# Building Stalls in a Preexisting Barn



## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

8.5 feet is really something that you'd have for a small pony not for anything over 15 hands, I'd think they'd struggle to turn around in that and could be a risk for getting cast
Are the supports wooden? 
You might have to get an engineer in to look at the structure and relocate them, it sounds like a great building so worth the cost of doing it properly


----------



## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

Can't comment on the size or dimension of the stalls...........
Do you though have adequate height clearance for the horses when inside?
Cow barns are known to not be very "high".........

So the floor.....
I have mucked more stalls that had a concrete base than many....
Personally, I found them very easy to keep clean, remove wet spots, turn and fluff a entire stall THICKLY bedded. 
I mean a minimum of 6", and most of the time we had 8" or more_* on the floor*_. 
When we turned, tossed and fluffed the stall my bedding went more than 3' up the walls.....then pulled down to create a inviting, soft bed to rest in and on.
_Never, ever leg problems_ as many make claims of...done right it does _*not*_ happen!
I loved the fact that except for the urine spot you rarely dealt with moisture seeping up from heavy rains or thaw of freezing ground.
If concerned about their legs, put down mats in the entire stall, tightly placed together so there is no shift or lifting of mat edges.
Then bed deeply....
I worked for many years as a groom and many "top" barns have concrete stall floors...just well covered with bedding material.
I find "bare" mats are uncomfortable to stand on, no worse than concrete to me.
Putting down and keeping a adequate supply of bedding is what makes any stall so inviting...those that do 2" of bedding and in 1/2 the stall rear....:icon_rolleyes: _why bother!

_Congratulations on the new home and making it _"home"_ with your horses nearby, safe and comfortable.
:runninghorse2:.....
_jmo..._


----------



## Prairie (May 13, 2016)

Assuming the height is ok for horses, why not make the stalls 17 (2 times 8.5 ft)x13.5 feet so the horses have enough room or turn the area in one large loafing area if it's only going to be used in lousy weather? Our old barn is unique in that the divider walls can be moved to create one large area or 3 separate stalls---it's normally one large area since even when we move the walls to divide it, they still pile into only one stall.


----------



## JessicaR (Nov 7, 2016)

To answer the questions: 

jaydee - yes the supports are wooden, but they are enormous and buried in the concrete and I do not think moving them would be a viable option for us financially. They are basically whole trees - looks cool, but inconvenient for my needs. 

horselovinguy - the ceilings are about 9.5ft in most of the barn, where the beams are it probably shortens it to 8.5ft. The floor looks to have been redone in the past decade or so and when it was done, is was dropped about 10in. There is a section with original floor and it is a step up from the stall area, I plan to use that for my tack and feed storage. Thanks for the bedding tips! We will for sure have mats and bed nice and deep!

Prairie - removable walls could definitely be an option but unfortunately there are posts that would prevent the 17x13.5 option. Another option could be if I built the stalls into the posts instead of around them, I could probably end up with a few 9.5x13.5 stalls that way but the horses would have trees in the walls and corners of their stalls!


----------



## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

As a word of caution. Old barns have a tendancy to "fall off of their foundation" when livestock get introduced. make sure the foundation is solid. Stalls do not have to be consistent in size. We used an old dairy barn for stalls. We had to remove the stanchions and the posts were an issue some stalls were long and narrow and others were shorter. I prefer mats over concrete and a lot of bedding. Can you look into creating a lean too off of the barn to use for stalls and use the inside for hay storage etc?


----------

