# A Few Barn & Pasture Questions



## CrufflerSteve (Sep 17, 2007)

My wife and I are returning to horses after a long time. We rode lots as kids and now that our kids aren't so time demanding we're ready.

I've just bought a gelding for myself and my wife is very actively searching for her horse.

We have a 3 stall barn with tack room that we're fixing up. We plan to use the 2 box stalls that open directly onto a pasture. The horses would be able to walk right out. I've seen lots of barns with a small pipe corral outside each stall. Is that necessary? Obviously, we'll separate the horses when feeding. I just wondered how territorial horses would be about their stalls since they both will be open.

The barn pasture is on a gently sloping hill with lots of flat spots. They'll like it. They'll be in neighing range of several other horses. There is one corner that has been seriously eroded and I plan to move the fence in so that the horses won't walk there. I fell down with the little ravines hidden in the tall grass.

There is one somewhat eroded spot right by the stall doors. It's flat where the horses come out and then slopes at the edge of the barn. My wife made a 4' high wall out of some cinder blocks we had laying around. I'm not so sure this is a good idea. Even if I stake them in place with lots of rebar I don't like the idea of rebar & cinder blacks in a horse pasture. It seems like they'd risk scraping themselves. I had been thinking of a run or two of 3 rail wood fence there. That would keep them from walking through that spot. It will get a lot of attention from them anyways. Water flows through there so the grass is very green.

Steve
Sedalia, CO


----------



## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

Hey Steve, congrats again on your first horse. The main thing you need in the stalls is some sort of gate to hold them in there while they eat. That way if one gets done eating before the other, it won't be in there trying to push the slow eater out. Maybe a stall guard like whats pictured below. This one is about $20 on horse.com. Even a simp;e chain would do. When its not feeding time our girls all go in the stalls together. Even our itty bitty one thats only about 7x10. They have a large run in shed but when it rains it seems they all like to crowed into the little one so there is always a butt or 2 sticking out. When we first started out we put up galvanized welded livestock panels and T-posts. They sell them at most farm supply places. They don't need to be stretched just wired to a Tpost so you dont have to have corner braces to stretch against. They are great for temporary fencing (we used them for 3 years). They make them for horses too, but we could only find the livestock ones at the time.
The cinder blocks will end up being pushed over. Anything scratchy will just be a temptation to rub on

.


----------



## CrufflerSteve (Sep 17, 2007)

The two box stalls have the usual sliding gate inside. Outside, there's a pretty heavy sliding door for each stall. I was figuring on just closing that door until the horse was done. Lance is supposed to be a slow eater. The stalls have rubber flooring and feeders so all I'll need is some watering troughs. I'm sure the horses will cooperate since it involves feeding. 

I agree about the cinder blocks. Horses love to scratch and they'll be scattered in no time. That's why I was thinking of the 3 rail wood fence. It will probably end up as a scratching post but being fairly smooth wood should be OK.

Steve


----------



## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

CrufflerSteve said:


> I was thinking of the 3 rail wood fence. It will probably end up as a scratching post but being fairly smooth wood should be OK.
> 
> Steve


Don't make the mistake I made once by putting rails on the outside of the posts. It didn't take long before the rails were pushed off by horses leaning on them. Sounds like you have a nice barn, lucky horses :!:  We have pipe fence now on our dry lot but still have barbless wire with pipe corners on the large pasture. One of these days we hope to have it all pipe.


----------



## CrufflerSteve (Sep 17, 2007)

I was thinking of the round version of split rail. It is cheaper. I hope the ground isn't too hard. In Colorado, dirt tends to be a mix of hard clay and rock. It would be a shame to rent a motorized post hole digger for two or three holes. I'll try large holes with concrete and with any luck the horses won't break it. I'm glad I didn't get the Belgian. 

I'm trying to upload a couple of pictures I took in early May before we closed on the house. One shows the inside of the barn and one shows the outside of the barn where the two stalls open. I like the barn. It sold us on the place,

Steve


----------

