# Run-in shed for 2



## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

How big are your horses has much to determine if either size is truly suitable.


I have 15.3+ stocky and 16.0 hand OTTB that although they can and will share a space at times, when bad weather comes the dominant horse suddenly "needs" all that space for himself and drives the other out or crowds him terribly...
I would figure a way to place a divider separating the area evenly if you see one horse being a room hog to the other.

Regardless I would do the deeper building of 12' deep and longer the better and if possible depending upon design and layout 2 openings so no one is ever trapped inside unless you are leaving one entire wall open.
If you designed it correctly there would be a wall for weather protection from just about any direction.
Make sure you make the sidewalls high enough that there is adequate head clearance if someone tosses or does a low rear under it.
Adequate height also can allow you to run a tractor through it to clean, lay dirt/gravel or level as needed...
ROPs on tractors add several feet extra clearance depending upon size of tractor used.


Taking all the things mentioned above into consideration might better help you decide on suitable sizing to choose.
:runninghorse2:...
_jmo..._


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Three Morgan mares here, one clear boss dragon and a couple of loyal followers :wink: It's a pretty mellow herd and everyone tends to get along. They're all under 15 hands.

I went with prefab run-ins, one is a double 10x25 (which includes a small tack room) and one is a single 10x10. Although I do have a separate barn, for all intents and purposes, the horses are living turned out in the pasture with these sheds 24x7 all year.










I had the sheds placed in the field somewhat offset, thinking that I could use the single to separate when needed (e.g., if someone needed to be stalled or locked in to feed separately, I could easily add a stall front and make that more individual space, and could even add some electric tape or something around it if I had to further fence that off).

Practically speaking, the horses generally hang out in or near the double (and they seem to take turns evenly, dragon mare doesn't monopolize) or hang out just outside in front of it. 



















And I have even seen them all in the single!  Fortunately they don't attempt that very often.









I do feed them all separately in "their" stall, and they all go to their assigned spots on their own when I am mixing up their feed. They learned that really quickly with minimal reinforcement from me (well, I guess delivering their feed pan is actually pretty strong reinforcement :wink.

If I was doing this again, I might have just gone with one longer shed divided into three, rather than the double and single, but so far, so good.


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

@egrogan hit on what I was going to say. If all 3 horses are pastured together get one shed big enough for all 3 because that 3rd horse isn't going to go stand in it's shed all by itself. We have one barn that was converted from a one car garage so the actual garage part is used to house feed, hay & cats then there's a lean-to coming down on each side with each lean-to capable of housing 2 horses. They never divided themselves 2 and 2 and would instead all 4 cram into 1. Actually more than that when I had more horses and used to separate into 2 different herds at night and then turned them all out together during the day. They could have gone to the big barn and had plenty of room for all 7 of them but 6 of them would stand in the small one and leave Cutter standing out in front. He wouldn't even walk a few steps to stand in the other small lean-to by himself let alone go to the other barn.


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## Cynical25 (Mar 7, 2013)

I have two small horses in a 15' x 33' run-in shelter. A gate panel divider creates a 15x15' space on one end so I can separate my easy-keeper herd-leader gelding from my slow-eating senior mare at meal time, and I can close another gate panel across the front if I need a stall. Both horses occasionally lie down together in the bigger 15x18' space, but I generally arrive to see one on either side of the divider. I could probably accommodate 1 more small, submissive horse. As someone else mentioned above, mine quickly learned to stand in "their" own feeding spot, which is quite convenient!

My shelter's wide open (aside from 2 metal pole supports) front has a 12" roof overhang beyond the 15' depth. 
Heavy wind & rain sometimes means only 5' or so of dry ground is left near the back wall. Your 10' deep option seems much too shallow for my liking.


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

Ours are currently out in a pasture with a 12 x 40' run-in in the barn. It's too shallow to really keep out wind-driven rain or snow, but they primarily use it for shelter from hail, torrential rain, and sun. In the winter, they are rarely in it, preferring instead to take shelter from the wind on the leeward side of the barn even when it's sleeting and snowing, and only go in the run-in if it's a direct north wind and they can soak up the sun there while escaping the wind. 

I would not want it much smaller-- this size space allows the three horses to spread out if need be. They all get along, but if I were to add another bossy or very passive horse, I think it would still work. If needed, we could fence off one end for a stall. Their water tank is also in this area, so it stays clean and is easily checked, filled, and a heater can be added easily. I highly recommend it. Their water isn't ever in the sun, so it doesn't get much algae grown and stays cool in the summer, so they drink a lot more. In truly awful weather, we pitch hay along one wall in the run-in so they can eat out of the wind and snow, but otherwise they eat from a feeder about 30 yards away so they do get some exercise going from feeder to water/shed rather than just standing around in one spot all day. We do feed grain in the shed; each horse has his own feeder. We halter the 'lead mare' so she can't bully the others away from their food and it works well. 

My favorite shed was the one at my parents' farm-- it was 16' deep and 36' long-- perfect for 4 or 5 horses, and on skids so we could move it. We put it in a breezy spot for summer, and near the grove for winter so the horses had shelter from any angle.


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## They Call Me Pete (Oct 27, 2009)

Our horses are 14.1, around 15.2 and 16ish hands. Run-ins will be 3 sided with the front open facing East so sun warms them in the winter. Our weather comes from the West/NW and very few times from the East. I guess if I'm going to build 2 12x16"s I could just make one big one and divide into "stalls" or just leave it open inside. I had planned on putting them on skids thats why I was building 2 smaller ones. I don't think my tractor would pull a large one and don't think could I turn it around in our pasture. Its long and on the narrow side


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

They Call Me Pete said:


> I guess if I'm going to build 2 12x16"s I could just make one big one and divide into "stalls" or just leave it open inside. I had planned on putting them on skids thats why I was building 2 smaller ones. I don't think my tractor would pull a large one and don't think could I turn it around in our pasture. Its long and on the narrow side



If you built this size and positioned them in close proximity to each other, at the right angle you could easily have the horses in either shelter, yet close to each other they would be herd content too.
Depending upon your paddock terrain will also have much to do with placement to catch cooling breezes and warm winter sunshine.
Close proximity might also allow you to use the buildings to protect each other from driving rains, snows and fierce winter winds that chill to the bone and y breathing creature.
I like the built on skids idea with the ability of the tractor to change location/direction as needed and season dictated.
With the cost of lumber and materials today check around to some of the barn builders and see if they have any models or returns available...might be a substantial cost savings and labor saver too.

_just a thought..._
:runninghorse2:...
_jmo..._


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

If you weather is anything like ours, you will want some shelter from the east-- either by boarding over part of the opening / walling in part of the front wall in the winter, or adding a 'wind board' or some sort of barrier to protect from an east wind. If you have two sheds, you could place them at right angles so the horses could have shelter from any direction if they can also get behind them. Our most miserable winter storms blow with an east wind, and those tend to be the ones that dump a lot of heavy, wet snow. The bitter cold storms come from the north/northwest and those are actually not as hard on horses as the wetter ones. I would suggest situating your sheds so the opening faces south in the winter, or adding wind barrier of sorts to protect from an east wind if you have them east-facing. Our horses gladly stand outside during most blizzards, but do take shelter during the ones from the east.


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## They Call Me Pete (Oct 27, 2009)

SilverMaple said:


> If you weather is anything like ours, you will want some shelter from the east-- either by boarding over part of the opening / walling in part of the front wall in the winter, or adding a 'wind board' or some sort of barrier to protect from an east wind. If you have two sheds, you could place them at right angles so the horses could have shelter from any direction if they can also get behind them. Our most miserable winter storms blow with an east wind, and those tend to be the ones that dump a lot of heavy, wet snow. The bitter cold storms come from the north/northwest and those are actually not as hard on horses as the wetter ones. I would suggest situating your sheds so the opening faces south in the winter, or adding wind barrier of sorts to protect from an east wind if you have them east-facing. Our horses gladly stand outside during most blizzards, but do take shelter during the ones from the east.


I like the right angle idea but only one would face South/S. East. I'm also thinking of instead of having the front wide open closing it off a little on each side so if we did get a storm from the East they'd have a wind break. I'm also toying with the idea of making part of the sides or back removable so in the summer I can get the breeze to flow through. The crazy part is we have a barn but not big enough for all of them plus I want them to have the option of coming/going on their own and the barn wouldn't allow that. I tried it and boss mare stood in doorway while other two never made it in.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

How about adding a lean-to using the barn wall as your wind/weather break and then just a roof structure?


Rafter height...
I would _go no lower_ than 10' high as horses playing will be horses and someone will bonk their noggin..:icon_rolleyes:

Use what you can to save $ and your time needing to build.
You might be able to give 2 shelters still for a fraction the $.
:runninghorse2:...


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## avjudge (Feb 1, 2011)

They Call Me Pete said:


> I'm also thinking of instead of having the front wide open closing it off a little on each side so if we did get a storm from the East they'd have a wind break.


We have two sheds, a summer one and a winter one. Both face south. The summer one (in a flood plain and with open pasture) is wide open to the south, 12x16 for 2 horses. 

The winter shed (up the hillside, woods, no grass) is 12x20 and half of the front is closed for weather protection. But I didn't close it in from the sides; instead, the center half is closed, so there's no front corner for a horse to be trapped in. That is, the front is 5' opening - 10' wall - 5' opening. It worked well -- not that we ever needed to worry about trapping with the horses we actually had. The wall in the center also made it easy install a divider, and a gate across one opening, so we could lock one in when they needed to be separated for feeding.

We have to change the 30-year-old roof before putting it back into use this winter, and the one change I plan to make is to cut out the top half of that front wall and replace it with a clear material to let in more light.


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

They Call Me Pete said:


> I like the right angle idea but only one would face South/S. East. I'm also thinking of instead of having the front wide open closing it off a little on each side so if we did get a storm from the East they'd have a wind break. I'm also toying with the idea of making part of the sides or back removable so in the summer I can get the breeze to flow through. The crazy part is we have a barn but not big enough for all of them plus I want them to have the option of coming/going on their own and the barn wouldn't allow that. I tried it and boss mare stood in doorway while other two never made it in.


I built my barn in the pasture because of the issues you stated. Each one has two doors, one in back one in front. I wanted openings to the south for winter time so the barn runs E-W with openings N & S. 

It is not fancy but it works well. Heavy rains always come from the SW so that corner is closed off. Bas storms come from the NE so that corner is also closed off. Thus the doors are offset. Even with this system, I had to build an extra stall because the bottom of the hierarchy was always stuck standing outside. 

Pictures: 

First is looking out the back (south) 
The partway open sides between stalls
The front facing North

My ground is all hilly so there is a natural slope for drainage


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## They Call Me Pete (Oct 27, 2009)

horselovinguy said:


> How about adding a lean-to using the barn wall as your wind/weather break and then just a roof structure?
> 
> 
> Rafter height...
> ...


I have played with this idea but the hayloft door is right in the middle of where lean-to would go. All the other sided are lower cause land slopes downhill. I buy round bales and feed in 1/2 bale hay nets so if I made another door my tractor would have to be able to lift it up to hay door. Might be a place for a new door on the west side on the barn. Might revisit this idea since I now have a tractor with a bucket. Last time i thought of it I didn't. Thanks for replanting this sed in my brain


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## starstripesnip (Aug 26, 2018)

Mine is 12x36 for 3 horses and a pony 🙂 works great!


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