Show me your run in sheds! (and critique my rough design, please)

[LadyBug]

Specifically if you have a shed that is shared between 2 fields…

I have 4 different fields that are rotated as necessary, and I’d really like 1 shed to service 2 fields that share a fenceline. This is where the planning gets tricky. My non-horsey father is an engineer and has given me a design that I’m not quite sold on yet.

Here is a link to the rough draft of plans. The thought is to build it on the fenceline with a 16’ gate on either side. Either gate could be open or closed to allow zero access, access from only 1 field, or access straight through from both fields. There is a space in the back that will be closed on 3 sides and the front is open on all sides with only a roof.

Right now I have 3 horses who get along great and have lived together for 8 years. My concern is planning for the future for horses that need separate turn out (somehow get both fields individual access to the shed) or don’t get along as well. I want to minimize the risk of bumped heads or a horse getting cornered.

[Hermein]

I like the concept. With two gates and an open front, I think the possibility of a horse getting cornered is minimal, but you could build your shelter on an octagonal pattern to avoid any 90 degree corners. Think “round pen”.

Are you planning for a third gate placed on the separating fence line?

[Bluey]

We had two cattle sheds, that is why no plywood lining, that we made in our shop and drug out to the pens and set next to each other.
Each one is 30’ x 12’ and where they meet in the middle, you can see a panel there.

They each are part of a larger pen, with a fence coming straight down the middle and that opening where I was taking the pictures is a 14’ gate.

When we had horses there, they could stand all under one shed, a shy one on the other side of the panel and not play musical chairs to another trying to run someone off the preferred spot.

Our measures making those sheds depend on the size of the metal, a heavy gauge sheet metal for barns, that ended up with sheds being 27’ or 30’ long best to accommodate the length.
I expect your engineer father has already included lumber and metal standard dimensions in what you are going to do.

With horses, you can’t ever tell how they will interact in any one situation until you try it.
Some will get along just fine, but even those, at times, may have a bad moment and fuss some:

[bdj]

OP, I don’t know where you’re located, but 8’ deep isn’t very much. It may not factor in for you, but if wind or rain or sun is an issue in your area, you might consider making the three sided (or more, I like the idea of flattening off corners that Hermein suggested) portion of the shelter a bit deeper, to give the horses more protection from the elements.
The other thing that I wonder about is if you were making the run in open only to one pasture, you’ve actually created an additional corner for horses to potentially get trapped in/against with the gates.

[LadyBug]

I’m in the mid-atlantic area, so we get snow/wind in the winter and heat/sun in the summer. The intent of the shed is to give them some protection from the elements and provide fans for the summer, but it doesn’t need to be perfect. They’re often in during the day in the worst of summer (like now) and in at night when it’s very cold, snowy or windy in the winter. I should have mentioned that in the OP. When the weather is more mild they’re out 24/7.

bdj - good point about the additional corner with the gates, and that’s one of my concerns with this design. Is there a point where the space is large enough that a corner isn’t an issue, or is there another way this could be designed?

[Whimsically_Smart]

What about having two shelters, one in each pasture, that share a back wall?
Here’s my attempt at showing you on a computer…
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So you would essentially have 3 walls, 2 perpendicular to the fence and the back wall as the fence in that section. The shelter would extend in both directions perpendicularly away from the fence. I have no clue if that makes sense

[CFFarm]

I like this one:
https://iandanielstewart.com/2012/12/10/giant-horse-table/

[LadyBug]

We revised the plan and are going take the original structure except modify it so that it will serve both fields individually. It won’t be situated perfectly for shelter from winter storms, but as I mentioned before that doesn’t really matter because they come in when the weather is too bad. It will provide a roof and a bit of wind blocking plus shade/fans in the summer but eliminates the paddock area with corners that made me nervous.

It will be similar to what Whimsically Smart was trying to describe (I think? ha! I’m not even going to attempt a diagram). The shed will be split inside (lengthwise) so that half is for one field and half for the other. I’ll post photos when it is complete in a few weeks just in case anyone is considering something similar in the future.

But first, we must rent a post hole digger. That’s the worst part…

[FEIwannabe]

There’s one concern I’d have.
Around here ( Midwest) shelters typically have 2 sides closed, the north and the West, which is where the bad winds and weather usually come from. If the sheds are back to back, you can’t really do that, if your weather requires it.