# 2 questions: Outdoor tie stall? Barn in stages?



## Koolio (Apr 7, 2010)

1. Does anyone have / use an outdoor tie stall for tacking up, farrier work, vetting, washing, etc? We don't have a barn and our run in shelters are too far from the house to have access to power / light and they don't have enough room or good enough footing to be of much use for the farrier, vet, etc. 

My thought was to build an outdoor tie stall with a sand / paver floor and a roof up closer to the house where there is easy access to power and water. Kind of like a wash rack with a roof, but a little bigger maybe. I don't know if roof is even worthwhile if the sides are not fully enclosed, but it would keep the rain and snow off a bit at least. I am also not sure about the size.


Does anyone have any thoughts, ideas or examples? 

2. Has anyone here build a useable barn in stages? I'd love to build a barn with 4 stalls and room for hay storage, but right now it is too expensive to do it all at once. I am wondering if one could build a Shedrow-type barn with 4 side-by-side stalls, then pave a centre aisle and add the second side and roof the centre at a later date. I'm thinking about a 30'x40' structure with dirt floor stalls on one side and hay storage on the other, and the potential to add more stalls or a feed room in place of the hay storage at a later date. Would it be feasible to successfully do something like this in stages?

Again, any ideas or examples would be appreciated.


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

Our current barn has 3 outside ties. One is between two big douglas firs, they covered a 12x12 area with stall mats laid on the ground. I really like this setup, the trees make a pretty good shelter and we have the choice of going inside if weather is nasty.

Two more are side by side with railing between them and in front. This is a raised area with rail road ties put down, sand filled in with mats on top. Not a design worth repeating as the sand tends to escape out and so the mats are not even without constant refilling.

You definatly can build your barn in stages so long as you make up a set of plans first that factor in being built in stages.


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## HarleyWood (Oct 14, 2011)

i dont have outside ties, but my barn was built a year ago and we will start putting up stalls and my tack/feed room plus a 54' by 56' arena for bad weather, we are putting my Round pen out side the barn and maybe adding a hay storage on the side the length of the barn.


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

Tying outside is just one more useful skill for your horse to master. Do it. IMHO horses were meant for the out-of-doors.


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## HarleyWood (Oct 14, 2011)

we have them tied to the trailer, until my dad builds me a hitching post.


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

I am building a barn in phases, but it is really basic because it is not my property. The main thing I did was to put doors on two sides so no-one gets trapped inside.

It is almost always hot here, so many barns have open stalls to some degree, or else the horses aren't put in the stalls too much. 

The easiest thing to do though, is to just put up a metal carport. They work really well for cover, and you can just put up some treated 2x4 to divide them. I used 1 sheet of plywood lengthwise with 2x4 above. it works great. I hired a couple of guys to put in the 4x4 posts and a tin roof, but it wound up costing more than the metal carport would have!

We built the feed room first then the rest. It works fine for feeding and tacking up. The base is a type of rock called "crusher rock" usually used for gravel roads. This stuff will compact over time, but still allows drainage. I did frame in the base so it wouldn't leach out. 

Then on top I put inexpensive rubber mats from Lowes, finally some shavings. Not fancy, works perfect. They usually head into their stalls every afternoon when it is hot for a "siesta". 

I used some scraps for the doors, I can make half doors later & use the same hardwear. As you can see, not done yet with painting, I keep riding in my free time instead

pictures of my barn:


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## Koolio (Apr 7, 2010)

HarleyWood said:


> we have them tied to the trailer, until my dad builds me a hitching post.


Same here.


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