There is a good chance I may be moving to a much colder climate very soon and we would likely be purchasing a place to keep the horses at home.
I’ve looked at one place in particular that has a nice 6 stall barn with an small attached indoor arena (60x120). The roof is insulated, but not the walls and it isn’t heated. Please give me some advice on what all it would take to insulate the place and add a heater (not even sure what kind of heater you can use in a barn??). Would it be cost prohibitive to insulate the entire thing (barn and arena)? The barn is a wood frame with metal exterior.
can you provide some additional info like the general area where this place is?
When we had our horses in Kentucky …the “heat” was their Baker Blankets which we still have nicely folded up in their trunks
4 Likes
How cold does it get?
I am a northerner 
And during our winters, it can get as cold as -30C and even below that. First thing to think about in the stable would be the water. Do they have running water and pipes? Then those need to be insulated first if they aren’t already.
For the stable itself and the indoor. I would say that the most logical thing would probably be to insulate it from outside. Unless it gets super cold, you probably don’t need a heater in the stable. The horses actually do a pretty good job of keeping the place warm.
Insulating the indoor isn’t strictly necessary, but it sure is nice, especially if you want to continue riding the whole winter without your toes and nose freezing off :lol:
2 Likes
Most barns/indoors in the northeast (NH/VT - it’s pretty cold) do not heat their barns or indoors. Indoor rooves are insulated to help prevent condensation and to help temper the noise when it rains but a fully heated indoor and or barn is a rare thing.
It is common to heat a tack room, grain room and bathroom for the people. Horses generate a huge amount of heat and a barn with 5-6 horses and closed doors and windows will be tolerable for the humans. Some places have heat lamps in the wash stall - some wash stalls are closed for the winter.
6 Likes
When we were stationed in AK, we boarded at both a heated barn and an unheated barn.
The heated barn had radiant heat in the floor of the aisle to keep the barn just above freezing, the indoor was heated sufficiently enough to not need a coat to ride; they were heaters mounted in the ceiling. It was a very nice barn, loved the radiant heat in the aisle! Heads up, heated indoor arenas and snow make for some noise when snow chunks get warm enough to slide off the roof and crash outside, it will test your riding skills.
The unheated barn was just fine, believe it or not, horses didn’t seem to mind, did fine, survived cold winters and snow. We used water heaters to keep water from freezing but other than that, the tack room and club room was the only heated place. We had covered paddocks that kept snow out of stalls, stall doors were left open unless it was going to be down in the minus double digits.
4 Likes
I live in Ontario and we can get some pretty cold days (-40C) during the winter months. We have a bank barn and we actually framed (2 x 4’s) and spray foamed the walls (my husband is a contractor and thankfully knows what hes doing - though we had pros come in for the actual spray foaming. We did all the framing and prep work).
Our barn is over 200 years old and some of the mortar between the stones was breaking and falling apart (our walls are over 2ft thick in some places). We could actually see outside in some parts! So yes, the cold was getting into our barn,
We also replaced all of our windows and spray foamed around those as well. It does keep the barn warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer (yes, it gets hot here too!).
We don’t run a heater in our barn and we don’t have running water in it through the winter months. I have a frost free pump located just outside the barn and I fill water buckets every morning with it. Our barn never gets below freezing and the water buckets never freeze over. If its really cold out (-30C or below), I leave the ponies in and they also help keep the barn warm.
I have ridden in some indoors that have ceiling heaters and they are nice! They are run off of propane and just take the chill out of the air. But most indoors I’ve ridden in dont have heaters and we all survive! I also ride outside a lot in the winter so…
3 Likes
Horses are creatures of the short grass steppe. They have a neutral heat budget between about +15F to +60F. Outside those ranges you have to watch and ensure that you don’t have problems.
I’ve owned a number of horses that were born in Brazil within 1000 miles of the Equator. They have lived in areas of the U.S. from MI and northern OH before they came to East TN. Never had problems. One of my imports grows hair like Yak and others (first generation U.S. born) don’t. Go figure! 
If you’re moving to Superior, WI (or somewhere like that) then you probably will have to pay attention to the horses for the first year but likely won’t have any problems.
What you DON’T want to do is wrap them in “swaddling clothes.” That WILL cause you more problems than just letting the horse acclimate naturally. You DO have to be ready to feed extra hay for warmth and ensure ice-free water supplies to assist in the digestion of that extra hay.
Good luck in your move.
G.
5 Likes
If you decide to insulate, look into spray-on insulation.
A thin layer of that gives more insulation than any other kind and it is fairly bird, rodent and insect proof.
That is what most with larger structures like warehouses, shops and garages use and the rare indoor, that most here don’t insulate, even if we have a couple or three weeks of -0F and a few blizzards every winter.
1 Like
Agreeing w/ @Guilherme
Horses are comfortable at 40F, anything warmer is harder for them than colder.
I am in the Midwest - home to the Polar Vortex 
Winter temps routinely dip into minus teens during the worst part of Winter: Jan/Feb.
My barn - wood-framed metal pole bldg - is open to the elements 24/7/365 as I leave Dutch doors that lead from stalls to paddock open year-round.
Setup is very similar to what you describe - room for 6 12X12 stalls & attached 60X120 indoor.
I use heated buckets in the stalls & a sinking de-icer in the trough right outside the front slider.
In 15yrs I can recall closing them in a handful of times & that only when the rare storm comes in from the East where they open.
I insulated only the barn roof - to prevent condensation - my attached indoor is unheated & uninsulated & I am able to ride in there year-round.
I generally wimp out if temps go below 30F.
Barn is at least 5-10 degrees warmer than outdoors in Winter & similarly cooler in Summer.
I rarely blanket my horses - only if snow melts on their backs so they are wet to the skin or a heavy blizzard is happening & then blankets come off as soon as they are dry or snow stops.
They have free access to stalls, but rarely choose In over Out.
They fluff up & insulate themselves,
Current herd grows Winter coats like yaks, but I had a WB bred in Queensland AUS & spent 9yrs in FL after that.
He came to me showslick December 1, 2009 and never in the 6yrs I had him got more than a plushy Winter coat,
He was fine unblanketed.
I’ve ridden in heated arenas & showed in heated barns & do not like the stuffy, closed-up atmosphere & stale air.
I also think it is not healthy for the horses. If my breathing is affected theirs is most certainly compromised.
If you do insulate, fine, but heating - IMHO - is an added & unnecessary expense.
2 Likes
OK, I should have clarified. I am not AT ALL concerned about the horses getting too cold; the heat would be for my comfort 
It’s northern Ohio, so not like it’s Alaska, but I used to live in a different part of Ohio and experienced how amazing it is to have a heated barn (I leased a horse there, so it wasn’t my place).
I’m a Texas girl, so 90-100 degree temps are doable, but I rarely ride when it’s below 45 degrees right now…so I really think if I’m going to make this move work for me, I need to have heat in the barn. Honestly, the cold feels painful to me.
I would much prefer to board at a nice barn, but based on my location in the middle of nowhere, having my own farm will be best.
Save yourself some $$ & get good coldweather clothes instead.
I promise you - like my WB - will acclimate.
Polarfleece is Da Best - lightweight, wicks & keeps you toasty.
My brother lived in the Midwest until his early teens, then relocated to SoCal, now in NV.
He complains about the “cold” here when he visits… in Fall… where the locals are still in t-shirts & shorts, he’s in fleece.
Same for a friend who’s now in FL - he talks about how chilly it is @ 70F, when I am loving the comfy temps.
3 Likes
Norwegian proverb: There is no bad weather, only bad clothing.
7 Likes
Totally agree. I grew up in NYC, lived 8 years in LA. The first year in the Northeast was tough, but after that has been fine.
1 Like
It’s northern Ohio,
the only thing worse than the cold is mud season
1 Like
Apparently, the safest way to heat a barn is the in floor heating system, pipes laid in a concrete floor. We have one located just north of us. It is a wood burning boiler, and takes several logging trucks worth of wood per year, and stoked twice a day (if it is like the one we have in our house). The other option is natural gas or propane to fuel a boiler, which will cost ya $. Such a boiler will cost you around $10,000 to buy the boiler, then there is the pipe laying and concrete work, and the antifreeze that goes in to the pipes. And the insulation in the barn. The problem with this (other than the amount of wood required if you go with wood, and stoking the boiler for a barn) is that your horses must live inside in winter, in stalls, which is inherently unhealthy for horses. If you are going to ride in very cold weather in a heated barn, you are looking at clipping them, and blanketing, with limited turn out. You can’t keep them outside (with fur) then bring them inside to ride, they get too sweaty and it takes too long to dry the wet coat, so it must be one or the other. Then you run the risk of all the health and soundness issues of keeping horses like this… impaction colic, hoof circulation problems, respiratory infections, stress and ulcers. Which, if this is what you are looking for and willing to accept the risks and possible consequences, seems to be the way some people choose.
The other option is to embrace the cold rather than fight it. Turn the horses out in the snow in winter, with a full winter fur coat, barefoot, to run and play together in the snow to keep warm, and enjoy the social aspect of herd life, relax, and rest from competitive activities that happen in the more temperate times of year. Have a heated automatic watering system, and free feed hay with a TM salt block. Horses do REALLY well in dry cold climates if kept this way. And you do not ride when it is -30C. This method is much cheaper, and better for the horses, and is fine for me too, I find. Go skiing in the winter. Take a break yourself. Give the horses a break in training and riding.
1 Like
NancyM has laid out the problem nicely.
Sometimes the humans have to adjust to the environment, not the other way 'round!!!
G.
Veteran, 30 year resident of IL, WI, MI, RI, and MD.
1 Like
I’m in Northern Utah. Our winters last for 5-6months, which makes a big difference as to what is sufferable. We have a heated barn and arena. We keep it just above freezing, so it’s not exactly toasty, but it is bearable for staff and boarders alike. The roof and walls of the indoor are insulated from within with an insulating blanket that attaches directly to the metal walls. The barn has an insulated ceiling and the walls are insulated above the concrete foundation wall. It’s a bit of an odd situation because the barn is a lean-to like structure off one side of an ice rink, but that’s a whole different story…
We have the big propane shop heaters up by the ceilings in both spaces. We get them serviced annually and keep them clean. It’s a pretty standard way of doing it around here. It is very expensive to run, however, I think if I were starting rom scratch up here, I’d try for some solar component.
And to add, we keep the place very clean, it’s ventilated out every day. Our horses are clipped, blanketed well and turned out every day unless there’s sheet ice or a blizzard. We don’t have health problems associated with keeping our horses this way, but we are a group that is pretty religious about keeping our horses appropriately exercised and well cared for.
2 Likes
I rode at a barn that had insulated the walls and ceilings with padded insulation. Not sure what it was made out of but I would imagine the insulation was inside a “covering” and then rolled up during travel.
The barn and indoor was huge. But with it insulated, I was able to ride in an under armor cold gear shirt and a vest comfortably. When I left the barn, I had to bundle up to get to my car. The barn had heaters but the insulation was more than enough to keep us comfortable during a major snow storm.
1 Like
Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio - the only barn I boarded at that was heated was awful, I hated it. They kept it heated to around 50°F through the whole winter, but just the barn, not the indoor arena. That place reeked so bad of ammonia in the winter it burned your eyes. They had no ventilation system and the owner FLIPPED out if anyone left a door open just an inch for longer than a second. I didn’t stay there for a second winter. Moral of the story - if you must heat it, make sure you also install an excellent ventilation system.
As a fellow cold-hater (hence my move to Florida), I suggest insulating the walls and wait and see how you handle it the first year before jumping in and adding heating. Even in non-insulated barns, it was almost always 10-20°F warmer in the barn than outside, so insulated barns were (of course) even better.
2 Likes
Well since the barn is already built, in-floor heating is not an option. Like I said, I have lived in the area before and so I know horses can do very well with a trace clip and turned out all day blanketed. As far as getting sweaty, you toss a cooler on them and keep them inside for a couple hours while they dry… not a problem when the barn is at your house.
The entire reason for the move would be to have more money to pursue my horsey dreams, so quitting riding for 3 months out of the year is NOT AN OPTION- I would go insane!
