The design of your horse barn impacts both the time and the money you spend to keep your horse happy and healthy. The horse barn should be well planned, durable and attractive. There should be enough space in a horse barn for the well-being and safety of the horses and of the people who care for and/or ride the horses. The barn should be constructed to allow flexibility for expansion or adoption of new technology.
Whether you are building or redoing a small private setup or a large professional training operation, the following tips will help you create a better dynamic.
Building Placement
The first step in building horse barns is to select a suitable location. The following are a list of the minimum things any new horse barn should have:
- Choose a well-drained spot that will not flood.
- Find an area that is level and will not need expensive excavating work.
- Select a location that can easily connect to utilities.
- Pick an area that is either near a road or easy to access.
Financially, it is a good idea to have the utility hook-up as close to the source as possible. Contact your water and electric utility companies to find out where they enter your property and what steps are needed for a safe hookup.
Now, consider where deliveries should occur. How far is the road from the barn’s proposed location? Map the route trucks will take to deliver supplies and pick up waste. Make sure there is space to back up a vehicle and turn around. Create a path that will not interfere with existing structures and allows easy access to the barn.
Convenience and Storage
Horse tack, horse feed, and barn tools; oh my! Horses take up enough space on their own, but their stuff takes up even more. Once you have your horse’s living quarters squared away, it is time to think about additional storage rooms in your barn. You will need room for shavings and bedding, drying racks, wash stalls, and more.
There are three other rooms that are essential in any great horse barn design, the Tack Room, the Tool Room, and the Feed Room.
- Tack Rooms – It is a good idea to have a tack room that keeps all of your gear safe and dry. This will ensure that your tack will last longer and stay in better shape while still in use. The tack room should be in a central part of the barn and have a lock on the door to prevent theft.
- Tool Rooms – Another room that helps equestrians stay organized is a tool storage room. There are so many tools that are necessary to keep a barn running smoothly. It is best to keep these in a room without a door, so that wheelbarrows and other tools can be accessed easily. The tool room should also be built somewhere out of the way in case a horse gets loose inside the barn.
- Feed Rooms – The final barn necessity is a feed room. It is an essential because it protects your horse’s food from dampness, insects and the horses! The feed room should be large and capable of holding many bags of feed and hay inside.
Ventilation
In basic terms, ventilation is providing fresh air in the barn year-round while allowing stale air to escape. The goal of ventilation is to exchange stale inside air with fresh outdoor air without chilling horses in the process. Good ventilation begins with good design. Horses typically spend many more years in a barn than other animals. Plus, they are usually required to perform as athletes and so require a plentiful supply of clean air for optimum health and fitness.
Contamination by ammonia fumes from decomposing urine and dung, dust from hay and bedding, bacteria, and mold and fungal spores all can contribute to allergy and respiratory problems in horses and humans. Foals are especially vulnerable to high levels of ammonia and are unfortunately subjected to higher concentrations because they live close to the ground where ammonia tends to layer. Respiratory infections often set in once a foal’s developing immune system has been weakened by ammonia fumes.
Opening windows and doors can allow air to flow through your horse barn. Air flows best if windows and doors are located on opposite sides of the barn and there are few walls between them. Stall windows that open inward and upward can provide ventilation without drafts.
Vents or high windows can be installed on the outer walls of stalls just under the roof. Vents can be placed lower to allow fresh air in, but they can also let in drafts. A draft occurs when cold air blows on a horse. Since horses tolerate colder conditions better than humans, what we consider drafty is not necessarily uncomfortable to the horse. Be sure to differentiate between a cold temperature and a draft.
Stalls
Designing your horse barn can be overwhelming and confusing. After all, this is usually a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so you want to do it right the first time. Stalls keep horses safe, comfortable, out of severe weather and in a place where they can relax. Therefore, good stall design is an integral part of keeping horses healthy and happy.
• Stall Size
To begin, the size of your horse and the amount of time he spends in the stall will largely determine the stall size. In the US, the typical stall size is 12′ x 12′ for a 1,000-pound horse. Larger horses benefit from 12′ x 16′ stalls (minimum) or 16′ x 16′ stalls. This assumes the horse gets out on a regular basis for exercise and fresh air.
The rule of thumb is that the horse, no matter its size, should be able to move around, lie down, and get up comfortably without touching the walls of the stall.
Stall Layout
Consider your daily workflow. Will you use wheelbarrows to clean stalls or feed or will you need a barn with an aisle wide enough to drive a truck down the center aisle for these chores? Will your hay be stored off site or do you want it close by in your barn’s hay loft?
Barns with a center aisle are the easiest when taking care of the horses. This design allows you to work in the barn, clean stalls and feed inside during inclement weather. The center aisle can also double as a tie stall to brush and saddle horses.
Stall Floors
Stall floors might be the most important component, as this is the surface on which your horse will be standing continuously. Most stalls have dirt floors. These require periodic maintenance and new dirt will need to be brought in to fill in low areas or holes that horses create. If you have a horse that paws, you’ll need to do floor repairs more frequently.
On top of the base, rubber mats are placed. Bedding can then be placed on top of the rubber mat to soak up urine. Here are some rules of thumb for long-lasting stall floors:
- Make sure that the soil drains well. Stalls set on top of muddy or hard-backed surfaces will cause a lifetime of trouble.
- Plan for your final stall floor height to be several inches above the surround grade outside the building to further encourage drainage.
- Use high-quality, three-quarter-inch-thick rubber mats made for horses. Cheap mats will shift, wear out and change shape.
- Another popular alternative is the Stable Comfort Stall Mattress System. The thick, cushioned mattress significantly reduces the amount of shavings needed while providing added comfort for the horse. It also features an impermeable top layer, making stall cleaning and washout easier while preventing moisture from penetrating the mattress.
Barn Maintenance
Caring for a horse is a big responsibility and requires a lot of work and diligence. To do it right, there are specific tasks you must perform every day. While these tasks should not take a lot of time to perform, it is crucial that they be done consistently. One way to make sure you get everything done is to make a complete list of all of your equine responsibilities and then create a schedule according to which things must be done every day, once a week, once a month and periodically.
Feeding, cleaning, grooming and barn maintenance chores are all part of the day-to-day care of horses. Your horse’s health and well-being will be at risk if you decide to skip on these. By completing them, your barn will be a safe spot for your horse to rest and eat comfortably. Most barn chores are fun because we get to spend more time with our horses. But some of the daily tasks are less glamorous than others like dumping poop and scrubbing out algae filled water troughs.
Frequent sweeping is needed. Remove the feed leftovers to prevent rodents. These troublemakers could spread diseases and damage the equipment. Apart from rodents, you have to deal with birds’ droppings and nests.
Check if your tools and tack are in safe areas so they cannot hurt handlers and horses. Anything that is sharp or protrudes could catch on equipment or injure a passing horse or person.
Blanket bars and other stall-front fixtures should be rounded. Sturdy hooks made of hard rubber are great for hanging halters and lead ropes. Use closed eyehooks and double-ended snaps to hang water and feed buckets rather than open hooks. Or install any of the rounded bucket brackets on the market.
Fire Safety
There is no such thing as a fireproof building, especially in agricultural settings. Building design, management, and safety practices are the best way to minimize the risk of fires. It has been estimated that the root cause of 95 percent of preventable horse barn fires is from careless smoking, with faulty electrical systems high on the list. Fires can grow quickly and give no warning. In most cases, if you see flames, it is already too late. The damage a fire causes grows exponentially with the amount of time it has burned.
Fire is extremely dangerous at any stage of growth and controlling it is best left up to the professionals. Most barn fires occur in the winter when most forage and bedding is stored, electrical use is high, and equipment repairs and upgrades are traditionally made. Most of the components in a horse barn are highly flammable.
The Castlebrook Difference
Castlebrook’s barns have a warm, inviting look which adds to the beauty and value of your property. All Castlebrook round pens and round pen covers and designed and manufactured on site at Castlebrook’s facility. That is why we can provide you almost limitless choice of sizes and styles. Castlebrook can manufacture a round pen and cover to suit your exact needs.
Castlebrook never misses a ship date. We are so confident in our on-time guarantee that we are willing to guarantee it — in writing! Castlebrook understands how important it is for your project to go as smoothly as possible. This begins with your structure shipping on the date we’ve promised. Castlebrook knows of absolutely no other barn company offering this guarantee. Where other companies disappoint, Castlebrook guarantees to be on time, every time!
Please contact our professional team today at 1-800-52-BARNS. We gladly accommodate Saturday appointments!