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Thanks guys for the thoughts and suggestions.
Enclosing the shedrow isn’t the best solution because I would still have zero storage. We considered building 3 stalls across from the existing ones and turning it into a center aisle barn but with the price quotes we obtained, it would make more sense financially to build a new barn. That isn’t in the budget right now though.
I have spent a lot of money getting my footing perfect. It is a custom mixture of washed sand and stonedust that has been treated with a magnesium salt. I have zero dust problem. I don’t run a boarding facility and I don’t have anyone else hauling in to ride. It’s just me and my daughter so the footing is not abused at all.
The recessed cabinets are not a necessity, I agree. The plan would be to put 2 stalls on either side of the door on the short end. One of those stalls would be open and used for tack and other storage. The recessed cabinet on the other side would serve as a place for my daughter to keep her bridle and saddles without having to cart them back in forth. So it’s definitely a luxury and not a necessity, but if it’s feasible and makes things neater and easier in the long run I think it is worthwhile. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say they had too much storage in their barn.
Most likely we will just install the stalls ourselves with the portable/modular horse stall panels. I think I do want them to be temporary in case we do decide to build a barn down the road. As it stands now I would guess that my horses are in their stalls 60 days out of the year or less. And of those days, they’re often only in a few hours waiting for the vet or farrier. I don’t anticipate them being in more if I put stalls in the indoor.
I do appreciate the input though. There are definite disadvantages and I am carefully considering them all and weighing them against my budget. It will take up some of my usable riding area. I did put cones up where the stall walls would end, and I dragged the footing with my gator to get an idea of how it might feel with the missing space. It’s still fine. The shedrow barn is more open. The stalls in the shedrow had dutch doors and windows so it gets a good breeze. With stalls in the indoor, I can get a good cross-breeze by opening the doors on both ends but the horses will not have windows. With a much higher ceiling and better lighting in the indoor, I think the stalls will feel more open and airy though. I’m happy to listen to any other reasons I might not have thought of as far as why I shouldn’t put stalls in the indoor though. I haven’t started the project yet so there’s still time to come up with a plan B or C.
My first impression of the “corner” units was of the “barn door” sized doors impinging into the barn aisle. In a busy barn if you had several people trying to tack up at the same time you might have a very interesting “obstacle course” for humans and horses. That would be a lot of negative points for me.
The last set, with smaller doors, looked more possible. The “sliding tray” was very interesting except it’s in a barn where dust is going to eventually get to the wheels and tracks on the tray requiring cleaning. Tracks need lubrication and some types of that will attract dust. Not sure how that’s constructed so I don’t know how you would deal the “track maintenance.”
If I were doing a “clean sheet” build of a commercial barn I’d consider locating my grooming areas and then put the narrower “locker style” units as near to that area as possible. But this has a downside, too. With a central tack room you can heat and cool and dehumidify which is good news for medications, fly spray, leather, etc. These corner or locker units will live in the general barn environment; that will bring its own issues.
A central tack room located near the grooming areas with modest sized lockers offers a good combination of convenience, security, and ease of maintenance. It doesn’t reduce functional stall size or create aisle issues.
At the end of the day the “tack room/tack trunk” system, for all its drawbacks, might be the most efficient system?
G.
