How wide is your wash stall? Do you wish it would’ve been more narrow or wider?
And your grooming stalls?
I am thinking of doing mine wide, with a half wall with counters and storage on the other side… and the horses on the other, if that makes sense?
Would it make more sense to have a utility sink on the grooming stall side, or the wash stall side? I can’t decide!
Any other suggestions?
I would want the grooming stall a long ways away from the washrack. I’m not fully visualizing your plan here, are they meant to be side by side?
If you are limited to just one utility sink, I would put it in a place that’s always accessible, so people don’t need to duck past horses to use the sink.
As it happens, I’ve always had outdoor wash racks (or just hoses), just one lesson barn I was at for several months had an indoor wash rack with drains and a ramp up. It was spacious. I’m obviously used to just being in the open washing horses, I would hate to be trapped in anything too narrow!
At my long term barn we groom in our stalls, the stalls have runouts so we aren’t that trapped, I’ve only used cross ties at lesson barns.
I was thinking of having them across the aisle from each other.
Would you have a solarium in your wash stall, grooming stall, or both?
10 horses and no boarders on this property. Thinking about getting horses worked and done for the day the most efficiently.
Is it only ever just going to be you? No other helper, no other rider?
I would put the wash rack away from everything because it will splash and leak and make the aisle wet. And also the noise of the hose and the running water could make a horse in the grooming stalls nervous. I would put the washrack near the outside of the building, where it can drain outside and the damp air can vent. Maybe even have a retractable door on one wall so you can open it out in the summer and let it air out.
The more water and splash and damp you have indoors, the more mold and mildew and wet rot you are inviting inside. Unless I guess if you live in the high desert. Anywhere else though, and you are setting yourself up for mildew.
What’s a solarium? Do you mean a glass sunroof? Or a heated lamp? Natural light is always good, and some barns and indoor arenas do a good job letting it in through plastic roof panels, but these are prone to leaking.
https://www.horseexerciser.com/equine-solarium/
Just me, and probably trainers and some other riders on occasion.
I’m thinking along the lines of, I bath one I am done with and it stands in the wash stall under a solarium while I groom and tack up the next.
I would still separate the groom and wash areas. The wash stall will leak and hiss and splatter.
Will you expect a horse to stand in the wash stall until it dries? Will you expect the horse to stand there out of sight while you then go and ride the next horse? Are you bathing horses every ride in the winter when you need a solarium heater to dry them? I like to hose horses down in the summer but have never seen a need to wash them daily in winter.
Are you envisioning yourself as groom or rider? How many horses will you ride per day? Will you be washing and then riding in the same clothes?
It’s one thing to get a bit damp in the middle of summer, hosing off a horse, because you dry off right away. However even in summer there is a quandary about footwear, because if you wash horses in your good riding boots, you do destroy them.
In winter though, when you get wet washing your horse and especially wet feet, you will stay wet and cold and miserable for your next rides. It just doesn’t seem that practical to wash every horse every day in winter unless you have a groom in gum boots and fleecy layers to do the job.
Otherwise, I’d just put a cooler on the hot horse and let him evaporate dry in a stall with some hay while you ride the next horse.
Re. the solarium: do you clip? If so, put it in the grooming stall. I am convinced that the best reason to have a heat lamp in your barn is to keep your horse from being miserable while you clip it, and it’s a royal pain in the ass to clean up hair off of wet mats in your wash rack. Inevitably you’ll miss some and it’ll clog the drain. With a blanket folded over half of the horse, a heat lamp on, and three walls on either side, winter clipping is downright pleasant and their backs stay warm. It also helps make a more comfortable horse when you’re preparing for a ride in winter. This does mean that when you’re cold-hosing a fat leg in February, you don’t have a heat lamp over top of you. You could always get two heat lamps. 
I have been at farms that had the heat lamp in both places and I much prefer the grooming stall.
I have a solarium in my wash rack/grooming stall combo. It’s 12 x 12, which I find comfortably spacious even with a hot water heater nestled into the back corner, and a wall box for grooming tools on the other side. The solarium is one of my favorite improvements to the barn and we use it all the time. It’s definitely nicer for the horses when we are pulling blankets off to tack up, and also when they are getting bathed in chilly weather (I have a grey so bathing is not optional, LOL.) Also, the vet and farrier appreciate it during the winter when they are here working!
Oh and by the way, the other thing that added a lot of utility to that space was putting in lighting on all three walls (not just overhead.) That was not a particularly expensive project but really made a big difference to the utility of the space.
The barn I am at has two grooming and two wash stalls. They are next to each other and have a full wall between. They are 12x10. They are fully matted. Grooming stall has a window, wash stall does not. Grooming stall has 2 blanket bars and a vacuum. I have never seen a horse in the grooming stall or either nearby cross ties bothered by the noise of the hose and running water. Both wash stalls are in the middle of the barn. The walls are plastic like you sometimes see in a commercial bathroom. The hose is on a boom and there is hot and cold water. There is no issue with mold or mildew. It has a center drain.
If the wash stall is properly set up and big enough water getting into the aisle should not be an issue. At most we get a damp spot a few inches in front of the wash stall and that is mostly from dumping a bucket too close to the front of the stall not from actually bathing. These wash stalls are not properly graded so that contibutes. One of the back corners is a little low and the center drain should be a little lower.
I used to board at one barn that had a radiant heat lamp (solarium) in the wash stall. That was nice for cold weather bathing. This farm’s wash stall was properly set up so it would drain better.
One farm I visited had the best wash stall set up. It had a solarium plus lights on either side. The front of the wash stall was a single course of landscape ties. It was filled in behind that with gravel and solid mat over that. There was a slope to the back edge of the stall and it had a wide drain that went along the whole back wall. The water then drained into a pipe that went outside. This drained really well. There was never any chance of the water getting in the aisle unless you dropped the hose.
@Scribbler you seem to have a lot of negative thoughts about indoor wash stalls considering you don’t have much experience with them.
I had a grey and white pinto horse that I used to foxhunt. We have lots of cold and mud in the winter in PA. I would not want to be hosing his legs off and spot cleaning him in the winter outside.
I would expect my horse to be able to stand in a wash stall while I groom and tack the next horse even if I am out of sight. Personally I would put them in their stall while I rode. I find putting a horse in the stall with a cooler a PITA. All of mine would roll every time and get straw or shaving all stuck on the cooler.
I don’t generally do a full bath in the winter unless I am going to a show or prior to clipping. However the white horse would get some heavy duty spot treatments in addition to legs, head and belly. My horse used to get clipped twice a year. Due to mud here it is common to hose down legs if they are muddy and not dried yet. I do wash tails frequently to get the mud out.
Both of my OTTBs had the habit of peeing in the crossties immediately after a ride- as in I would take off the bridle and they would park out and pee. I would untack both of them in the wash stall. Our barn is not really set up to groom/tack in stalls. Plus peeing in the wash stall saves bedding.
All excellent points. I wouldn’t expect to bath every day, but I can’t stand grimy horses. Clipped horses typically dry quickly under lights.
I should ad that my barn will be heated so I would expect to be able to bath not all bundled up.
I don’t mind doing everything myself, but once more of my horses become of ‘riding age’ I will need a groom.
I was also thinking of doing 2 wash/groom combos. What are some things that you dislike about the setup?
Another question…
Do you like the center drain? or a trough drain located at the back… or on the sides?
I actually really like the set up I have; it’s very functional and there is really nothing I would change.
What are your drains like? Do you have something that goes over them when being used as a grooming stall so that dirt doesn’t clog the drain?
Yes, I have a center drain with a debris guard. The entire floor is matted but the center section has perforations in it to allow the water to get to the drain below the mat. It’s quite easy to keep clean.
Ok, this is all sounding much more comfortable to me! Plastic shower surround walls! A totally heated barn! I’m not even sure I can completely imagjne it.
”‹”‹”‹
I’m in PNW, wet and clammy, but not cold enough that people regularly heat their barns. Staying dry is a huge is a huge challenge, though. Introducing any extra moisture inside our unheated barns in winter just adds to the humidity. It would probably be totally different in a dry cold with heating.
I’m about 10 years late building my own place so it’s getting all the bells and whistles. Trying to avoid all the problems that create more upkeep in the future… heat solves a lot of the problems. And materials and coverings that allow yearly pressure washing!
My wash stall / grooming stall does double duty for both purposes. It’s in the middle of the aisle, next to the tackroom. Walls are block, drain is in the back, and it’s 12’ wide. It also has IR heat lamps/solarium and fans. I have no issues with having the ‘combined’ space. It’s generally just me working out of it (private farm, w/ 8-12 horses) and there’s no need to waste the limited barn space by having a separate wash stall and grooming stall.
I have additional crossties in the aisle if a friend or DH wants to ride with me. My vet and farrier love the solarium, and will do wintertime work in that space instead of the main aisle. Since I don’t usually give a full bath in the winter, I also have hooks along the back wall for winter-blanket drying. The sheets/blankets can just drip right into the drain.
Since the space has full height block walls, there is very little splashing out side of the space into the aisle. Bright lights and several convenient outlets make it ideal for clipping or veterinary care.
So I’d say, with careful design planning, there’s no reason to not have the stall(s) work for both purposes, or for not having the two next to/accross from each other.
My wash and tack stalls are normal stall size. I prefer drain in the back that is entire width. I have two farms so experience w two different drain placements.
i disagree w wash and tack stalls being far apart. I like them across the aisle so I can wash one and one in the tack stall to dry and both close if they panic on cross ties.
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