When we built our outdoor wash rack we weren’t thinking about the width as much as we should’ve, mainly because we didn’t plan on turning our horses around in them, we were just going to walk them right in from the back. However, now my friend is bringing her horse to our barn and her horse needs something behind on the cross ties or she’ll pull back. We are going put a wood board on the back part of the cross ties, so now we have to turn the horses around. Our wash rack is 8.5" wide, is that wide enough to comfortably turn a horse around in?
My sister has an 8’ wide aisle (because squeezed into an existing building), and I currently have my 16’ wide run-in shed divided into two 8’ wide stalls (for feeding). In both cases our horses, up to 15.2hh/78” blanket size, have no problem turning. I don’t have experience with larger horses.
You can always just back them in, if you find that one or more of them struggle with the turn.
I’d go with something easily removable. You can use drop bar brackets and just pop the 2x4 board in and out as needed. A wood board with short lengths of chain on both ends can be used for this purpose. Or just a padded chain like those that are commonly used for stall guards and trailer butt bars.
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Mine was 8’ wide, but the sides were short (~4’ tall) so the horse could put their head and neck over the side when turning around. I think if I had a fully enclosed wash rack with high walls, I’d want at least 10’ wide. My horses are 16.2hh and up. Pictured was 17hh.
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Thanks for all the responses! It seems like the 8.5" should work out fine 
I was also wondering if the size rails and back that I have for the wash rack are at a good height. I notice most peoples rails are about 3.5’ or more. mine are about 3’ - I know it’s better to be lower so horses can put their head over to turn around more easily, but is that too low?
I’ve been at a barn with a 6ft indoor wash stall (completely enclosed walls). It was tight for the bigger horses, but they all managed to turn around OK.
When I’ve built my own wash stalls, I like 10x12 size. 10ft is a comfortable room to turn around, but not get wrapped up in the long crossties of 12x12.
Seems fine to me
