to it.
Another wrinkle is outside drainage. It’s an historic area, house was built in 1793. Water comes down a small hill behind several homes and they call the shots on drainage. There are swales and graded areas that have to be maintained. My horse is by himself (with neighbors) because he is chill and won’t dig it up.
If you aren’t using a local designer/builder be sure to get local zoning requirements. Snow load is important here in Maine. The BO visited a lot of facilities looking for touches to add and things to avoid.
It was sold in March and the original BO can’t bring herself to come back yet. She is a close as you will ever get to the perfect barn owner. She didn’t advertise, so I was among those who had no idea it was there. 15 minutes from my house. The new owner said she wouldn’t change things and she hasn’t. My 27-y.o. Paint gelding loves it. He’s pampered: 3 meals a day, beautiful free-choice grass hay from Canada, unlimited blanket changes, and an oversize run on the south side. I’m 73 so I consider myself pampered because he is pampered and I don’t have to check on him.
The time she spent looking at other farms paid off. Finding things to avoid could be more important. The indoor is on the one spot on the property where they could build it. Then they designed the rest of it.
