On a more positive note than most of my posts, we are building a new barn and moving my horses from my mother’s to our own property. Please share your advice and suggestions/plans/ideas for a 3 stall barn with a loft. 
Lots of recent posts, and also Goggle has some great plans. Three stall but how big over all? Any other amenities? I like Barnmaster (now MD Barns I think?) barns if you want a kit barn. Morton does good ones too.
How exciting! Invest the time to read about all the similar questions here, talk to all the barn seller-folk in your area, talk to ag extension people in your area if available… do tons of homework and you’ll come up with a great new horse house.
Would be helpful to know where you are, land site issues, horses/horsekeeping objectives, etc. A three stall barn in Florida for retired horses, for example, is a completely different beast than than a three stall barn for field hunters in Pennsylvania…
There are a lot of variables here that it would help to know when we’re giving advice.
Things like area of the country, soil, footprint limitations, requirements, budget, etc.
Though more expensive than a shed-row, a center-aisle barn is preferred by most owners. They give you and the horses a lot more shelter from the weather, and can still be oriented and designed for maximum air flow in hot climates. I’m assuming you are planning on a center-aisle, since you asked about a loft, which aren’t usually found on a shedrow setup.
Concrete block barns are extremely durable and insulate well. Wood barns are common in most parts of the country.
While you may need a 3 stall now, it generally makes sense to build for 1-2 more horses than you have, if you can afford it. Empty stalls can be used for storage and the extra space gives you room to take on a rescue, breed, new project horse, have a riding friend over, etc.
So I’d say with 4x 12x12 stalls, your barn footprint is going to be about 36x48, that’s with a 12’ aisle. That’s what we have. One side is 3x stalls. The other has 1x stall, a 10x12 washstall, and a 14x12 tackroom with half bath. Our tack room doubles as a feed room (grain and supplements in one corner) which works, though isn’t ideal. You could use your 4th stall as a feed area.
While lofts are great for a consolidated footprint, there are a lot of drawbacks: it’s difficult to get hay up there–many local suppliers don’t have their own elevator, and even if they do, or you have one, it’s more expensive ‘delivery’ charge due to the added inconvenience. Lofts tend to make the barn much dustier. Even with a loft, it makes sense to keep a few bales on the ground level so you don’t have to climb a ladder or stairs every time you want to toss another flake. And many people worry about the increased fire risk of hay storage, and don’t want that over the horses’ heads. We keep our hay in a separate 3-sided building behind the barn. We have about 24x16 space and can get a half a year’s supply in there if we stack carefully (we have 10 horses)
You also need to consider storage for all the additional farm tools you’ll acquire. If you’re on a well, consider a small generator to power the pump during power outages. Where will you keep shavings? Carefully consider manure management–whether a dumpster, composting, pile, etc. It adds up surprisingly fast.
For the barn itself: a concrete aisle is nice. I recommend having a sealed-motor fan in each stall. Each stall should have its own light, in addition to the lights in the aisle. Put in more lights than you think you’ll need – it needs to be bright enough for you to do wound care or vet visit in the middle of the night. Stall mats are standard, but make sure you have them cut to fit exactly/tightly on a well compacted flat surface so they don’t shift over time.
A heated/cooled tackroom is a wonderful no matter what part of the country you live in. Think about storage solutions. I keep tack and equipment I use regularly in the tack room. Other stuff (extra bits and strapgoods, out of season blankets, etc) are kept in labeled plastic tubs in the house.
Make sure the road / drive to the barn is wide and sturdy enough to support horse trailers, heavy trucks delivering hay, etc. If you have a loop so they don’t have to turn around, so much the better.
Plan turnout areas and gates to allow pasture rotation, turnout in extreme wet conditions, and for as few steps/day as possible. If you’re not putting porches out the back of each stall but you expect the horses to be out most of the time, consider a run-in shed or similar shelter in their pastures. There are several designs that can be designed so a single shed can serve multiple turnout areas.
More about turnout: what kind of fencing are you considering?
Most important thing about turnout areas after safety: drainage. A very cursory search here will relay the issue many of us have with our turnout areas, gate areas, and sometimes even the barns, flooding or turning into mud pits for two seasons per year. Plan ahead of time how you’ll deal with mud, and ensure the site work for your barn has it well out of drainage areas so the stalls and barn stay high and dry.
If you ride your horses (not just retirees or pasture puffs), factor in a place to ride. And then ride!
It’s very easy to get caught up in the day-to-day work of managing a horse farm. I prioritize riding over everything other than feeding/water/stall cleaning/emergency care or repairs. If the fencelines don’t get weedwhacked every 2 weeks, I can live with it.
Having your horses at home is an adventure and does have an associated learning curve. There is a wealth of knowledge here and many questions have already been answer. Most importantly, have fun!!
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second this as if you built a loft barn here no one has elevators to get hay into the second story
one thing that is common anywhere Build the barn up off the ground, (unless you are raising seahorses)
We raised our pad by eight inches on the low side
Make sure to plan driveways for easy access for large equipment, trailers, hay wagons etc.
Also look at snow removal if necessary.
Be sure to insist electricians put lights on the side of stalls and aisles, not in the middle.
Then check that they do, they won’t believe you.
You and your vet and farrier will want to be able to see most of the horse, not just the top of it’s back and the rest be a dark blob so you need flashlights to see their sides and legs.
Try to make stall doors in the middle, so horses on both sides won’t surprise run at and scare the horse you are trying to lead in or out of the stall.
If it fits your area and barn, division walls between stalls work well solid the first feet, so horses have peace when fed and eating.
The rest some kind of grill or mesh above 4’, for airflow and so horses can see each other.
If you have a horse that doesn’t like neighbors, make those open grills so you can add a rubber mat or plywood to close that up to keep the peace.
Most horses do fine without being grumps and trying to kick the barn down.
Just be sure if you have one, you have suitable stalls for those.
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apparently a given as it seem all us have seen that whatever your maximum budget amount for the project the actual finished cost will be at least twice, possibly three times what you expected
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Great advice here already.
My 2¢ is to have a frostfree hydrant inside the barn if your budget does not include a bathroom or sink.
Even if you have auto-waterers in the stalls it is handy to not have to go out in weather to fill a bucket for whatever.
And I agree a loft is a PITA if you or hay supplier doesn’t have an elevator. Still more work to shift hay to barn level, even if only weekly.
I have a 36X36 pole barn with 2 12X12 stalls & 1 10X12 along the East (leeward) side.
I store a year’s worth of small square bales on pallets across from the stalls.
For my 3 - horse, pony, mini - this is 300 50# bales. Takes up the space of 2 stalls, leaving me a 12’ aisle & space for tack & feed storage.
The most climbing I ever have to do is up the stacked bales to the 12’ peak to toss down what I’m feeding.
More GFI outlets is always a good idea.
I had electrician install 2 switches for my aisle lights right at the entrance. One bank of lights, that is over the stalls, can stay off if I need to be in the barn after dark, so sleeping horses aren’t disturbed.
On the subject of lights, 2 words:
Enclosed Fixtures!
I went with cold ballast fluorescents in open fixtures & after 15yrs they are temperamental about going on in damp or humid weather.
Lots of people here have switched to LED.
Try to arrange your setup so turnout requires minimal handling or gate opening.
I put my sacrifice area surrounding the front of the barn & opening to grass pastures on either sides.
Horses have free access to any of it & stalls 24/7/365.
They come in by themselves for hay & grain.
Non-horse-savvy farmsitters can feed & water without having to handlle horses.
Have fun planning!
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Have a map of you utilities, put junction boxes when a line Tees off include a shut off for all directions in case you need to abandon a pipe, run lines to all paddocks or at least to where you can fill troughs with a short hose
Lights…LED is the way to go… no heat generated, instant on and unaffected by temperature
