# building stalls/barn



## Horseychick87 (Feb 5, 2014)

I'm in FL, so we tend to be hot more days out of the year than not, so keep that in mind.

I have a blueprint that I drew up (but cannot get it to load onto the computer. It is adjustable to how many horses/ stalls I decide on, but is similar to a mare motel, but made from wood. (Pressure treated pine in my area) It has a 10 foot covered walkway on the front and then each stall opens into a drylot/ sacrifice area which has multiple gates leading to various pastures. the stall doors would be wood or these: 


I'm handy and can build most anything, so I can save money doing it myself so long as I don't go over a certain size, or I will require more than one person to help me with the heavy loads.

The stalls themselves would look similar to this:


The roof would be metal over plywood for a bit of noise insulation.

I would do footers instead of a full foundation as well as this saves money and I don't want concrete in the stalls.

For stall flooring I would dig out the topsoil and install six inches of crushed gravel and compact it, then add either sand over that or just lay mats depending on what was under the topsoil.

The aisle/ walkway would be dug out and gravel installed there as well or rubber pavers.

Of course I could just say to heck with it and buy a pre-fab stable like this and customize it:


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

By your sign-in of "by the river" I think many actual building needs will depend upon the kind of soil, amount of water and drainage you deal with and a huge one is are you referring to a commercial barn with boarders or a backyard barn for your personal horses...

Me, I have my barn for my horses in my backyard.
It is a pole barn, which means that technically it is a movable structure with wide rafters and no "poles" or supports in the middle of the building structure itself to hold the roof up.
My barn is edge to edge 40'x40'. I have 3 12'x12' box stalls, with a 22' overhang in front of my stalls and a 6' overhang behind my stalls for shade and water run-off. My barn is positioned that it rarely gets rained in from either end. In winter I put up clear heavy plastic is the easiest way to describe it to stop the cold wind ventilation happening.
My horses come and go free will from the barn area for sun, rain protection and the flies near never are under it and active.
My stalls are made from pressure treated planks from the floor up 52" in height, then I have steel grating above the wood walls that is another 48" high..so all told my stall walls are 8' high give or take a few inches. 
My horses_ can _see each other but_ can not _touch each other while eating or if they are locked in for whatever reason they are left in peace or can interact by putting their heads over their stall door. Ugly faces they can make at each other yet peace remains..
My rafters are 10' high and then add a peak to the top of that...my barn near always has a cooling breeze of some sort. I can and do drive my truck and trailer right through my barn to unload during heavy rains, or the hay truck is making a delivery he has plenty of clearance room to drive through to my hay storage location.
The roof is metal. If I had known about the noise during a torrential downpour I would of insulated it or as horseychick wrote maybe put a underlay of plywood or something to deaden the sound...it is really noisy!
My floors are dirt, not compacted or anything, just dirt. I then have shavings on top of them. After the first few weeks no longer does the dirt mix into my shavings but I do have great urine run-off. I personally do not like mats as I have had the horse paw and dig up a mat then get caught in it and injured...not fun. I see no point in putting in anything like stone dust or gravel, then compacting it to make a near concrete like base....
If you're going to make a stall base level and near concrete like you might as well just pour the concrete and be done once and for all.
I have also had concrete floors in stalls and aisle-ways and had "0" problems with horses legs, soundness or health issues. _ The secret is using proper bedding and cleaning techniques. Oh...and when I worked in barns many years ago most of the horses I took care of were top-competition horses worth thousands, hundreds of thousands and this is the barn style their owners choose to have built...I just worked their.
_So, back to the questions...
I currently have in my backyard barn 1/2 doors so my personal horses can put their head out.
In a boarding situation I would want my horse to have the protection of a full door so no one {human} smacks his face, makes him fearful or he get bit or he bite another horse as it passes. Full doors offer protection and safety. 
I don't like stall guards and horses hanging out over them. 
Most barns don't put them up correctly as to low, to high, not tight enough, no top chain and the horse goes over the top, underneath or gets hung up on to wide a webbing if you don't have the solid rubber ones like they use at the racetrack with Thoroughbreds._ If you notice when those Thoroughbred pictures are shown there is also a stall door latched open, a huge haynet hanging in front of the horse, people walking around and watching closely the animals...never unattended with those stall guards. Please remember that those stall-guards also have screw eyes which stick into a stall doorway making it narrower... Many also leave the stall-guard hanging and that is a real safety issue of the horse getting hung up in it as they pass through the doorway or if they should paw in impatience while it is down... I just don't like stall-guards!

_My barn currently has a fence surrounding the entire area....
My riding ring is grass and dirt and not covered. I also ride in my pastures and out on trails, no longer showing so not so dedicated to having to groom the riding surface and have a dedicated arena._ I am blissfully done with the show ring!_
I have had where I worked turnouts separate from the barn where you walked horses in or out.
As a kid I had a barn with attached paddock that my horse came and went freely from his stall. That I like the most and pretty much what I have now again but now I have several stalls and one large {near an acre} fenced area around the barn.
My fences are plank or woven wire with top-board surrounding my pasture for safety. I _dislike_ barb wire and have not had to use electric fencing as of yet.

So, that is my set-up and what I have had experience with in the past.
Currently my barn is my barn and I have another building for my hay storage area. My tack I keep in my home so it is safe. My horse trailers I park on my land along with my tow vehicles...
I have water near my barn but not in it. Free-standing support 6"x6" holds the water pipe and a hose to fill my buckets, wash my horse, etc...
I have electric near my barn but not in it. My barn has lights but I must flip a switch and plug in a plug for them to work.
Not having either "improvement" also allows me not to pay taxes on a "moveable" structure. 
Once you use concrete for footings, stall floor or aisle, put in water or electric by me your barn is now "permanent" status and your property taxes will show a increase accordingly.
Water and electric are both underground so no overhead wires/pipe seen either.

Some other ideas for you to think about.......

Happy barn building.
:runninghorse2:...
_jmo.._


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