I didn’t leave the stalls open when the horses were turned out. Dutch doors were closed. Horses had shelter under the overhang attached to the barn.
I had 12’ wide runs up to the barn, and never had issues with horses getting trapped in there, but I guess it’s possible. It would be easy to either skip the runs–stalls would open directly to the paddock–or build out your end runs wider, and leave those open for the horses to access shelter.
I second what Simkie said.
I have the runs and overhang because I have a mare that is difficult and does not get along with anything.
Dutch doors closed during the day. I actually keep the runs closed too. I have one area at the end (actually the run from the end stall, but it is much wider since it is on the end) that is their shelter when turned out.
The separate outdoor places with access to stalls makes it easy to provide private spaces, with out having to close them into their stalls.
There is lots of mud in my part of the world (clay soil…so fun when wet), but I do not have a problem with mud in my stalls from their paddocks.
I assume anyone who is going to have a dry lot is going to do something with the footing to make the dry lot not be a mud pit when it rains, this applies to the areas right around the barn too.
Having the matted overhang off the stalls also helps prevent them from taking shavings outside and the outside into their stalls.
Funny story about more than one horse in a stall.
We had one separate big pen with it’s own 16’ x 20’ concrete block structure that had a front for supplies and that whole separating wall from the 16’ x 16’ stall was a long manger.
We used it to keep a stallion when he was not turned out with mares or geldings.
Once we didn’t have a breeding operation any more, we would use that big pen to shut several geldings in there running in the adjacent pasture.
The stall door was kept closed.
One day, when we came to feed them in the pen, the door was open.
As they came out it looked like a clown car, more horses coming out and more and one more.
Made you wonder how so many fit packed in there.
There was not a scratch on any of them.
Stocks. In wash stall works great. Makes vetting easier.
The one barn I boarded at with those swing out feeders convinced me I never wanted them - they got really nasty and were very hard to clean. But I am very, very OCD about things like cleaning buckets and feed tubs.
Little conveniences for me include plenty of outlets, on/off switches for lights at either end, really nice hardwired sealed motor fans in each stall and in my washrack, plenty of storage in the feed and tack rooms. I put a solarium in my washrack because I hate being cold and it’s lovely in the winter to have a comfortable space to groom and tack up. I had an existing hot water heater in the wash rack as well but will probably upgrade to a tankless at some point. I also love having my old fashioned slant faced grooming box on the wall in the grooming area; it keeps everything neat and organized.
I have hooks in the back of my washrack that allow me to hang a dirty turnout and easily clean it; I also have dedicated hooks in my utility room where I can hang blankets up when they are not in use or need to dry after being washed. In the winter when this is a frequent chore and the weather doesn’t permit them to be hung outside, this is a godsend. I have an inverter in my tack room that keeps the temperature comfortable year round; it is up high and out of the way (controlled by a remote.)
I also have small wire baskets (from the home improvement store) that hang on each stall front to hold small items - bell boots, fly spray) so they are conveniently at hand for turnout.
I put slam latches on all the gates so they are easy to operate with a horse in your other hand. I have water to every paddock. Although it is an extra chore to fill each tank, I prefer that to auto waterers.
Good luck with your project!
I have a dry lot extending from 3 stalls on the long side of my barn and love it. It has been a Godsend for especially 2 ponies who must have very limited grass. Also great for recoveries, bad weather. Ours is even sloped but graded properly so water runs away, MOSTLY. We have an overhang roof over this area for shade/rain protection and mats outside against the barn - easy peasy to clean, hose off, sweep. On crazy hot days I open a stall or 2 and the horses can go inside. We also have an outdoor fan under the overhang roof for them as well. I LOVE LOVE that I can turn out/in without halters, leading etc. My kids can open a door and let a horse out safely.
For inside the barn I cannot stress enough how I WISH I did not store hay in my barn :(!!! It’s a dusty MESS. I have center aisle storage and also a floor above tack room as my tack room is insulated. The rest of my barn is open air over the stalls. I can throw hay down from the center aisle into each stall from the loft BUT hay makes dust. ALOT of dust. It’s a pain to keep clean. It gets on EVERYTHING in the aisle and wash stall. It gets all over the rungs of my stall doors. If I had to do it over again I would store hay in another shed or building. While it’s convenient to just throw hay down, I wish I could keep the BULK of my hay elsewhere.
Otherwise, make sure your pipes CANNOT freeze in barn. And make sure you have plugs at each stall and I have a plug above each stall for an above-type fan if needed. We spent a lot on our electrical and I am happy we did.
Good luck!!
If you have an indoor wash rack, make the floor angle towards the back wall, and have the drain outside of the building. That is what I did, and I love it. Horses can’t stand those drains in the middle of the floor, they get full of gunk very quickly, and they are slippery to a shod hoof.
Mine drains out the back, under the wall and onto a concrete “bowl” with a drain and removable 1/2” wire sieve to catch debris.
be very careful about where you put outlets. Lead ropes and cross ties get hooked around them, pandemonium ensues. I set mine around the posts away from where this could happen.
Picture the worst weather possible, and how you would do the entire day of horse care. Placement of hay storage, water access with plans for broken pipes or pumps, manure placement. Design with these things in mind.
I’d agree on good lighting and electrical outlets for each stall…
Something I didn’t see mentioned and no-one likes to think about. Have a plan which would allow a horse that died or was put down in a stall to be removed without having to unbuild and then re-build a stall wall. Including truck/tractor sized access either through a run or through the barn. You may never need this but when you do, a good feature to have planned for.
As a boarder, tack room with a place for my saddle, bridle, tack trunk; preferably heated (if you’re in a cold climate).
If you’re having an overhang for the runs, include a gutter and perhaps plans (depending on location) to get rain and melting snow water to not all get dumped at the termination of the overhang. Access to the roof if you want to remove some of the snow load. If you are doing runs, construct the far end so it is completely removable; allows a tractor to get in and scoop out snow, etc if needed and then re-fasten the end.
Lots of storage, such as shelves and cupboards in your tack room. Easy vehicular access for farrier, vet etc and for you to load horses and store a trailer. Carefully consider location and design of muck removal/disposal with reference to flies and water pollution. Store hay away from horses if at all possible: fire hazard and dust.
So… your wash stall/grooming area is 12x12 and your grooming box hangs in there at about shoulder level? Does it get sprayed with water while you are bathing? Have you ever had a WaterWuss swing his hind end or body into it?
Just asking because I’d love a reason to buy a slant-faced grooming box… and I have also seen a really cool wash rack that has a rail along one side and a galley-kitchen like area with a sink and stackable W/D in a closet at the back.
Money could be spent…
@mvp The wash stall is in fact 12 x12, and the grooming box hangs in the front on the left as you are looking into that space. It’s in front of the cross ties, so horsey’s can’t swing into it although it might get a bit of spray on occasion when I’m bathing them. Seems to be holding up fine - and this is my vintage wood/brass Oakcroft box that I’ve had for at least 20 years. I’ll email a photo for you because I don’t have time to mess with the upload requirements here, but feel free to ping me if you want to discuss in more detail. Oh, and actually my fave thing in the washrack is my little tack cleaning station … I forgot to add that in the post you quoted.
I live in an area where you build primarily for the heat of summer, not the cold of winter. I consider the siting of a barn a major, major consideration. The barn that takes advantage of prevailing winds will feel much better than will one that does not allow wind to some through. OP, I hope you can choose that and/or your original barn builder was smart about that. Of course, if you are building for winter, you would hope for an orientation that was probably perpendicular to the one I had in mind. This is true for either a center aisle or a shedrow barn.
A major rain storm here just convinced me of the need for building at least short runs off of stalls. The first 12’ will be under cover and matted. But I wasn’t sure how close from there I’d have a gate leading to a shared sacrifice area. While the sandy soil here drains very well, you probably would have an easier time and spend less money on caring for the stalls if you had runs with that “back porch” shelter for them to live in. That’s true at least during the worst of the storm when water pools on the ground.
One thing I haven’t seen mentioned yet that I’m going to try to rig up is a way to cut a hole in the outside wall of the barn high up under the eaves where the fan would go. I’d like to be able to point that bad boy into the stalls or out to the back porches. You see, after I have spent all my money on the palatial barn, I won’t have any money left for shavings, so I’d like to figure out how to keep horses outside whenever possible.
I know: I’m that kind of crazy.
In any case…
i’m a big, big fan of building for medical stuff. To me, that includes being able to take down a stall wall to create a double stall, having a way to make paddocks of graduated sizes for the horse who has a long lay-up that progresses from stall rest to a very small paddock and on up. Runs and electrical braided tape will let you do that very easily. It’s also good when the horse doesn’t have to move anywhere else just to get a slightly larger paddock.
Along these lines, I also think about having great light, a way for a vet or farrier to back his truck right up to where he’ll work on a horse (though I have never seen a vet need to back his truck down an aisle to get to the stall of a sick horse… and I’ve seen some really fubar horses getting treated).
I also like to have tie-rings in stalls. So many uses for those-- drying horse… pulling-back horse that you aren’t going to fix for some reason… two year old who needs to learn to stand tied…guests such that you need more places to tie horses being tacked up than usual…a way to keep the damn barn aisle clear because cross ties there guarantee traffic jams and do make some horses edgy.
And every farm needs a shop/junk room. It just does. Build it in.
Stall doors set in the middle of the stall front. Water is on one side and feed on the other. Swing out feeders get gross and I like to feed hay on the ground (maybe designs have changed over the years).
I was adamant about drop downs into the barn isle. We have big windows to the outside so the isle windows are overkill. Horses dribble feed into the isle and paw the doors impatiently before turn-out. Hindsight is annoying.
I want to second @costco_muffins on the counter in the feed room. I have an old desk we were going to throw away but I use it daily when getting feed together. It’s temporary but I’m definitely putting a counter in when we have a permanent area! Something I never would have thought of. Sink would be nice too.
Design your barn with overhead doors large enough to drive machinery through. Get extra wide man doors in case you feel adventurous and want to walk a horse through. Make sure all your equipment can fit in the aisle of the barn - sure makes stall cleaning easier when you can put the soiled bedding right into a manure spreader or tractor bucket or something.
So… yeah… How would one do this?
That should be part of barn construction. Stalls can be constructed so they come apart reasonably easy or they can be constructed to have to disassemble the entire barn. I am not a barn builder but I have been a boarder in barns that did give this notion some thought prior to actually having to do this.
Same with fencing. Planning with forethought would go a long way into construction with an eye toward having to remove a downed horse. It happens. Fortunately not often but it does. IMO, don’t want to be standing in the aisle way with a deceased horse in a stall or in a run with cemented posts trying to figure out how to remove said horse.
Use portable stalls.
Pull a couple pins and you can open a whole side.
Or make the whole front a door.
That is what a friend’s and our vet’s addition have.
The stall fronts are a 12’ wire mesh gate.
A 12’ overhang off each stall. This will keep your runs from getting muddy. Otherwise, rain will blow in your open stall doors and mud will be tracked in. The overhangs will help keep your stalls cool.
Excellent drainage.
water on times
motion lights on the approach
manure management
tack and feed management
AIR FLOW!!!
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