When we added the 3rd stall, we added an indoor wash stall. Until then, I just washed outside on the gravel turnaround. I actually use my wash stall year round as there is always something - muddy legs, injuries, diarrhea bum - that needs washing off. We put the drain in the back (full width of wash area) and just have to clean it out periodically. I much prefer using the wash rack and having the runoff contained and diverted to making a mess out front in the gravel.
[QUOTE=amt813;8453784]
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![/QUOTE]
Horizon built my barn! Happy to answer any questions you have about them and their barns if you send a PM. There are some pics on my blog. I looked at their “Friesian” but chose to build a side-aisle barn (enclosed shedrow) with three 12x12 stalls and a 10x12 tack room. I only have two horses and my land could not support more, but I recommend having a third stall anyway. My third stall is divided in two, half for the mini-donkey who keeps the horses company (two horses only did not work out for me) and half for a week’s worth of hay, bedding, etc. Here is the layout of my barn, which works perfectly for me: http://thesmallhorsefarm.blogspot.com/2014/06/small-barn-layout-and-design.html
I don’t like lofts for the reasons mentioned by others…fire safety, ventilation, extra hassle. However, I was lucky to have a large existing garage on my property for hay storage.
I have an outdoor wash rack only: http://thesmallhorsefarm.blogspot.com/2014/08/outdoor-wash-rack-design.html. I don’t bathe in the winter and decided I could suffer outside if I need to hose a leg or something. For me, the extra expense and the hassle of drains were not worth it. YMMV. I did have the foundation guy slope the far end of the aisle towards a drain so I could conceivably hose a horse off there, but after watching what happens when it rains or when I pressure wash stalls, I don’t think he did that great a job and I doubt I’ll ever use it.
A wash stall is nice but not a “must have” for me. Our previous rented barn had an outdoor wash rack with hot water and that worked well enough. Our current barn does have an inside wash stall and I like it more than I expected.
Having the matted area works great as a grooming and tacking area. Having mats, lights and drains out of the weather has been a life-saver for winter-time leg hosing or abcess soaking. I also have heat lamps overhead which is great for bathing in cold weather.
I also have blanket drying racks along the back wall which is fantastic for drying a barn’/ worth of soaked turnout blankets.
My barn is 36x36 with three stalls along one side, a center aisle, and one stall, wash stall, and tack/feed room on the other side. We have separate storage shed for hay and tools about 40 feet behind the barn. I would have loved a 6-stall barn, but we do have a large run-in shed that can convert to a 2-stall shed row for emergencies or bad weather.
I built a new barn when we moved and debated about a wash stall and decided against it. I didn’t want the hassle of draining pipes in freezing weather so I have no interior plumbing except in the insulated tack room and I didn’t want to bother with clogged drains. I put a small hot water heater in my tack room and a spigot on the outside wall directly behind it. I keep the hot water heater at the lowest setting so that the water is just warm and I can use it straight without mixing. I hose off horses outside the barn. I had planned to put down mats, but the ground slopes away from the barn so drainage hasn’t been an issue. I do have the advantage of shorter winters here in North Carolina.
You tie your horses overnight? Really?
We initially planned an indoor wash stall but when costs began to creep up quickly we opted to skip it and use some of that space for extra hay storage.
It’s easy enough to have an outdoor wash rack for much, much cheaper. Use the indoor space for a tack room or a feed room. We did run water to our tack room, but that kept plumbing to a minimum. It only has cold water but it is nice to have.
[QUOTE=Magicboy;8454078]
You tie your horses overnight? Really?[/QUOTE]
Yes really.
Wash stall is a must now that I’ve had one. This time,I’m getting instant hot water and radiant heat!
Living in the south,winter is my time to really do horse stuff. This means body clipping,which means baths in winter.
The wash rack will also have extra lighting to allow clipping,farrier work and vet work in the dark.
The amount of horses you have expands according to the amount of stalls available - a truth.
[QUOTE=Magicboy;8454078]
You tie your horses overnight? Really?[/QUOTE]
Standing stalls are relatively rare these days, but they used to be very common. There’s nothing wrong with them, when used appropriately.
An extra stall will ALWAYS come in handy. Don’t think of it as JUST horse housing, but as covered SPACE. Storage, hay/grain, bedding, tractor, kids’ playhouse – there’s ALWAYS something to use it for, including enlarging the otherstalls.
Other considerations – when barn planning, consider EVERYTHING you might need space for. It’s SO MUCH MORE than just horse housing.
And if you’re planning to have just two horses/ponies, this may well backfire. Two horses tend to get very attached to each other, causing immense problems when you want to ride one or take it away from its buddy for ANY reason. I think that three horses is the smallest number that can realistically be happy together.
[QUOTE=Foxtrot’s;8454217]
The amount of horses you have expands according to the amount of stalls available - a truth.[/QUOTE]
may not be horses, we have a wild bunny rabbit family that has decided a vacant stall was the ideal place to raise a family…
[QUOTE=clanter;8454519]
may not be horses, we have a wild bunny rabbit family that has decided a vacant stall was the ideal place to raise a family…[/QUOTE]
Or a skunk family.
I don’t think anyone has ever felt like their barn was too small.:lol:
My advice would be, if you want to stick with the bare minimum of two stalls then put extra thought into how you are going to organize your barn and how much storage space you are going to need. What equipment are you going to have? Tractor? Attachments? Manure spreader? Fence supplies, extra posts and boards? Feed? Hay? Tack? Shavings? Wheelbarrow, forks, etc? How much room do you have in your garage, and how much are you going to need to store in the barn? How much of the stuff that you can keep in the garage are you going to want to keep there once you start realizing how much work it is to schlep it out to the barn every time you need it?
Even if you only build 2 stalls don’t skimp on storage space. You’ll be glad you have the extra room when hay gets scarce and you can buy up/store a year’s worth so you aren’t scrambling all winter/spring till the next year’s first cut comes in. Or when you don’t have to chose between putting the tractor or your car in the garage before an impending snow storm. Plan for extra storage, you’ll be so happy you did when the reality of how much equipment and supplies you need for your horses hits home.
One of the best uses of space for a horse barn with stalls and protection for the work there is still a center aisle, if at all the space for the barn provides for that.
You can have a very basic structure that can have two stalls on one side, a decent sized aisle and room for two more stalls on the other side, that you can use for your tack, hay and other supplies.
That would be a basic 24’ by 36’ and if you place it right, if you later need more, you can keep adding to the length with more stalls.
A local trainer started with one such modular barn, then added, as her business grew, some more stalls and a tack room on both ends of it to make it larger.
Worked very well, you can’t tell those are additions, it looks like all was put in at the same time.
Now, even more basic than the ideal center aisle barn, where you can open the ends of the aisle or close them, depending on the weather, you may consider shedrow type barns.
Those will cost almost as much if you have an overhang to protect the stalls and a place in front of them to work and some screens or walls to keep that space covered.
So many ways to go, I expect by now you will have enough to go by to choose what will work best for your place and horses.
I have a 24x56 pole barn with 2 stalls
(2- 12x12 stalls with room for a 3rd - 12x12 stall),
hay loft and 12x12 tack room.
I use my hay loft for misc storage, and keep my hay on the ground level,
for ease of use, in the area ^ for the additional 3rd stall.
I currently only have 1 horse, but my set up worked great
when I had 2 horses also.
I also have a small wooden run in shed for a turn out shelter
in case of in climate weather.
I LOVE, Love, love my set up!!!:yes:
I also keep my tractor and small manure spreader in the barn,
undercover and, as well, have a small seating area.
The seating arrangement area has worked out perfectly
for any late night, or over night, medical emergencies ‘watches’.
2 stalls means I never have to bring home more mouths than I
can practically afford to feed.
I also do not take in any boarders.
I love the size and configuration of my barn for my purposes 
[QUOTE=NoSuchPerson;8454254]
Standing stalls are relatively rare these days, but they used to be very common. There’s nothing wrong with them, when used appropriately.[/QUOTE]
+1
G.
I have owned three farms and rented a fourth, and have come to the conclusion that the more flexible you can make a space, the better off you are. We had a barn that had been used for steers, a 40’ X 40’ pole addition to a bank barn. We ordered custom round pen panels to make stalls that could also be attached to my round pen to enlarge it. When we moved south, all those panels were initially used to divide our run in shed and create temporary dry lots.
We are preparing to build a new barn soon and all spaces will be designed to handle either cattle, horses or pigs. We will again order custom panels to use for stalls or area dividers. By making the space flexible, it will also add to the value of the building as people can “see” their animals there, even if they are not horses!
I’m not sure size is important as flexibility, but if you do not want to deal with a loft add a third stall. We had a 8’ X 12’ feed/ tack room that we stored thirty 50 lb. bales of hay in, in addition to a three tier saddle rack, tack trunk and two 55 gallon feed tubs. A 10’ X 10’ or 12’ X 12’ stall would hold a fair amount of hay for two horses.
[QUOTE=Magicboy;8454078]
You tie your horses overnight? Really?[/QUOTE]
Many school horses in Europe live/lived in tie stalls.
Now, the difference here may be that those horses were going out to give lessons at least once a day and to go on long trail rides.
After a horse was thru and unsaddled and taken care of, legs washed, hooves cleaned, rinsed or brushed again, he was let loose to go find his own tie stall.
They would go there on their own and stand there, all day if necessary, without being tied in there.
Yes, it was habituation, but definitely horses didn’t mind, if not like it very well, thank you, as they voted with their hooves there.
If we had an extra box stall and tried to put one of the horses from the tie stalls in there, they would pine at the door, wanting back to “their real place” and by their friends in the tie stall and not, as they may have been seeing the box stall, being isolated, when we were assuming they would rather have the freedom from being tied up.
As long as you can manage for what your horse likes, what that is depends, horses are very adaptable and they don’t always like what we think they should prefer.
We should be catering to their needs first, not what we think they should want.
For some horses, some places, it just may be tie stalls.
Some of our tie stalls looked like these, just a swinging log between horses, others had solid walls half way up, all the way up at the manger:
http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=39066&d=1385331198
Horses were haltered and ropes attached on both sides, the ropes went thru an eye bolt or hole on the manger on each side by the wall and had a block of wood as a counterweight, so they kept the longish ropes just tight enough a horse would not step on them, but let the horse reach easily both sides of the manger.
You had to learn to put very good friends next to each other and watch that they stayed good friends and then all were happy there.
Now, if someone has a couple horses as pasture ornaments, or that they will get around to working with them when they have time, then tie stalls would not be a good idea at all.
That is for horses in a busy environment and seriously working and out of there regularly, daily and/or with plenty of turnout time.
Mine are mostly pasture ornaments this time of year but they live outside most of the time and only come in a few nights of the year, mostly when it’s raining and really muddy, just because I want them to have time to dry out a little bit.
They are rarely in the stalls for longer than 8-9 hours at a time.
