# Backyard Barns?



## wordstoasong (Jul 8, 2008)

I'm thinking of moving Murray home. I have the area for one horse for sure, but want to know more about placements, stables, and paddocks. We just purchased the lot across from our place and it is suitable for a horse.

Anyone keep their horses at home? How does your place look like? 

Thanks.


----------



## themacpack (Jul 16, 2009)

Cherry Hill has a good reference titled, "Horsekeeping On A Small Acreage". 
We do have our's at home. The back portion of our property is approximately one acre and is home to our TB and our mini. It isn't as big as I would like, but I have big dreams of purchasing an adjoining property and expanding eventually, lol. The "big" barn is at the back edge of the property where the best drainage is at. It's not much - a single 14x14 stall attached to a 6x14 feed storage area. We have a small run in that is up closer to the house which we added when our mini joined the family so that there would always be shelter options for both horses and they were far enough apart to keep one horse from controlling both - however, they have their own ideas and choose to share which ever building they want to be in, have never spent time separately in the two.. The larger barn has a small turnout that is fenced separately from the pasture for when we need to keep them up off the main pasture or when there is need to keep either of them from moving about too much (will also come in handy this summer as turns out the mini was bred when we brought her home).


----------



## fire walker TWH (Jan 10, 2010)

*heres my lay out, and have you ever considered leasing a property?*

the house i bought 4 years ago has four acres unfortunatly they are not all adjoining because of a road that runs through the middle. however i did fence the portion behind my house and have a small one stall tack shed back there. the tack shed part is 14 by 10 and the stall is 14 by 12. its handy for when i want a horse closer to home, but i lucked out last summer and found a farm that i could lease.the people leased me three pastured fields of there farm for 150 a month and i have use of two barns and a shed row int he deal. i know most farmers arent willing to do that but you could talk them into it by suggesting you rotate your horses with their cattle. good cattle farmers rotate their herd from one pasture to the second pasture every few months and if you remind them that horses do not carry the same species of worms as cattle and that by rotating the horses on the "off" field they would actually eliminate the worms contaminating the grass. Anyway , i just thought i would throw the idea out there for your considderation.


----------



## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

Keep the barn high and dry and protected from the winds. Have a good access road to it for moving heavy items and trailers. If paddock space is at a premium, create a long run off of which small grazing areas are fenced -- that allows a place to run and for you to rotate pastures. It's amazing how much more grass will come up if you don't let the horse(s) completely mutilate the roots. Remember winter: when you plow where will the snow go? Remember winter: will there be power to the barn for water? If not, have a water trough close to the house during the cold months so you can plug in a water heater from the house. I keep mine by the house from Nov - March and the rest of the year I run a hose to the barn about 150' away. Use poly pipe for hose that isn't coiled up regularly -- much more durable and easy to splice if needed.

My place has the barn at the bottom of a "U". The house and shop are at the top. The sides are rotating pasture areas (3 separate ones), while the bottom area is always available to the horses. In the summer, I also have a field across the road that the neighbour allows me to graze my horses. I just use single strand electric on 1/2" steel rod (6 foot tall) posts -- in an hour or two I can have a whole new pasture for them.

Good luck.


----------

