Hello!
I’m moving into my dream property this spring with my horses. There is a preexisting 30 x 50 pole barn. It has electric and water to it but no actual stalls.
I did some googling but most of the sites I found were from barn builders trying to sell their stalls. I’m not going to be in the position to pay for pre-made stalls so I was looking for examples of DIY stalls.
Has anyone done this? How much did it cost and what tips could you give?
Thanks so much!
We had a 40’ X 40’ pole barn that had been used for cattle before we bought the farm. I had custom round pen panels made and we used those to make stalls. My panels are 6’ tall and 10’ long. My horses are not in often so 10’ X 10’ stall work fine for them. I also was able to purchase a “corner pole” to assure all panels would connect.
I loved this because I could make stalls in any size I wanted and the space was very flexible. We sold that farm about 18 months ago and my round pen panels came to the new farm. I think everything to make 4 stalls cost about $1700.
[QUOTE=cutter99;8475760]
We had a 40’ X 40’ pole barn that had been used for cattle before we bought the farm. I had custom round pen panels made and we used those to make stalls. My panels are 6’ tall and 10’ long. My horses are not in often so 10’ X 10’ stall work fine for them. I also was able to purchase a “corner pole” to assure all panels would connect.
I loved this because I could make stalls in any size I wanted and the space was very flexible. We sold that farm about 18 months ago and my round pen panels came to the new farm. I think everything to make 4 stalls cost about $1700.[/QUOTE]
Interesting idea!
Did you ever worry about them putting a leg through the panels? I know you said they weren’t in that much… I’ve never done much with round pens, is that something to worry about?
We did our own stalls inside our new pole barn. Husband built them. We used rough sawn White Oak, you get larger dimensions of boards when they are not planed smooth. Closer to a real 2" x 10" board. Also with fresh cut wood, you have an ability to drive the GALVANIZED nails that dry Oak won’t give you. You need to use galvanized nails because the tannin in green Oak will rust off the heads of plain steel nails, so in a few years you will be nailing boards back in place and it will be LOTS harder with dried wood! Know that green boards will shrink as they dry, so even making things nice and flush, you will have some gaps between edges later in time. We find the Oak tastes pretty bad, not much chewing on those boards. We still put edging on the windows, posts beside the doors to prevent chewing. Box stalls are 12ft x 12ft, fits most horses.
A less expensive metal for edging is galvanized sheet metal. We got our pieces bent-to-fit with rolled edges to prevent them being sharp. You have to give the dimensions to the Shop so they can size the metal pieces correctly. The metal was light and easy to handle, you can drive a nail thru it pretty easily. We used a Furnace shop that makes their own duct work, was happy to have the extra work from us. Their wide machines could bend long pieces of metal, made the fit perfect on the posts and windows.
We did pine boards on the aisle side of stall walls. We made the sliding doors, which are solid, don’t take up space on the aisle when open. A full sheet of plywood, hung from the nylon rollers by one narrow end, then put 2x6 boards around the outside edge with nails and glue, to make the board stiff. We did a cross-piece in the center, with an X across the lower half. Looks pretty nice, still in good shape MANY years later. Plywood is exterior grade, 1" thick, pretty impervious to damp, can take a big kick if needed. If I get a kicker in, they get retrained so they don’t do that again, using kick chains. Not having my barn trashed by a horse with bad habits!
We have Fortiflex corner mangers, though I am replacing them with antique iron ones as I find them. I have hay mangers over the corner feeder. Sounds silly, but we have moved the hay mangers locations with different horses. Currently one horse likes to watch things out his front window, so hay and grain mangers are in a front corner by the window. Other box stall has mangers in the back corner, horse is still able to see out the window but not close to it. She likes that way. Other horses have liked privacy for eating, or want to be up front to watch things that happen outside the stall. So we move things to make them happier. Water buckets are hung under the front windows, hoping for horses to drink more when standing to look out the window. Does help some.
I have rubber matting on the box stall floors, easier to clean, doesn’t let them dig holes.
Something to consider is putting in a nice tie stall. We have mostly tie stalls, 4 in the big barn that get used daily. We find them to be quite economical to bed and fast to clean to the floor daily. They are a great training device, horses learn much just being in them, getting worked around daily! Benefits are mine tie well for long times, move side to side as requested for filling buckets and hay mangers, not spooky with people and hose coming in from behind since they get rewarded most times with food! Horses load in trailers easily, with almost no effort. Seems they think it “Looks like a stall, just skinnier, so walk right in” to find the grain waiting for them. We don’t do it often, but if the center aisle is busy, we might back a horse into his tie stall, use it with cross ties for grooming or trimming manes. It was excellent with the Pony Club kids, 2 to a horse, with 6 horses being worked on at one time during various training sessions in braiding, clipping, mane pulling or thinning, in our barn. Sorry I only seem to have tie stall photos, none of the box stalls.
Left horse is 17H, while right side horse is about 16H, both are pretty full bodied. Still plenty of room in their stalls.
Tie stall also makes a good place to put wheelbarrow, tools, extra bales, out of your way but handy, when you are not keeping a horse in it. With a gate across the end, it can be a good place for pet goats, sheep, the pony if needed.
Our tie stalls are 12ft long, 5 1/2ft wide, hold our 16-17h horses that wear 84" blankets, have long necks, with plenty of room to lay down. They all seem to lay down at night, seem quite comfortable doing that in their tie stalls. They move over for me to go beside them, not kicky when surprised, since they are used to folks coming up behind them often. They don’t try to roll in tie stalls, have not had any ever get cast over a lot of years. The horses are turned out daily, so tie stall time is limited to 8-12 hours daily, depending on the time of year. Winters they are in longer than in summer time. A Draft size or Draft cross with bigger body might need a 6ft or 6 1/2ft wide tie stall to be more comfortable.
We have cement on the floor every where except the stalls. Surface is easy to clean, stays level, dry. We keep hay and other things like a carriage in the other part of the barn, don’t want dampness of dirt under them. Daily drive thru with tractor and spreader has no effect on my floors. We did use a coarse broom to rough the aisle after pouring that part. Has provided pretty good traction to the horses walking thru for many years. I use the leaf blower so that floor is clean after sweeping with the broom. Broom moves the bigger stuff, dirt piles, hay chaff, so it doesn’t just swirl around behind me. Leaf blower takes too long for that, but good on finish of dusty stuff removal broom won’t get. I have both end doors open to make dust leave fast, I put on a paper dust mask or pull up a bandana over mouth and nose so I don’t have to be breathing dirt. Horses are ALWAYS outside when the leaf blower is used to prevent breathing issues with dust and dirt in the air.
Hope some of these ideas are useful, will save you money over purchasing ready made stuff.
there is an advantage of converting an existing structure which is defined as a remodel rather than new construction, different ballgame altogether. Different set of rules for permits, zoning requirement and the like. The following is from my experience in our location, sure other areas differ and some area do not even care
A “remodel” could even allow the pole barn’s roof to be raised if necessary… rule of thumb is remodel is not to exceed 50% of the value of the structure some areas 60%… but once that threshold is exceed then you are back to new construction permits
Also another plus at least in our area no demolition permit required
Property tax rate increase should be less than if building new from the ground up but appraisal for value could be greater for the remodeled structure than specific use build structure.
Easy peasy to build your own–it’s simple carpentry with basic shop tools, so totally DIY-able. We built 4 stalls in a quirky and slightly crooked 1890s barn. Made use of the back wall of the barn, and set a line of posts 12ft away from that, so all 4 stalls are in a line.
We did indulge in kits for the grills and doors, just because I’ve waited so long for this project and I wanted pretty stalls. I bought the kits from Bend ARC Stalls and the guy couldn’t have been nicer. He custom cut the lengths for me, since we were working with odd dimensions in this barn, at no extra charge. I like that his kits are aluminum so they won’t rust, unlike the steel fronts. If you go to the product reviews page, you can see a picture of two of my stalls (look for the “Erin from Iowa” review). We weren’t under any time pressure, so we’d just work on the stalls on weekends so it never felt like a grueling overwhelming task. PM me if you want details on the kind of hardware we used for installing posts and headers, etc.
We had dirt floor in most of the barn, and concrete wasn’t in the budget. And neighbor has a dump truck, so I put down crushed rock, compacted it. Rubber mats in the stalls. Very happy with the floor. Not dusty and it’s staying compacted. Can’t sweep it of course, but I pick up stray hay and clumps with a manure fork, and for the little stuff, it cleans up nicely with a leaf blower. With that rock as a foundation, we can always circle back and do concrete some year when I’m feeling flush. 
I had some tie stalls in my first barn and loved them for feeding or coming in for 10-12 hours during a storm. They were great for teaching tie nicely,too.
I have wood stalls,rough cut 2x6s in my current barn. I made them 4 feet tall and recently my large pony jumped the stall while I was feeding. Plan is to have my husband weld some sides/fronts for each stall out of steel rod to look similar to pre-fab stalls and to give them more height,no chewing surface. Although,considering how busy he is I may go with the pre-made kits.
I used to have similar stalls in a barn when I was in OK,only I just had a chain for the door which was about 3 feet hig,probably only 2feet in the middle. Never had a problem with my big horses trying to get out,even the 16.2 hand paint and 16.1 hand OTTB. I don’t know what got into my pony but needless to say I was shocked!
Yep. Went through RAMM fencing for the stall kits. Bought rough cut lumber from the Amish, and after a lot of time, sweat, and a little blood…I have 4 stalls, 3.5 stall fronts. Lol
When I moved in, it had a people door in the middle of a long side, and a huge 14’ roll up door in front. I had another built out the other short side- they cut the metal, built a frame, put it on a roller, etc LOVE IT.
[QUOTE=2LaZ2race;8475772]
Interesting idea!
Did you ever worry about them putting a leg through the panels? I know you said they weren’t in that much… I’ve never done much with round pens, is that something to worry about?[/QUOTE]
I never have had any issues even when they were in for extended periods of time. I have used the panels to create dry lots that they were in for months last year.
We built a pole building with the intent of making it a borse barn.
I bought pipe panels from Tractor supply for stalls. They were supposed to be temporary but the barn is only 24 x 40 and the panels allow for more air flow.
The barn walls have hardwood kick board that go up four feet.
All of the stall sides and doors have 3/4" plywood that goes up two rails.
I had all geldings. They were all older and had been together many years. Nobody fought. The lower boards on the panels is to keep anyone from accidentally getting a leg caught underneath.
I am down to two horses. The barn is 12 years old, with no injury issues to-date.
I used panels for years and only had an issue when my gelding was badly colicing (bad enough to be put to sleep). I chalk that up as a freak instance and he actually didn’t obtain any injury from getting his leg caught. It was really easy to get him out as I just took apart the stall. He just kind of chilled while he was stuck. The only time during the entire process he wasn’t flinging himself around.
My barn is also a pole barn. Currently I have wood walls that go up 5’ and panels as stall fronts until I can figure out what I want as a stall front.
If you can frame out the stalls, you can usually find the U channels metal pieces that you attach to the framing & the 2"x12" boards slide into to create your 3 walls. Frame out the fronts again, U channels & just use a grill type stall door that you buy. The 2" x 12" boards serve both as safe stall walls, but also your kick walls. A metal supply place maybe able to also provide U channel grill dividers that sit on top of the 2" top board between stalls. Perhaps use 1 side for stalls & other leave open for hay, shaving storage. Maybe build a small framed tack room in the middle or at 1 end of the 30 x 50 space. Hope this makes sense.
Also, go to other barns, older one too & see how they were created to form ideas. Take picture & create from many ideas
OP, here’s what my DIY stall fronts look like: https://flic.kr/p/e4Ub7t
I paid a friend’s husband to put them in, using the leftover lumber from the build - I had enough leftover TNG from the kickboards to do the fronts, and only needed to buy the shorter uprights (they’re the ones on the right hand side of the stall doors/gates) and the concrete to set them in. So far I haven’t actually split the stalls (so I have one big stall with a redneck divider - board laid over the tops with a tarp to the ground - I only have the one pony, so it’s fine, and I’ve found I like the adjustability of it), but it’s always been part of the long term plan. If I ever finish it out as two stalls, I’ll divide it with u-channels, TNG, and top it with a grilled partition, and add a grilled front to the space between the two stalls so there won’t be any direct horse contact around the divider.
Back doors and kickboards were part of the initial build, but the extra stuff - the two extra posts, 2 bags of concrete (to set the posts), gates and hardware (those are two-way latches) and labor ($75 plus a six-pack) was probably right around $350 total. Not fancy, but everything works really well for me, and I’m really happy with it.
My barn was converted from a 30x60 pole barn for cows to a horse barn before we moved in. The prior people built DIY stalls with 2x6 (wish they’d used T&G) and plywood +mats against the metal of the barn walls. Doors are just sheets of plywood.
It’s a Christmas pony video, but if you watch the first 2 minutes of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIyJER-isHU you can see a tour of the barn as we walk in. We built a tackroom in the front across from the hay storage and there are 5 stalls at the far end (1 that I use as a tack room and 4 that get used for horses - though only one gets used since most of mine live out 24/7 and the one that does come in has in/out privileges 24/7. I think my stalls are 10 (depth) x 12 (width), though they might be 10x11, haven’t measured in many years and I can’t remember what I measured when I did.
Mine is definitely not fancy, and I’m sure it was not terribly expensive. But it works just fine for what I need.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
