I still don’t get the whole ‘other horses in my stall’ thing. That would seriously turn me off of the facility.
I would highly encourage that the tack lockers open into the isleway. Then the horses just have a wall. Then you don’t risk
-horse kicking through the tack locker door.
-horse backing into the tack locker
-horse getting itself caught on the door when it’s open
-hinges
It sounds like you do dressage and plan on teaching dressage lessons. Dressage divas tend to come with high standards and accident prone, large, horses.
Another vote with the no crowd. Would not like tack lockers in stalls. Would not like stalled horses sharing waterers. Would not like pasture horses in “my” stall, tacking up. Would be pretty lukewarm on 10 x 16 stalls, too, honestly. Especially with a big horse. Also lukewarm on stalls IN the indoor. You have a dust control plan, right?
Some of those things could be workable compromises, but not all, and not if you’re planning on charging a premium board rate for your area. No thank you, I’d go somewhere else that is more in line with what I want.
Boarding is absolutely a series of compromises–no one keeps your horses exactly the way you would. But you are lining up a LOT of compromises and weird things in your grand plan here that are pretty darn likely to turn off a wide swath of potential boarders. As hard as it is to admit and acknowledge that what you think is super cool really doesn’t appeal, you’ve got a rare and valuable opportunity here. Perhaps best to really listen to what this thread is telling you.
I actually do groom and tack up my horse in his stall, but I wouldn’t like the tack locker in there. I have a trunk in front of the stall, and keep my saddle and bridle and few other things in the tack room and that set up works quite well for me.
When the new stalls are built, we will be phasing out pasture board so there won’t be anyone else using the stall. It’s just something that we do now that works.
Yes, there will be sprinklers for dust control.
Since I’m restricted to 12 wide aisleways, tack trunks in the aisle isn’t an option. It’s also why I’m not a fan of tack lockers opening in the front. Also, tack lockers in the front of stalls are much smaller because they wouldn’t be the full height. If they were full height, The stall front would be completely closed off except for the door.
A barn here had this set up, and then decided to pull out 3 stalls and build a proper tack room as the boarders HATED it! More to do with the mildew and the odor the tack was picking up after being housed in a stall that a horse is peeing in for 8-10 hours a day (Depending on turn in).
Looking at what you’ve posted, personally I would hate it for all the reasons why people have mentioned. But then there are two other reasons I haven’t seen mentioned. I would still want my tack locker “locked” - so how does a boarder do that, and not have something exposed that a horse can’t get a nose, eye or god knows what else hurt on. I mean lets face it, these animals will find the .0001% chance way to hurt themselves.
The other issue is that unless the door is super heavy and thick (which then will likely be too heavy to maneuver ) but in my barn out of 15 horses we have inside. I have 3 that roll immediately once they get into the barn, and 2 that tend to like to try to cast themselves. One of these horses that rolls is right next to my office, and the way they kick at the walls at they are rolling, or the way they use the walls with their feet when they get cast, there is no way you could be certain they aren’t going to put a foot through that tack door, or kick it so hard that the hinges break and now its hanging there, just waiting for little Dobbin to somehow find a way to hang itself on it.
As well 10 x 16 overall square footage might be larger then a 12 x 12. But I’ve have 12x12 right now, and my “pony” barn is 10 x 10 - if I took out the divider I would have 10 x 20 and that stall would still only be suitable for a small horse and preferably a pony, and now you want to take away yet more space. Once the horse has spent a week of nights in its stall, that tack locker door covered in urine and poop - its not going to look fancy!
I also don’t allow tack lockers in my aisle way, my aisle way is larger, and I just find them a pain, if two horses are passing in the aisle, as well as when we blow out the aisle, its just a magnet for dust and crap to get caught up in.
Good luck as it sounds like this is how your going to proceed. You would be better off, trying maybe 2 or 3 this way, and see how it goes over.
It makes sense to me now why you really want this to be a good idea that people think is a plus. It makes the use of your sloped roof infringing on your available floor space.
If you build the stalls all the way to the walls, no tack lockers there, how low will they be? Will it really be an issue for the horses if the stalls are generally big enough already?
I have 10x10 stalls (that are open to runs, pretty much never closed) and I agree that most people boarding are going to find the 10’ width to be a negative.
Have you sat down with an open mind and tried other floor plans for your stabling area? I know you have a set square footage available and all that but maybe you can lay it out differently and make things work better.
I’ll be the lone voice of I have 10 foot wide by a little less than 12 foot deep stalls and my horses do fine and more than enough room for ponies. I do have the option of opening 2 to make them large foaling stalls or if I get a 17 hand horse.
No way I’d want a tack locker in the stall. Mildew, a place to clean tack, humidity control, temp control, my pony can and would find a way to open it. The list goes on.
You’d be much better suited having a tack room. People are telling you what you don’t want to hear. You asked for opinions. Do with it what you want- it is your money. People are saying they wouldn’t like it and board there. 1 or 2 out of what- 20 posters said “ok”. That is going to limit your pool of boarders. The pictures you showed are “high end” but to me, a facility with tack lockers inside the stalls is not in most circumstances. Just no. Something always has to be sacrificed unless you are a millionaire and even then there can be logistic problems. Your place sounds like it will be lovely but put a proper tack room in to attract the boarders you will need.
I seem to get the impression that the OP wants to make use of that back of the structure at the back of the stalls that has a curved wall, so the stalls have to be set a few feet from it anyway?
That is the wasted space she is wanting to put the tack lockers, if I understood that right?
Some of those fabric covered structures don’t have a pony wall, or only a very short one.
You can’t really put much on that space if that requires some height to it.
When I boarded, I always groomed and tacked in my stall (it was just easier with a spooky TB). Even so, I would never want a tack locker in the stall. As others have mentioned, I’d worry about my mare kicking the door or getting hung up on the locker. Additionally, my saddle was no small investment. If my mare did manage to open the locker door, she could destroy a very expensive saddle I couldn’t afford to replace. Seems like an unnecessary risk to take.
General grooming tasks, like clipping legs, applying hoof oil, wrapping, could become a headache because of the bedding.
I’d also worry about mildew, overall security (can you lock the lockers? how strong are the closures and hinges going to be?), and the fact that my saddle would be exposed to moisture and extreme temperatures. Are these lockers rodent-proof?
I can say that if I was considering a facility, this is one feature that would be enough to make me look elsewhere. It’s not worth the risk of potential injury to my horse, or the risk of potential damage to the saddle/tack/supplies.
The tack locker would be made out of 2" thick dimensional lumber held in place with U channel like the rest of the stall, but it would be stronger because of the much smaller span. A 10’ long 2x6 isn’t as strong as a 3’ long 2x6.
As for strength of the hinges and such…they would be recessed/concealed with in the door frame. As for door latches and locks I was thinking about maybe something similar to the latches used on my trailer. Recessed and as flat and safe and hard to open (for horses) as possible.
Mildew: One of the great things about my building is that it doesn’t sweat like my metal barn does. My climate isn’t very humid and since we had to build up that end of my building, it sits on 7 ft of gravel and compacted screenings and has EXCELLENT drainage. Even in my metal barn with the non-climate controlled tack room, we don’t have mold issues unless a piece of tack hasn’t been touched in years. The tack lockers would actually be more sealed up than my current tack room and I would think more difficult for rodents to get to.
Safety while tacking and grooming: If you were afraid of your horse pulling back and kicking the door while it’s open, couldn’t you just ummmm… close it after you grabbed the item you needed? Sounds like an easy solution to me?
For the folks that are greatly opposed to tack lockers in the stall, we will still have wash racks, feed room, benches and social spaces… as well as the other barn and tack room still available to use too… So it’s not like you are limited to only using your stall for absolutely everything lol.
This is definitely in the top 10 worst ideas I’ve ever heard.
Good managers spend their time creating the best plans for the horse. The horse’s care and comfort come first.
What is convenient for people is secondary.
But speaking of people, I can promise you that nobody wants their tack in a stall. Dust control will be impossible. Sprinklers are useless because you still have to muck the stall…
Give me a real, climate controlled tack room with a big sink. Bonus points for a washer and dryer on-site.
I’ve read your responses. It just seems pointless to go on. You are in the perfect climate and are going to build these so they’re magically stronger than iron, rodent proof, climate controlled, lighted and have no handles/latches/hinges. Sure. That seems pretty unrealistic, but let’s assume that’s true. I STILL DON’T WANT TO DODGE MANURE TO GET TO MY STUFF. AND I STILL CAN ENVISION A DEVASTATING ACCIDENT/INJURY.
Your boarders don’t care that you have an awkward layout with dead space. They only care when they walk up if they like what you provide. Not WHY you laid things out the way you did.
Most of us say “no we don’t want these lockers.” The fact that you have an oddly slanted roof and dead space doesn’t change that. We don’t like them.
You’re not going to change our minds.
I’m sorry you have some layout limitations. That doesn’t really impact whether boarders will want lockers that open into the stalls. We’ve been saying loud and clear “NO WE DON’T.” Your efforts to change our minds haven’t worked. Up to you what you do, but you got the feedback. You just didn’t hear what you wanted to hear.
You could make the stalls as deep as you want, as long as you say you want to use the trusses for a post between stalls.
You can then clad the trusses for safety in the corners with wood or rubber mats or whatever and still have the whole three feet back there for stall, if your intent is to use that empty space.
We have done that before, don’t let structural parts determine what we want, but work with and around them when necessary.
Example, when we were making our plans for the tack room, break room, bathroom and feed room, the plans that came back from the CAD programmer had a much diminished tack room from what we sent.
When asked, he said that was to make enough room for a big sofa in the break room?
In a barn, where tack room is the main part, the break room can do with a smaller sofa?
You don’t really build to fit the furniture, but build to fit your purpose and then adjust the furniture that goes in there to fit your building’s use.
Don’t fall for that, just because you have a space there, you are going to use it if you build some that may not make that much sense.
The main disadvantage I see is that a 10’ wide locker is way more than most need for basic supplies.
Even with a 3’ door in the middle, you still will have trouble accessing stuff in the corners of a 10’ wide and 3’ deep closet.
For more stuff, I would say it is way too unhandy when you have to go put them there or retrieve them thru a horse and horse stall in use, with bedding and horse waste and the smells and dust from it.
Now, you could just make a 3’ x 3’ three sides closet in the corner, similar to those in the MDBarnmaster pictures, just for basics and easy of access.
May work if you use each column for the corner of the closet, flush on the adjoining stall.
Why not building the first stall with a locker and see how you like it and how it works in real life, what the ones using it think of it, before building any more?
As anyone that ever built something can attest to, as you use what you build, you learn more and have more ideas and some that may change what you did, is the nature of building.
In the end, it is your barn, you need to do what makes sense for you, no matter what anyone else thinks.
I have seen tack lockers in the back corner of a stall, creating a diagonal wall across that corner. You would have walked straight into it from the stall door. I don’t think the locker’s door when all the way to the bottom, so no shavings got in there. IIRC, horse was tied in the opposite corner when being tacked up. He could see the door to the locker being opened and it usually stayed open while you were in there grooming and tacking him up. I suppose if you wanted to leave him tied in there unsupervised, you would close the door up.
I really don’t like aisle cross ties for so many reasons. Tying horses in their stalls (or in dedicated groom stalls) is the only way I’d do it. And tying in stalls is the easiest and safest way when you can’t control how much people instill common sense and good manners in their horses (or themselves).
The tack locker in the stall also means that the horse isn’t left unsupervised while he’s being groomed and readied for riding. He’s got a no reason to pull back (given he’s in his home and there’s a wall close behind him). There’s a lot to be said for the set up. I did see these at a medium-quality barn in California… so mild environment and minimal risk of mold/mildew, plus no one having $5,000 saddles to fuss about.
Also, I used to keep my 16.1 Wide Load of a hunter in a 10x14 or so stall. He dug it. He lie down flat out and pooped so far in the back corner that he had room to avoid it if he wished. This was an old, Central NY barn with cement and stone walls that was converted to high-end horse keeping, so the dimensions were chosen to be good for the horses, but also work with the total shape of barn.
I do think, however, that barn owners would do well to consider how increasing stall size also increases the cost of bedding and labor. I’m happy to pay that, but if you are in a market that is looking at price first and quality second, take heed. You don’t want to build in to the size of your stalls a permanent problem with matching horse care and profitability.
I think you’re wrong. They are getting read. The problem is that you don’t like the responses.
Here’s another you won’t like. Terrible idea. I am quite happy to tack my horse up in her stall when the crossties are all full. Do I want to do that everyday? Nope. Grooming on top of bedding is not ideal especially when horses are well bedded. Do I want to walk in a potentially pissy stall with my $1500 boots on? Nope. Do I want my Tack and my boots picking up stall odour? Nope. Do I want the potential of losing important bits of tack or other things like spare hooks and small tools I keep in my locker getting lost in my horse’s bedding or worse being found by my horse’s foot? Nope.
I think if a bit of bedding in your aisles or an occasional poop on the floor is a bigger concern than your clients’ comfort then maybe boarding is not the right business for you to be in.
Regarding my horse pulling back and injuring herself on the tack locker - I would HATE to open and close the door every time I needed something. A separate trip for each polo wrap? For the saddle pad, saddle, and bridle? No way. It would drive me crazy.
And can you put locks on these recessed latches? Because I always want my trunk locked, but can’t envision a way to do that where there isn’t something protruding into the stall.
And when it comes to the overall condition of my tack, I’d much prefer a climate controlled tack room over a locker in the horse’s stall.
I’m sorry, there’s little you can do to convince me that this is a good idea. And the fact that this back-and-forth is going on here, where I’m not even boarding at your barn, may be an important indication of what is to come if you go through with this and try to bring in boarders. I understand why you want it to work, but based on the responses here, as a barn owner, I’d be looking for other options if you want to bring in clients.
I must say that all of you all wringing your hands about horse injuries have it bass-ackwards with respect to what might be the safest configuration.
Horse tied in his stall and all equipment right there so that he’s never left alone is by far the safest way to go.
Hehe… I might not be a good BO for y’all because I don’t think I’d stand around and co-sign people who 1. Didn’t get their horses broke to tying and 2. Insisted on tying him somewhere unsafe because they wanted their equipment or expensive boots or whatever to be saved.
I have owned expensive, custom-made boots, too. I’m the girl who used to carry a seam-ripper in her hunt coat pocket and gave anyone showing with me strict instructions to have the EMTs carefully cut the seams, not that $1,000 boots… if I were too unconscious to yell at them myself. Hunter Princess Fussy. I get it. I live it. I embody it. But by the same token, I can figure out a way to tack up or wash my horse by changing my footwear, all Mr. Rogers style. That’s how you maintain the All-Important Look Good.
And by the same token, my fancy horse bloody-well should know how to stand tied ferchrissakes. If they can’t do that much… isn’t having the custom made riding boots a bit like putting lipstick on a pig?
My horses know how to tie, but crap still happens. Having them tied in a stall with a locker only increases the chances of them being injured if/when something does happen.
The best situation I ever saw was when we had a barn with a wide aisle and we were able to have trunks right in the aisle. I never had to leave my horse’s side during tacking/grooming, but there was enough space that if a horse lost it, he wasn’t going to collide with a trunk.
I’m lost. What does preservation of good boots have to do with good horsemanship? Those 2 things are not mutually exclusive. I choose to spend what little money I have on the best and safest equipment for my passion. When I did the horse thing professionally, having those expensive boots was part of the package, just as giving horses in my care the best and safest care possible was part of the package.
As far as pulling back or running through when being tied, it rarely happens but even the best horse has a trigger. I’d rather not be confined in a 10’ wide space with the horse when that happens. Yes, I would rather the horse run the barn aisle than potentially hurt itself or its handler flipping out in a confined area.
To take the tying thing further, for me, if a horse is not comfortable enough being left alone tied in an aisle while I run to pee or grab another piece of equipment, then it is not ready to be left tied anywhere even for a moment and should have someone attached by lead line at all times. That includes in a stall with me behind it rummaging through a tack locker right where I would be in the most vulnerable spot to get injured by a horse pulling back. Not just behind, but behind in an enclosed area with no escape door. Having worked with young horses, no, just no, dumbest idea on the planet.
