Something about 2 & horses, I have only 2 stalls & had the same vision as you., 2 horses max…, but I was so surprise how herd bound those 2 got…, if they could not see one another, crazy silly stuff, no fun & they just changed. Learned the hard way… Create the extra space…,
In the riding schools in Europe, practically all had hay lofts and we made a human chain and kept passing each bale up and up and up and stacking them, also with loose hay we would do that, one pitchfork at the time.
In some barns, the hay was stacked on a large platform on the bottom, that was hoisted up and then passed on and on to stack on the very large and tall lofts.
There is not that kind of labor out there today for that, I don’t think.
Maybe for a couple horses, but for a whole barn full, there ought to be a better way.
In one big breeding and training farm in WY, we fed hay cubes, not baled hay.
That worked very well, no bales to handle, no hay loft, just a feed room with a hole on the roof a truck would auger the pellets thru from the outside and then we shoveled little pails full of cubes, one for each horse.
I’d go for 3. If you don’t get a 3rd animal you WILL use it for storage. The stuff that adds up in the barn is immense. I have a center aisle loft and can’t imagine not having it. We store 75 bales max at a time up there - spaced in 4-5 small groups. I love just the center aisle as the area above each stall is OPEN. I also find it VERY convenient to throw my hay down into each stall. In winter at night I toss a few flakes in each stall for each horse. We had 3 horses and got a mini as a 4th because both my daughter and I ride, and sometimes ride or go places together and take TWO horses…so we were leaving #3 alone. The mini is now a great companion. I don’t think you can ever go wrong with having MORE stalls.
The barn were we board has hay storage “upstairs” and there is a bale “escalator” that they drop down into the indoor when re-stocking by the supplier needs to happen. Truck backs into the indoor and the help quickly can send the load up the “escalator” to the storage loft. Once stocked, they pull the “escalator” back up and it’s business as usual. I’m not sure how practical that is for a small private barn unless something can be found used for a really good price.
Having just two horses might work, but the more you “need” it to work, the less likely it seems to be!
You won’t regret having a third stall – it will be useful one way or the other.
As for the loft - ground level hay storage is so much easier for delivery etc., plus allows you the option of rounds or bigger bales. How much hay are you thinking you need to store at a time?
I have a two stall barn. It was designed for one horse and one pony. I have a 12 x 12 stall with a door to the barn aisle and a Dutch door out the back. The pony stall is about 10 x 10.
I wanted a loft, but couldn’t afford it, so I have a raised floor hay area that can fit about a ton of hay. As a consequence I’ve always had to buy a load of hay frequently. My hay also spoils if I try to squeeze more than a month’s worth into the area. Even with a raised floor it’s not off the ground high enough and it molds.
What was designed for one horse and one pony now holds 4 mini horses. I don’t use the pony stall, but leave the 12 x 12 open front and back and the aisle open as a run in. My paddock surrounds the barn so it acts as a run-in. The hay area is fenced off with a sturdy panel. I think the entire barn measures about 27’ x 27’.
I had a modified shed row barn for 25 years. Two stalls, an 8x12 tack room and 12x16 hay storage. That said, for at least ten of the years I had 3 horses and when I finally moved I had 4. Luckily there was a 12 foot overhang in front of the two stalls and all the horses got along. So yes, a two stall barn works, but somehow another horse may sneak in.
I love ground level hay storage. Easier to stack and easier to retrieve to feed.
Thank you all so much! I had never thought about the extra work with the loft or the possible difficulty in getting it delivered without a hay elevator.
If I take off the loft, the larger barn actually becomes much more affordable so I think I will go that route - and if I don’t need it for a horse / animal, I can use it for hay storage 
Like you, I built my farm from the ground up and had two horses at the time. I swore I would never have more than two. Since money was tight, and thankfully my father handy, we put in a shedrow barn the first year (it was my “run-in”, a “real” barn would follow in a few years was the thought). My building is 32 x 10 - 2 10x10 stalls and a 12x10 feed/tack area. I did have a shed elsewhere on the property to store more hay thankfully. That went well for two years, and then you guessed it, horse number 3 arrived.
Quickly, we converted the tack/feed area to a makeshift stall and I bought an 8x10 garden shed for tack and feed. Again, that worked pretty well. Over time, I was able to add a hay shed (32x12) and then an actual feed room (12x12) and so the garden shed is just my tack room. They are all separate buildings, but relatively close in proximity and it works well for me.
I am back down to 2 horses, and do not do anything with the spare stall. It was closed up for nearly 3 years after my mare died unexpectedly, but I have finally reopened it and it is just an additional hangout place for the girls. I could store hay or something in there, but don’t have a need (or desire, as it is still Ribbons stall). I’ve been at my farm for nearly 12 years now, and have everything I want/need and that “real” barn, that would have cost way more than the piecemeal way we did it and I find I like having the hay separate, etc. Over the course of about 5-7 years the price wasn’t too bad, plus Dad works pretty cheaply:-)
Have fun, and enjoy your farm!
We had a 3 stall barn, got a 4th horse and ended up buying a portable stall that we put off the end of a paddock as a temporary fix but the ended up deciding to build a whole new 4 stall barn. So my advice is if you can afford it to build the 3 stall (and loft) now so you won’t wishing you had later on.
We started out with just 2 horses too, now have 4.
My dream barn, in your situation, would have 3 stalls with Dutch doors to a deep overhang. Across the aisle I’d have a feed room (with door!) and tack storage, and room for hay. If I put in a loft, I’d use it for off season blanket storage, the summer patio furniture, kids forts, stuff like that - but not hay! - and I’d have wide stairs with good railings.
In some things “bigger is better.” True for trucks, ice cream cones, and barns!!!
There must, however, be some discipline or you end up with “hoarder syndrome” and the extra space will be filled with junk.
Build the extra stall. It won’t add much cost and will add a lot of utility.
My insurance company doesn’t like hay lofts, and for valid reasons. In South they are really not a good idea as they trap heat and heat is the enemy. Maybe in NJ they are a better idea as it’s a colder climate. Still, it’s a lot easier to stack hay in a ground level place than getting up to the second story. When we buy hay our supplier delivers it a pallet, shrink wrapped. It would be serious stupidity to break the pallets, put it on some sort of “elevator,” and store it on the second story. Again, that may not be the case in NJ but someday it might be.
As you can tell, I’m not a fan of hay lofts! But you have to plan and build for where you are, not where I am. Still, building the extra stall and a ground level hay storage location makes good sense.
Good luck in your decision.
G.
Really depends on if you have children as no stall will remain empty if you have a child, they will find some animal that needs a home… we have several of their “finds” still here long after the children have grown up and moved away
I have a three stall barn but the third stall is used for hay. My barn is the perfect size for my needs, I have two quiet horses and both are good being left alone. We aren’t allowed more than two horses on our property so there’s no chance I’ll ever get a third. Works great for me, but I definitely agree the more storage the better.
Well, I too have two horses but decided, it’s the only barn I’m going to build, so go whole hog. 36 x 48 center aisle, four stalls (the two for my horses have 24 x 36 runs and I could do that on the other side as well), no loft. The four stalls face each other two by two and so one has two additional 12 x 12 spaces on either end of the barn. On the ‘far end,’ tractor parking and equipment storage, on the ‘near end,’ tack room and hay storage. I also have a pasture and connected paddock w/shed, so I can accommodate a fair number of guests with horses if desired.
If building a barn with a loft I would go with three stalls. If building a shed row type barn I would go with four stalls. I know that wasn’t an option but that is what I would honestly do.
Reason being if you had a shed row type with 4 stalls, you could use 2 stalls for horses. One stall for grain equipment and tools, and one stall for hay. It would be the cheapest option in the long run. The fourth stall in a shed row type for hay storage would be a cheaper option than building a separate hay storage place.
That and you could add extra horses in the future if need be with out much struggle. Plus the steps you take on a farm count. It is way easier if everything is all together. And even then you put a lot of walking miles on in this life style.
Thank you all again.
Perhaps it is just better to do the extra stall and loft … while a little more money up front, I don’t want to regret it later. Also, as someone mentioned, I don’t need to use the loft for hay if I don’t need to, there is plenty of other stuff to store up there!
To give you all an idea I was thinking something like this: https://www.horizonstructures.com/thoroughbred
Another question for those of you who have your horses at home - how many of you have actual wash stalls in your barns. This is something else I have debated. So many people I know with small barns have such drainage problems that they end up putting in an outdoor wash rack and using that 99% of the time (which is what I would do). However, again, I am wondering if I would regret not having an actual wash stall. Perhaps another thing that I should add just in case!
We originally built just 2 stalls as I figured I would have my retired or rehabbing horses here, or youngsters, and then they’d be boarded when they were actually in work. Never intended to do more than that, but I got fed up with the miserable boarding choices in my area and we put in an arena and added on to the barn so now have 3 stalls. All stalls have doors out to overhang areas as well, plus dry (rock and hoof-grid) paddocks. I can convert half of one overhang into a stall easily enough to do a 4th horse, which just means sharing the paddock with one of the regular stalls.
I prefer having 3 horses to 2 here just so when I take one to ride or off property, the other has a companion. There have been times where I only have 2 here and some are ok, while others might require that I lock one up while I ride the other (get tired of the screaming, run the fenceline moron act).
We have a loft. Building on the side of a hill, we had to fit things in and that was the way the barn “fit” the flat spot. We do have an elevator. The loft has never caused us a problem for getting hay deliveries, but being far out and not getting huge amounts at a time has (I can take 5 tons, maybe 6 if baled tight, at a time). If someone is willing to deliver to our location, they are just fine with us having an elevator, especially since we always have at least one person here to help.
We do not feed from up in the loft, but have open bales on the main floor, which I feed from. I weigh my hay, so I have a day’s worth portioned out in muck buckets for each horse so I make the mess and clean it up only once a day.
I see hay elevators on craigslist a lot, and I suppose you can get them at the farm stores. We bought ours from our neighbor, who bought it from his hay guy.
If I could, I’d have hay in a separate building, but that wasn’t in the cards, so the loft works for us. I can store a year’s worth of hay using the loft, plus a little of the ground floor, and that gives me considerable peace of mind, and provides a consistent forage for my horses. Hated when I boarded and they were always switching hay.
That’s very cute! I did not do a wash stall, or even any indoor plumbing, water for the barn is from a frost faucet just outside between the tack room door and the main double barn doors. Reason being, in my case for county regs, indoor plumbing of any kind (unlike electrical) starts requiring permits, whereas a purely ag building like a barn requires no permit. I do have an ad hoc wash area just outside the barn.
A wash stall is a “nice to have” thing, but not essential, especially if you are fine with doing that deed outside during the warmer months of the year. And yes, local code has a say on that, too.
