I have done some research to no avail. My barn is located inside my pasture. My horses live outside with access to the barn at all times. I wanted to install gutters on the overhang as it is eroding the surface underneath it. Does anyone know the safest material or design I can use for the downspouts?
Even with gutters and downspouts, you will still have to get the water away from the barn.
If you can’t find any other, consider making a french drain where you have a problem.
You can use some of that tiny square plastic stuff and gravel, the horses can walk on it without making a mess and the water will divert to where you make it go thru the french drain, away from the barn.
You can combine gutters with french drains also.
We have gutters in one barn and no downspout.
Horses can’t get to the gutters and the water just falls into a bigger gravel spot, then runs off the end, not around the barn.
How long a stretch are you wanting to use gutters on?
Ours is 80’ and that is about the most we could have carried and still drain on one side only.
@Mavs Mommy I have pretty much the same setup - my barn is surrounded by the sacrifice paddock.
Horses have free access 24/7/365.
Downspouts are placed where they could tread on the ends, but I piled up some good-sized rocks at each & in 14yrs no damage to horses or downspouts.
Occasionally I have to replace a large rock that got moved from the pile, so I know they do step on them.
Gutters are waaaay out of reach & biggest problem is weeds rooting in them that need to be cleared annually.
The footing in the padodck is geotextile with 6" road-base gravel on top - zero mud & good drainage.
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It is a small structure, it is only 20’ long. It is set on 12" gravel with approximately 5" of quarry screenings on top. The area where the downspouts would have to go quickly transitions to dirt. A “gravel pit” so to speak for the downspout to go into may work. My major concerns, as my barn is the highest point, are ice and the actual material that the downspout is made out of. I fear that PVC could crush and splinter and that metal would have too many sharp edges. I guess I could just do the gutter without the downspout but that may make a mess too.
If you don’t mind me asking, what are your downspouts made out of?
I have metal downspouts on my barn and the horses have access to them in the runs.
They’re flattened from rubbing, but there are no sharp edges. They just deform instead of breaking. A guard of some sort would have been nice, or running them outside of the horse areas (I didn’t build the barn :-/) You could maybe build a wooden shell, and cover the corners with chew guard.
Mine have buried pipe that outlets away from the barn in a non horse area, which is nice. A dry well would work just as well, though, I would think.
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Standard metal.
Like @Simkie - ends are a teeny bit bent, but no cuts or other evidence of horse owies from this.
I have regular down spouts on my barn. One horse has access to the yard and has to turn two corners where the downspouts are. Even though he has injuries, he has never run into the down spouts.
We have this type of water remover sitting under the downspout. Ours are some sort of stone and heavy as Hades.
we bought ours at Lowes. We’ve driven the dually over them and have caught the edges with the big rear tires on the farm tractor and they have held up.
I have one boarded horse that eats downspouts for breakfast. Or he did… until I replaced everything normal (vinyl, normal lightweight metal) with steel rectangular box material.
This horse can reach his neck out like a giraffe to chomp on things, and tore any number of downspouts off near his paddock that he couldn’t conceivably reach… but he did. Multiple times.
The steel box is 2" x 4" and thick, like a heavy pipe, and is attached to the barn with bolts and heavy straps instead of screws. So far, he hasn’t been able to demolish this stuff. When I finally thwarted him with the steel boxes, I also had the other downspouts that were likely to be crushed by Houdini horses replaced too.
The downspout modification was several hundred dollars, but cheaper than having a storm and resulting flood because the little rascals had damaged downspouts and I didn’t notice… plus I don’t want the horses to get hurt.
The gutters on our barns are integral with the edge of the roof, and sit quite high above the horse’s heads. Since even Giraffe Boy never was able to get one of these gutters down, I just went with the manufacturer’s recommendation for their heavier gutters.
As with all things equine, build it to elephant-strength and hope for the best!
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Put a container under the downspout and collect water for drinking water. Works well… simple… no loss if you need to empty to clean
The vinyl downspouts from Lowe’s will not crush under a horse. They will deform and spring back. Used one as a drain through as corral last year. Worked a peach.
Has anyone ever seen or used a rain chain in place of a downspout in an area that the horses can access? Apparently they don’t move as much water as a downspout, and they can only move it straight down, but I wonder if you only used a short section of chain (not all the way to the ground) and then set up a dry well under that spot?
