Hey, I’ve seen some pretty “artistic” beams at Lowes 
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In the northern parts it’s not uncommon for the barn and indoor to be heated. It’s usually not what you would consider warm, maybe 35-40 degrees, but it’s much better than -30.
This isn’t so spectacular now, but growing up my dad had a friend who did team roping. His family built a 300’ heated indoor arena. At the time, it was one of the biggest arenas in the country. I’ve been to it, and it’s now a little sad (being 50+ years old) but i still think it’s impressive that they had it.
There’s this episode of the X Files with these “people” that build underground caves, and… yeah.
Yes. Our indoor is detached, but our barn is heated to 45 degrees year-round. I never thought I would consider that warm, but the ability to tack up/groom/bathe/do general barnwork without freezing your arse off is heavenly.
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The first barn I rode at was a barn, indoor and house all in one. It wasn’t particularly extravagant, but it was very convenient. I remember being quite surprised when I realized that setup was more the exception than the norm!
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Not over the top, but I once looked at a very normal farmette for rent with a crystal chandelier in the barn. Just a plain ol’ wooden 4 stall barn, gravel aisle… and a chandelier. Why?!? It wasn’t like it was converted for events or anything; it was a working horse barn.
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I can see this done as Just Because. 
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In my experience (50 years of it thank you) chandelier in the barn = cray cray
YMMV but it has been true in every single encounter I’ve had
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There’s an Instagram account called Equine Residences that’s basically nothing but over the top barns.
I do love the Barragan one…
I once farm sat for a woman that had a 20 stall 40 acre barn for her 2 horses and goat. It was climate controlled. The stalls had an interesting wood floor under the mats. Fancy fixtures at every turn. The barn was arranged somewhat like a + with center aisle stalls arranged on two ends and lounge, tack, office, feed room, cross ties in the center and cross area. Fully landscaped foyer entry type areas in the center cross space. An apartment with balconies up top. The entire barn interior was decorated with original artwork. More museum than barn vibe. Her covered arena was finished with shiplap looking wood so none of the metal showed. Totally wild.
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I tried my mare at a barn so nice that it was fancier than most peoples’ houses. It had multiple indoors, outdoors, & covered arenas, and the most beautiful barns I had ever seen. It went beyond the matching trunks and tack to just next level perfection. Gorgeous beamed construction, not a single flake of shavings on the floor. The bathroom was nicer than most I had seen in houses.
What struck me most was that there was nobody there. Other than one person who confronted me upon arrival to question why I was on the premises (rudely!!), the only other person I encountered was the pro on my mare.
Now I have in my head “North Salem Fancy” vs everything else fancy.
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Try the Heilan Equestrian Club - marble stalls anyone?
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Hahahahahaha we have a normal wood barn and a chandelier as well!!!
In fairness, it wasnt purchased (from the re-store) for this purpose.
We bought it to hang at the venue where we got married. We bought our farm after and didnt want to get rid of the chandelier so in the barn it is!
It’s 5ft tall and 4 tiers. Beautifully scrolled. I love that thing!! 
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The horses are standing on plastic grating, which is sad. I wonder what kind of disaster there will be when a horse hops over the barrier onto that marble. Yikes!
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I think they have regular stalls but rotate through the display stalls for tourists. I think the regular barn is pretty normal (fancy, but functional).
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This looks like something you’d see in some sort of weird Hogwarts-ish alternate universe where horses control/run the bank. The stalls just look like concierge desks or something 
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So maybe not the most over-the-top farm I’ve ever known of, but certainly the most gorgeous I had ever seen at the time… When I was around 17, my mom was selling some ponies and my TB mare. We took them down to Jimmy Lee’s Belcourt Farm so that the trainer/barn manager Debbie Buchannan could check them out and help us sell them. Aside from being in beautiful horse country (Keswick, VA), the farm was so immaculately cared for and everything had it’s place. The barn had beautiful high rafters, stalls were a beautiful hardwood with polished metal adornments. The aisles were immaculate and had fluffy clean shavings as ground covering. Beautiful photos and ribbons, a tack room that looked show ready at all times, and of course, dozens of gorgeous, well-groomed horses.
I ended up being a working student for Debbie the following summer, it was grueling. Everything was done to an exacting standard. Horses were always to be clean, as was tack. They didn’t have a ton of clients, more sales horses and horses in training. We went to a few shows where I got to show my own horse and a training horse at one show. When we went to show at HITS Culpepper, I was showing my mare, and Debbie said something about the horses getting braided. I announced (rather oblivious to “how things are done”) that I could/would braid my own horse. Debbie looked at me and asked if I was good enough to braid for an A show, It never occurred to me that I might not be, when it came to braiding, my mom and I always did our own. I told her I thought I was. Turns out I was.
While I was a working student, we really did not do things like muck stalls, that was for “the help”. Except one day, and the guys were running late. We weren’t supposed to bring the horses in for breakfast until stalls were clean if I recall. The other working student was just standing around. I picked up a pitch fork and wheelbarrow and got to work. That surprised everyone lol.
It was my first experience with a barn of that caliber. I also vividly remember that “full training board”, with ALL of the bells and whistles. They actually encouraged boarders NOT to choose that package bc then that set up really high expectations for the horses being ready for the ring along with everything that entails . We basically gave them “full training board”, but at the regular rate just to allow room for error. The rate for full training, show up to the barn and step onto your beautifully prepped horse in 1998? $900. Which is not far from what many of us pay for a much more basic board these days 
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I’ve never heard of deliberately putting shavings in the aisle. Sounds like a lot of work to keep clean, especially in such a detail-oriented barn! What was the floor made out of that it required shavings over the top, and what was the day-to-day maintenance of keeping it spotless? Was it cleaned like a stall? (Sorry if there are stilly questions, I’ve never seen this done so I’m simply curious!)
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It’s been a while, so I am trying to remember. It was cleaned like a stall, but it didn’t get crazy dirty, horses were usually in their stalls or grooming stalls. I honestly do not remember what the base floor was, but I would guess some sort of sand/clay base? I really think it was more for show than was necessary.
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Thanks for sharing. I’ve seen the photo in the thumbnail before but I didn’t know where it was from.
It was super interesting to look through all the photos. I had no idea this place existed, or broke the record for the “largest horse dressage ever attempted”
I found it funny that in these beautiful elaborate stables where money is clearly not a problem, the zebras were wearing poorly fitted nylon halters. Makes me scratch my head. I guess maybe zebra heads are shaped differently so it’s hard to find a halter that fits? Even so, you can custom order them fairly easily. My horses live in broken down sheds but have nice leather halters. I would never let them wear nylon. But I’m a total halter snob so…
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