# Need help with a new barn



## RubaiyateBandit (Jan 25, 2009)

I'm attempting to get an idea of pricing for a small stable that I would like to have put up. If any one could point out flaws or ideas, it would be greatly appreciated.

We have six horses, but I don't feel that I need an individual stall for each horse. I merely want a stall or two to use for when a horse is injured or needs to be watched closer for whatever reason. 
My plan is to have two 12x12 stalls and a 12x12 tack room between them. For the stalls, I figured I'd use the pre-built ones that Priefert makes. 
In front of theses three rooms, I'd have a 6ft covered walkway -- the I plan to have the shed situated, the roof over this walkway connects to the backside of the garage, and so the area is fairly enclosed. 

One thing I am curious about, however, is the sides of the shed -- since we need to dig into the hillside a small way to build this, the walls would need to be cement to hold back the hill. I've always heard not to have cement/brick walls as a part of a stall, because if a horse kicked hard enough he could be hurt, so how would I be able to "insulate" it a bit?


Also, since I am a college student and I'm building this on my parent's land with part of their money (I am helping to pay for it, and doing most of the pricing work for myself), I need my parent's approval. Any major arguments as to why a small stable is useful? My dad quite honestly believes that horses don't need any shelter, because the wild horses don't have stables. :-| But I've already explained that I'm using it for storage and occasional isolation.


----------



## Tayz (Jan 24, 2009)

lol goodluck. The horse stable near me charges $30 australian dollars each lesson and $50 at the start of the year on horse insurance thing.. but thats australian dollars...


----------



## Andi (Aug 20, 2008)

One of the agistment places I was in had stables lined with a very thick rubber on the walls. It was good for safety. It only went halfway up. 

Some things that I would think about:

Flooring - what do you plan to use? My advice is to make sure that it is able to be hosed out. Are you going to have drainage? Concrete can be alright as flooring, but maybe look around into rubbers. 

Are you going to have electricity and water? If so are you going to put lights in the stables or outside? Are you going to have a self filling water system, a tap somewhere outside the stable, or perhaps a tap near the roof to hose fill buckets while in stable?

Air flow, are you going to be putting windows at the back of the stable? If it is attached to a walkway and garage there may be no air flow going into the stables. At the same time you don't want it breezy. Remember to think about your locations temperature when selecting materials. Is it hotter or colder often, etc. 

Also, you don't want a feed room? Or are you using your tack room for that as well. Also when building it think about little things, like installing rings inside the stable to tie stuff to, rug racks. One place I kept my horse had lovely stables but when you closed yourself inside it was really difficult to get out again as the door was slightly to high and the latch a little too low. Check stuff like that on your doors. Also think if you want built in feed racks/hay racks. 

I don't know much about cost, especially in the US.

Tell your dad that your horses are not wild horses. And that "wild" people, such as the indigenous Australians traditionally sleep outside with few clothes on and eat insects and wild animals, so maybe if he wants to do what wild things do he should sleep outside, ran around naked and eat cockroaches. 

Good luck with your stable, I wish I had one of my own.


----------



## Walkamile (Dec 29, 2008)

Years ago a wise old vet told me to keep my horses as "natural" as possible. Part of his advice was to have a three sided shelter for them to get out of the elements and wind, and a good sized paddock to move around in as they please, in addition to pasture. I do keep my horse keeping very basic with the health and comfort in mind for my horses. Because their hooves are so important, I would recommend dirt flooring with rubber or some other flooring system like Stall Skins so you don't continuously remove the dirt over time when picking out the stall. Rubber on the stall walls is a good idea, especially due to the cement blocks or you could 2 x 10 boards.

Remind your father (just got this info at a recent seminar) that the average life span for a wild horse is 7 years. We want our horses to be with us longer, so adequate food, shelter and vet care definitely helps accomplish this.

Good luck with your barn, isn't it exciting!!!


----------



## RubaiyateBandit (Jan 25, 2009)

Andi said:


> Flooring - what do you plan to use? My advice is to make sure that it is able to be hosed out. Are you going to have drainage? Concrete can be alright as flooring, but maybe look around into rubbers.


I planned to lay a cement floor and put rubber floor mats in the stalls. 



Andi said:


> Are you going to have electricity and water? If so are you going to put lights in the stables or outside? Are you going to have a self filling water system, a tap somewhere outside the stable, or perhaps a tap near the roof to hose fill buckets while in stable?


We already have a water pump nearby (only a few feet away, actually), so that's not a problem, and there is electricity running to the garage, so running wiring out there to put in flood lights in the walkway/etc. isn't a huge deal either (that, and my mother is an electrician, so we wouldn't need to pay for one.)



Andi said:


> Air flow, are you going to be putting windows at the back of the stable? If it is attached to a walkway and garage there may be no air flow going into the stables. At the same time you don't want it breezy. Remember to think about your locations temperature when selecting materials. Is it hotter or colder often, etc.


Maybe I didn't explain it well... the idea I have is basically a lean-to, except with stalls and a tack room set in the back. The stalls would get plenty of ventilation from the breezeway, which the stall fronts are open to.



Andi said:


> Also, you don't want a feed room? Or are you using your tack room for that as well. Also when building it think about little things, like installing rings inside the stable to tie stuff to, rug racks. One place I kept my horse had lovely stables but when you closed yourself inside it was really difficult to get out again as the door was slightly to high and the latch a little too low. Check stuff like that on your doors. Also think if you want built in feed racks/hay racks.


Actually, we only keep hay on the property in winter, and then it is kept in a modified horse trailer. The only other feed we have is salt/mineral blocks and grain, which is bought as needed and doesn't take up much room, so that'd just stay in the tack room.
As for tying... we already have tie-rings on the backside of the garage where the shed is going. And for hardware in the tack room, we already have a makeshift tackroom outfitted with the basic hardware, so it's just a matter of moving things from one to the other.


----------



## starlinestables (Nov 24, 2008)

Can I ask what your budget is? how many boarders are you wanting to take on? how many horses on the property total? how big is your property?


----------



## VACountryGirl (Jan 14, 2009)

I hope this helps, at least with the idea of cost.

I just bought a shed row barn from the Amish, and it is 10x34. It has two 10x12 stalls and one 10x10 tack room/feed room. To have it made and delivered, it was $6,000. To build one the size you want, I would say about $10,000 when all is said and done. Now if you build it yourself and buy the supplies, I don't know how much you would be saving. Wood is really expensive right now. We were going to build it ourselves, but when it came to the price, we realized it would be easier to just buy one from the Amish. As for the stalls, you'll want something that can drain or be cleaned out if necessary. I was advised to put bluestone dust underneath the mats so that they could drain, if necessary. Hope that helps a little.


----------



## RubaiyateBandit (Jan 25, 2009)

starlinestables said:


> Can I ask what your budget is? how many boarders are you wanting to take on? how many horses on the property total? how big is your property?


Our budget is around 10,000. I'm not planning on taking on any boarders -- I'm not even stalling all six of my own horses. As far as stalls go, I only want room to put a horse or two in if one of them gets hurt/needs to be held/etc. The primary reason is for an open space where they can get inside if they want to. I own a total six horses now (two of which are large ponies).
The size of our property is more complicated -- We own ten acres (mostly hillside and forestland), but the surrounding 40-ish acres are a mixture of "family farm" land and my dad's sibling's land. Since much of that land is woodland or simply not in use, our horses get the entirety of whatever doesn't have houses, roads, and cattle. My dad tells me that we could build on a neighboring ten acres belonging to my uncle (who currently lives in the farmhouse and doesn't have a use for his ten acres).




VACountryGirl said:


> I hope this helps, at least with the idea of cost.
> 
> I just bought a shed row barn from the Amish, and it is 10x34. It has two 10x12 stalls and one 10x10 tack room/feed room. To have it made and delivered, it was $6,000. To build one the size you want, I would say about $10,000 when all is said and done. Now if you build it yourself and buy the supplies, I don't know how much you would be saving. Wood is really expensive right now. We were going to build it ourselves, but when it came to the price, we realized it would be easier to just buy one from the Amish. As for the stalls, you'll want something that can drain or be cleaned out if necessary. I was advised to put bluestone dust underneath the mats so that they could drain, if necessary. Hope that helps a little.


I never throught of buying one from the Amish... I may have to look into it. Thanks.


----------



## VACountryGirl (Jan 14, 2009)

You're welcome! The Amish make GREAT quality stuff for a very reasonable cost, so if that is a feasible option, I highly recommend it.


----------

