Converting 1/2 of Run-In Shed to Stall?

[4LeafCloverFarm]

I am thinking of closing in one half of my 12’ X 24’ run-in shed in my seniors’ pasture to make him a stall. Probably not totally enclosed on 4 sides, but putting a 4’6" kickwall across the front, and maybe hanging those freezer plastic panel thingies from the beam overhead, down to the top of the kickwall. Then bedding the 3-walled end of the shed. This would give him a nice cozy place to lay down at night, keep out the wind/rain/snow and help to keep him comfortable. Then could just remove the plastic panels for the spring/summer. Also think I’d push out the kickwall about 2 feet since I have a large roof overhang to work with, so the completed stall area would be 14X12.

I do have a barn - a lovely old 1906 pole barn we converted from a hog/mule barn for the horses. But the barn has no doors at either end of the 13’6" wide aisle that runs almost exactly east-west. Due to the locations of the poles, we were limited to stalls 9’6" deep on either side of the aisle, and simply made them much wider. So my horses stall is 9’6" X 15. There are no bars - the stalls have completely open fronts above the kickwall. Due to the age of the barn, there are 1" gaps due to shrinkage of the oak siding, and his stall is on the outside wall of the west side of the barn. The kickwall we added to the outside wall does keep the wind from whistling in on their legs. I just worry that now that he is older (27) that the stall is just too narrow if he lays down. That’s the main reason I’m considering converting the shed.

So his run-in shed (built in 2002 and still looks new) is bigger and is more weather proof. He’s the only one in his 4 acre pasture, so he doesn’t share with anyone currently.

Oh, and I should mention he isn’t a little thing - he’s over 17 hands and not dainty! So I’m just thinking, should I convert the shed or just put him in his stall at night? Either way, I do blanket him, though he gets a super thick, and very long, shaggy winter coat and doesn’t act cold (no shivering or anything). Just trying to help the old guy out through winter, to ensure he’s comfy. Any suggestions or ideas welcome.

And just to add - adding doors to the pole barn would be fairly complicated, as the barn is on a slope, south is several feet higher than north. But I suppose (though I think it would look dreadful), we could hang those freezer plastic panel thingies from the ceiling joist above the aisle opening down to the ground to take care of that - then just cut the bottoms off at an angle.

This is NOT my shed, but it is the most similar one I could find on-line. My shed opening faces south east. Mine has a kick wall and a deeper overhang. Thanks in advance!

[Huntin_Pony]

As long as he’s not sharing that shed, I definitely would fix it up and leave him out. My oldest guy reached 35-1/2 years living in a large shed with his “best girl” and I have NO DOUBT that the freedom to move helped both of them stay comfortable and sound. My old guy finally passed a couple of months ago but he was happy and still cantering and bucking to the end.

Your guy may not lie down in the shed even with a nice bed, since he is alone. You know your horse, I’m sure.

[Bluey]

Since he is alone, maybe consider first just adding plastic strips or screens to your whole shed, see how that works for him?

Here are some companies you can check with, look at their pictures, see if any of those give you ideas:

https://www.strip-curtains.com/proCat/stripdoors/Farm_Barn_Strip_Doors_stripdoor.php

https://www.windscreensupply.net

http://horseflynet.com/blog/?page_id=868

You can always do more later, if that is not enough.

You could also, maybe, take the front out of a stall in the old barn and put a panel in the aisle and let him have a whole 9 1/2’ stall plus the front of the stall aisle area, making his stall much larger.
You can do that where it would not be in the way of other you may do in that barn, or just close one end of that barn and make that end of the aisle a bit stall.

That is what we did once when we had a horse that we didn’t want in our regular stalls, that were 14’ x 14’, as he may have gone down and we felt he needed the larger area.

[clanter]

be sure to raise the floor of the area of shed that is to be converted into a stall

We have a concrete perimeter foundation run around then back filled with road base to elevate the floor… even during the wettest September and October on record we have had dry stalls

the TB we have is in the 17h range, she lives comfortably in a 12by12 …she does lay down every night

Our secondary barn’s stall has walls up five feet with on two sides which I just cover with traps that are nailed into place for the winter… one of the stalls was converted into feed/tack room

[Cynical25]

Does he NEED an enclosed stall? IMO, if he has access to shelter from wind, a blanket, and lots of hay, he should be just fine.

My senior definitely does better when she can move around freely. My 15x33’ run-in shed is shared by 2 horses and I have it divided with a gate panel to offer some separation at feeding time. I have another gate panel to close off the front as a “stall” if someone needs it, such as when said senior sliced her leg open or if she needs extra time to eat. But even in this generous 15x15 foot stall she will stock up within a few hours, and she’s barely 14.1hh.

[4LeafCloverFarm]

@Cynical25

Does he NEED an enclosed stall? IMO, if he has access to shelter from wind, a blanket, and lots of hay, he should be just fine.

The easy answer to that is “No”. This is probably 95% me imposing my human feelings/preferences on him. The vet was really amazed late this summer when she came for his annual, saying he looked better than he had the previous two years. I just want it to stay that way and do what is right for him.

It also occurred to me, since I am an obsessive planner, that having a nice sized, properly set up stall would come in handy down the road, should he have an injury that required him to be put up for rehab. I was planning on putting a 12’ gate across the front of the other side of the shed - then he’d have the 14X12 stall area adjoined to the rest of the shed, so essentially the entire shed as his stall. I know he won’t live forever, but I don’t want to look back someday and think “I wish I had done ________”.

I should have mentioned I’m in middle TN - so our winters don’t typically get just horrendous (like they did when I lived in CT years ago). Though we do get a snowfall or two and a few weeks that don’t get above 20. But “winter” here is getting shorter in duration (at least that’s my observation over the past 20 some years).

The little booger actually pinned his ears at me this AM because I was about 10 minutes late with his mash. So I turned right around and started to walk off. Heard him kinda nicker, turn around and he’s looking at me with his head over the gate, ears forward, expression saying “Nnnnoooooo, don’t leave!”. You should have seen the look on his face - priceless. :lol:

[HungarianHippo]

Alternative: Does your barn need to remain a drive-through aisle? You could stack 4 roundbales at the west end (assuming that’s your prevailing winter wind) and they’ll stop the wind and snow from blowing in.

Another alternative is to get a big pile of sand delivered to a sunny spot in the pasture, and it will become his favorite lounging area-- it’ll soak in the sun and stay warm for hours after sundown. Nice and soft for rolling / napping, when everything else is rock hard. It’s a bit ugly, but you can dress it up (and trap the sand better) by putting down landscape timbers as a frame and flattening the pile out to make it more like a sandbox. For reference, one standard dump truck will hold a pile of sand about the size of a VW bug.

[4LeafCloverFarm]

@HungarianHippo

Another alternative is to get a big pile of sand delivered to a sunny spot in the pasture, and it will become his favorite lounging area-- it’ll soak in the sun and stay warm for hours after sundown. Nice and soft for rolling / napping, when everything else is rock hard. It’s a bit ugly, but you can dress it up (and trap the sand better) by putting down landscape timbers as a frame and flattening the pile out to make it more like a sandbox. For reference, one standard dump truck will hold a pile of sand about the size of a VW bug.

This is a super idea. And if my pasture was relatively flat, I would consider it. My whole farm is on a decent slope, and after a good thunderstorm, that sand, held back or not, would end up not where it was intended to be! But I love your idea. My pony would love to have his own sand box!

[Mallard]

Do you have a way of keeping his water from freezing in the shed?

[4LeafCloverFarm]

@Mallard

Do you have a way of keeping his water from freezing in the shed?

No - I use 100 gallon rubbermaid tanks near the gate to the pasture. No electric to either of my pastures. The one or two times a year the water freezes enough that the horse can’t push through it, we use the sledgehammer and 5 gallon buckets of hot water method several times a day.

However, if I were to make the modifications to the shed, he’d still have access to get out, as it would only be three sided, unlike his stall in the barn, that has a door. And I’d probably add 5 gallon buckets with wall holders in the shed, like I have in my barn if he were truly shut in with a gate and couldn’t get out (for rehab or whatever).

[4LeafCloverFarm]

@Huntin' Pony

As long as he’s not sharing that shed, I definitely would fix it up and leave him out. My oldest guy reached 35-1/2 years living in a large shed with his “best girl” and I have NO DOUBT that the freedom to move helped both of them stay comfortable and sound. My old guy finally passed a couple of months ago but he was happy and still cantering and bucking to the end.

Your guy may not lie down in the shed even with a nice bed, since he is alone. You know your horse, I’m sure.

Very sorry to hear about the loss of your horse.

One of the major changes we made a year and a half ago was to take his two bothers away (a medium pony and a small horse). We didn’t know if it was going to work - that first day he screamed off and on for them, and it was tough to listen to. I cried a lot. But he settled down in a few days, and has literally thrived since then. He put on weight and condition and was even acting younger. The competition for grass and hay and so forth with him being such a push over, was making him older than he was. It was really a tremendous turn around.

He does sometimes lie down in the shed, as evidenced by the flattened piles of poop! lol Which is part of what gave me the idea to do this shed “make over”. But I’ve noticed over his lifetime that he lays down less than other horses I’ve had. Not sure if that is due to his size or what.

[4LeafCloverFarm]

@Bluey

Since he is alone, maybe consider first just adding plastic strips or screens to your whole shed, see how that works for him? Here are some companies you can check with. . .

Thanks for those links. Appreciate it. I had posted a question or two over on the thread I’d been following about the plastic strips a few weeks ago, but no one ever responded. I’ll take a look at those. Do you think bedding could be added just with those plastic things? Thats why I was thinking of adding the kick wall - to protect the shavings from the elements…

@Bluey

You could also, maybe, take the front out of a stall in the old barn and put a panel in the aisle and let him have a whole 9 1/2’ stall plus the front of the stall aisle area, making his stall much larger.

When we bought this farm, after much searching, I finally found an old timer contractor familiar with hand made pole barns (ours is essentially a 40’ X 42’ or close enough). The guy said that we really couldn’t cut the poles on the main level that support the roof and then add a joist after removing the bottom 1/2 of the pole (like one would do on a load bearing wall in a house to add a door or opening. So, we are stuck where the poles are - taking out the stall front (or back) would make a great large stall, however, it would have poles stuck right in the middle of the space. And these aren’t your average “poles” like you see in modern barns - these were cedar and locust trees cut right off the property, de-barked and hand scraped or whatever you’d call it (milled maybe?). Some are quite massive - and they aren’t an even space apart either. LOL Just like my 125 year old farm house, nothing is straight, flush or even. :lol:

We never finished the stalls on the north side of the barn. There was a pass-though the entire length of the barn that we enclosed on either end, then made a little aisle way between two stalls on the main aisle to get back there. We use it for storage. wood, extra buckets and so forth. I should take a measuring tape down there in the AM, because those stalls are deeper than the ones on either side of the main aisle if memory serves me. I just don’t recall the exact measurement.