I’m in the same boat as you, trying to decide between a barn or shed-row type set up. One of my horses is out 24/7 now and the property has a shed-row building with 2 open stalls that have gates so you can close a horse in if you need to and a storage room for feed, hay, etc. I live in SC so our weather is mild and all year this has worked great.
UNTIL THIS WEEK. The weather was awful, cold and rainy. I had to meet the vet out there and it was such a huge failure. There is an overhang but the rain was still blowing in and the floor was wet and muddy. We were crowded in the ‘stall’ with a horse, 2 humans, and 3 goats who refuse to move out in to the rain despite our best efforts. We were unable to do the x-rays we had planned, which if we had a barn would have been no problem. Also, since there is no indoor grooming area I haven’t been able to take his blanket off and give him a good grooming in a week now.
Long story short - now I am firmly in team build a real barn (if you can afford it, of course).
[QUOTE=diceuf;7959942]
For those who have their horses out 24/7, do you feel you NEED an actual barn structure? I’m in the foothills of NC, so the weather is not extreme on either end.[/QUOTE]
The only time that I feel the need of a “real” barn is after 2 or more days of cold, cloudy, constantly drizzling rain. That’s when I spend an entire evening pouring over barn construction companies’ web sites with brief breaks to contemplate filling out my credit union’s “apply for a loan online” form. Otherwise, I’m perfectly happy with run-in sheds (and was, even when I lived up north).
However, if you are in a situation where you routinely have to do things on a time schedule, like prepare for shows, lessons, scheduled group trail rides, and such, not having a barn is a huge pain in the neck. Just try trimming up heads, ears, and legs for an indoor schooling show on day three of a stationary wet cold front when the only shelter you’ve got is a run-in shed and your horses haven’t been completely dry in days.
Anyway, I’ve got two of those portable buildings that I use for feed and tack and 3 run-in sheds and we manage quite nicely. I don’t store hay at my house, so don’t need a barn for that. And, if it’s raining, I don’t ride or groom or anything other than feed and monitor blanket needs.
I have a 3-stall barn with an aisle down one side. Windows to let in light, plus lights overhead. An enclosed tack/feed room made from the 4th stall. Water on both ends of the barn. Porch roof on both ends (best idea ever!) Back door opens to enclosed dry paddock area or can be opened to pasture. In winter, my horses prefer to be out in the pasture unless it’s really cold and windy. Then I have to remind them to come to the barn. On hot days, I turn on a large fan at one end of the barn and it creates a nice breeze to cool them off. Of course I have shade in the pastures, but they prefer the barn scenario. If I get tired of cleaning the barn, I just shut the doors after they have had their grain/daily wellness check. I specifically designed the doors (height/width) to make sure my tractor will fit so I can run the tractor from one end of the barn to the other.
I leave stall doors open if the horses are just wandering about. Doors are closed for feeding, vet exams, grooming, etc. I also have a nice clean area in front of the tack room for farrier to do his thing. If I have a horse with injury, either that horse gets to stay in the barn/paddock, or I can put the horse in my other barn (a slant roof Carolina barn) which has a large open floor and other horses are still line-of-sight.
I have some hay storage in both barns however for winter stock, I use pallets and tarps.
I said I would get a updated photo of the new part of the barn & tack/feed room.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10391000_10152508592712273_5524290962788124594_n.jpg?oh=c227b4a2ffc9aaa50b60f434f1cecc1e&oe=552AF05C&gda=1428706595_543dad728d4ae1fb53051611bab23edc
We still have to put the window in the tack/feed room. It will go on the front and sit up high about 5’ from the ground at the bottom.
I have been using my set up for a few months now and am very happy with it. It gives each horse their own stall to eat their grain in out of the weather and I can put a panel across the front of the stalls if I need to lock them in.
I do want to say that I don’t own the land that it is on and that is why I have gone this way and not built a barn. I rent the small field for $25.00 a month and all that was there was the one 10x10 run-in. Now I have two stalls and a tack/feed room with lights.
You can see the set up of the barn here. My guy was on confinement for 21 days. So I was able to close off the back corner by the water and then around the front of the barn at the wind brake to the fence and to the barn. 3 10’ panels and my horse had 30x40 area and still had his own stall and my mare had her own stall.
My hay is stacked on pallets and then tarped. This only works with our cold winters where we get snow and not rain all winter. Tarped hay in a rainy area does not work well. If we had lots of rain I would have another run-in just to store my hay.
[QUOTE=LLee;7962088]
I have a 3-stall barn with an aisle down one side. Windows to let in light, plus lights overhead. An enclosed tack/feed room made from the 4th stall. Water on both ends of the barn. Porch roof on both ends (best idea ever!) Back door opens to enclosed dry paddock area or can be opened to pasture. In winter, my horses prefer to be out in the pasture unless it’s really cold and windy. Then I have to remind them to come to the barn. On hot days, I turn on a large fan at one end of the barn and it creates a nice breeze to cool them off. Of course I have shade in the pastures, but they prefer the barn scenario. If I get tired of cleaning the barn, I just shut the doors after they have had their grain/daily wellness check. I specifically designed the doors (height/width) to make sure my tractor will fit so I can run the tractor from one end of the barn to the other.
I leave stall doors open if the horses are just wandering about. Doors are closed for feeding, vet exams, grooming, etc. I also have a nice clean area in front of the tack room for farrier to do his thing. If I have a horse with injury, either that horse gets to stay in the barn/paddock, or I can put the horse in my other barn (a slant roof Carolina barn) which has a large open floor and other horses are still line-of-sight.
I have some hay storage in both barns however for winter stock, I use pallets and tarps.[/QUOTE]
I would love to see a picture.
One of the coolest barn setups I have been at had a 6 stall center isle barn with a grain/tack room and a large loft. however the back of the barn had a door that opened to a 20’x20’ run in that opened to about a 1/2 acre paddock with 2 big grass fields off the paddock. It was the best of both worlds! throwing hay outside or filling the water was dry and even in the worst weather turnout/in was easy and dry!
We have the shedrow style. Even though I love the airiness, the openness, and love, love, love to be able to look out of my bedroom window and see what the heck they are doing in the barn, the WIND… You can never have a clean aisle, bedding blown everywhere, fallen leaves piled up against the hay, the shaving, the… everything…
I absolutely love my barn. It is, however, a luxury. The weather here isn’t that bad, and the horses are almost always allowed out. We have locked them in for things like injuries, snake bites, recovery from being drugged for tooth floating… At first we would lock them all in with shavings in very cold weather, but the horses all prefer to lie down outside even if it’s very cold, so we don’t lock them in anymore. I also have a light in one stall in case we decide to do lights to help prevent winter coats, but it’s there in case of any health concerns, etc.
I love the center aisle with very good lights, and we are often in the barn after dark. When we’ve had emergency middle of the night vet calls that has been extremely helpful.
The barn is open and airy, and 6 stalls, but we only have 4 stalls set up for horses with hay in one and grain in the other. It’s not fully protected from the elements, intentionally because it gets hot here, and not so cold, so we have to tarp hay and good tack lives in the trailer. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7557/16265100022_d4148a0521_o.png We will let the low energy horses in the big runs when they show signs of needing more space, but the 24x80 and 36x80 runs are usually large enough for all the trotting/cantering they want to do. Since we’re in the desert, there aren’t pastures here. The largest run is approximately an acre, and my gelding has a blast in it.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8073/8334289842_37bd2a6272_o.jpg
The two gates you see ^ there can be hooked together to make a small run off that stall if a horse has an injury requiring rehab. Much as you hope it never happens, that was a consideration knowing sometimes you go from 12x12 to just barely larger before you’re ready for a 24x80 run.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8076/8333264831_be501af04e_o.jpg
The two stalls closest to the camera on each side of the center aisle are the ones with hay and other feed, plus supplies. That’s why their back doors are closed while the others are open.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8318/8058476446_ff2ba10ee2_o.jpg
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8311/7984578362_ed4159609f_o.jpg
If I couldn’t do the barn right off, I would have done something with run-ins with the intention of turning them into feed storage once I could get the barn, and had to consider what configuration I wanted with that. I only have one horse who doesn’t think kicking until someone can’t get up is the way to behave around other horses, so mine are all separated. Being able to have them together with a run-in would have been an even bigger money-saver.
I want to install an enclosed tack room and a large hay barn so we can get hay in larger bulk, but those are waiting for now. Right now my center aisle is dirt, but I’ll be getting some kind of flooring in there, too. I got the 6 stall barn intentionally so I can retire my horses without hesitation and have somewhere for them.
I eventually want to put a stall or isolation barn over by the arena. After a health scare at a show last summer, I’d really like to be able to isolate my horses after going anywhere…
Edit:
Gloria’s post reminded me of the fact we have wind issues here. The steel frame isn’t capped on the ends, and I have intentionally not done so. It has a bottle effect of wind whistling across it, and interestingly the side effect has been the horses react far less to any kind of sounds. We get gunshots, close flyovers from fighter jets, neighbors launching model rockets, live bands, fireworks, all happening while riding - and I think the noise of the wind in the barn has kind of made them all less reactive to anything. I get alternative responses from hatred to feeling it’s soothing from visitors.
My mom’s horse has ticklish ears and hates the wind, so she hides in the barn for cover when the wind blows. The other horses all hide in the barn for rain, and she only does if it’s cold out - she plays in the rain if it’s warm. I love that they can choose for themselves if they want shelter or not.
No barn in NW WI. My run-in is divided in half, along with my sacrifice lot. Two horses that are big buddies get one side, the third gets the other side. I often open the gate and they can mingle, but in crappy weather I separate them.
I have lights out there, and floating/farrier work is done there if weather dictates. We added on to the back of our garage for hay storage. One end of that is a small tack and feed room.
I would maybe feel better having a barn so I could stall the horses on those horrible winter nights, but they do just fine in their run-in. If I had to stall one I could probably rig up something to keep them in. If I had a barn I could get by with something small and simple.
I’m not building a barn, don’t want one. I did the big run-in, I don’t stall my horses. Key: do a LOT of advance design planning.
And I love it. It’s versatile, practical, I refer to it as “one side is the horses’, one side is mine,” LOL. I’m in NC as well, there really isn’t a need for a barn other than just “I want a barn.”
Some pics:
http://www.teamflyingsolo.com/2014/04/im-not-dead.html
(I’ve actually just built some new windbreak walls on the sides this weekend, alas the Great Wall Of Redneckery lost a bet to 1400 lb itchy OTTB…)
http://www.teamflyingsolo.com/2014/12/how-to-put-some-solar-power-in-your.html
Since I do all the work, I specifically designed it not only so that all chores can be done in less than 10 minutes, including feeding, but there is NO stall cleaning, bedding, no more of that nonsense. I also travel a lot for work, so it’s set up so that horses can be fed without anyone having to touch or move anything or even worry about water.
There is shelter for vet/farrier work, etc. It’s a work in progress, as all farm things are, my farm is my 30 year project haha. If I absolutely HAD to restrain a horse, I can simply put a gate or barrier across the open end & instant 12’ stall. But everything is together & contained, tack, feed, stuff, & I have access to water/power whenever I need it. About to install a windblock on the north end, stupid job keeps getting in the way… I’m also poor, so lots of designing stuff with scrap materials/pallets & I got a lot of good stuff dumpster diving when they built the house!! My hay is in it’s own temp shed for now, I keep 6-7 bales at a time in the run-in (just two horses) during winter for easy access.
Anyway, there are lots of ways to go about it. I’m all about practical, versatile, low-maintenance, & I’m only building it once. So the run-in is an engineered, 24’ x 26’, 120 mph wind rated, 12-g steel building from Carolina Carports, but when 80 mph winds blew the day after they installed it & when I have to feed in 50 mph rain gusts…oh it’s worth every penny. After the building was installed, I did the rest myself (with a couple days where I bribed unsuspecting friends over, poor things, they don’t visit me anymore, heh).
