# Shed row or traditional barn?



## Kriva (Dec 11, 2015)

We recently moved on to our own property so the horse window shopping is getting more intense. However DH says I can't get a horse until we have a barn built. I know...plenty of people have horses without barns, but I'm not going to argue if the man wants to build me a barn!


He had me draw up what I wanted so we could give the drawing to a friend that does metal buildings and get a price. I did two drawings, one is a shed row barn with three 10x10 stalls and a 10X10 tack/feed room. I drew a lean to cover on both sides. The idea is that one side would be accessible to the horse's paddock and the other side accessible to us humans wanting to enter a stall without having to walk through the paddock (feeding time). So the horses would have a cover in bad weather and the humans would have a cover in bad weather or when grooming. 

The other is a square, more traditional barn. 30x30 with three 10x10 stalls on one side (same concept), a 10x30 aisle, and three 10x10 "spaces" on the other side, one enclosed for tack/feed, one open for hay storage, and one open for equipment storage. 

We don't want to have hay stored in a loft type area because we are both getting older and don't want to have to put hay bales up that high or throw them back down...one of us would get hurt! (I'm not that old, but this is our forever home so I hope to still be tossing hay 30 years from now)

Any suggestions on which is a better layout? What would you pick if you had the choice? Pro's and con's of either? If it matters, we are in Texas so the winters aren't a huge problem, but getting a good cross breeze in the summer is important.


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## csimkunas6 (Apr 18, 2010)

We were in a similar situation, we have two buildings we can reconstruct a bit, one is a 36' by 12' run in, we were going to enclose two stalls, and have the third as a tack/feed area. Our other option is a 30' by 24' garage, plan is to build 2 stalls, a tack room, a hay/feed area and the rest open. We have opted to go the garage reconstruction route. 

This was mainly chosen due to location as the run in would be quite pricey to set up electric and water to with it being quite far from the house whereas the garage is right next to the house and will be fairly easy to get electric and water to. Another reason we chose the garage is that there will be more room for hay storage which was a biggie for us, we dont have the option of a loft area at this time so we need plenty of room to store on ground level.

Reconstruction hasnt started yet, but we have plans drawn up and Ill be taking plenty of pics as it progresses. I guess at the end of the day its completely preference, both of your ideas sound very nice!


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## ChieTheRider (May 3, 2017)

If price doesn't matter then I'd personally go with the second one. Just my personal opinion. Pros of having a barn with an aisle is being able to take the horses into the aisle and tack up. Also your farrier will probably like it better if he can get under an overhang when trimming in the dead of summer! If you don't worry about anything getting into the barn, open the doors at both ends and let the breeze go through. You can also put fans in. Also when you have a feed room right across from the stalls you don't have to carry feed the entire length of the barn to put in the stalls. Same with hay. 

But the shed row one will be cheaper, especially if it's just like an enclosed lean-to.


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## Change (Jul 19, 2014)

When I lived in Mojave, CA I built an 8 stall barn with center aisle, feed, grain and tack room. It was open air (2 x 6 rails inside) and the end doors were always (rope gates only). The 8 stalls were 12'x12' inside with 16'x48' runs. With gaps between the roof and the wall tops and the open air construction inside, it always had a good breeze blowing on those hot days.


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## Kriva (Dec 11, 2015)

I didn't really think about not having to carry feed or hay as far with a traditional barn design. DH did point out that if we go with that layout we need to make sure the opening at each end is wide enough for the truck to fit in so when we unload feed/hay we can just back right in and don't have to carry it as far. 

He also pointed out that we might want to make sure that at least one side of the stalls have larger openings so that we can get small equipment in there some day. After all, we don't want to clean stalls with a pitchfork and wheelbarrow forever, we might just want to drive a small tractor in there. That might be his hint at wanting a piece of equipment with a bucket on the front.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

My first though is that 10 x 10 is a small stable. The smaller the stable the messier it gets! I would go for at least 12 x 12. 

How you build depends a lot on the weather. 

If you are going for a traditional barn I would have the three 12 x 12 stables and an 8' aisle. This is plenty of room to tie a horse to groom or bath it. 

You could have the tack/feed room as 10 x 12 and have room for hay and bedding at the end. 

One thing I noticed when that side of the pond is how dark many barns are. To get the best light I would have clear Perspex roofing sheets at intervals down the barn.


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## rambo99 (Nov 29, 2016)

Shedrow barn works if you're in the south, also consider weather. It is nice to have a barn with isle and have doors on both ends. Can also do runs off stalls with the aisle way barn. Stalls really should be at least 10x12 at smallest. 

My barn is the isle way barn, but only have stalls on north side.At one time I had 6 stalls but we took them out several years ago. So have a huge isle we can keep two large round bales in there. Also have a feed tack room.

Our hay storage is in a separate building though, our hay barn is bigger than the horse barn.


Also I'd do rubber mats in stalls easier to keep them dry and easier to bed.


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## Whinnie (Aug 9, 2015)

I like having an aisle. Shade from the sun, a windbreak, out of the rain. Great for grooming, tacking up, for the vet and the farrier. also a place that is always dry. Your water spigot can be inside and also you can have floodlights. You may not be worried about the cold, but having that type of barn lets the horses keep themselves warmer with their shared body heat. I agree that 12 X 12 stalls are better than smaller.

I had a similar barn built years ago, it was a metal garage package with translucent fiberglass panels under the eves so it got light all the way around. The garage package was sent as a kit, the company sent 2 guys to build it on site. The only changes I made were sliding barn doors at either end and walk through doors at the back of each stall so there were two ways in and out of the barn for each horse. Keeping the doors open created the breeze (why it is called a breezeway) even when there was no breeze outside. My husband then added the stalls, 3 stalls and the 4th was the tack room with a wooden floor. Oh, the garage package also included insulation so I had that as well. It worked out very well for the sub-zero temps in the winter and the barn was actually cooler in the summer because of the insulation. It was much less expensive than a wooden building.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

One thing that would always worry me is only having railings to separate stables is a horse getting its foot caught in them 

As the horse at trainers for sale in another thread, u had a yearling filly do much the same with her back leg. She rolled and caught her hind leg between a gate and the metal post. The gate was solind and there was only about an inch between the gate and post. 
If there is something to hurt themselves on they will!


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

I'd go for an aisle over a shedrow unless you live where the weather is nice all year. Having that indoor space and an aisle is well worth it. You can always put doors off the back of the stalls for airflow and attach a pasture/paddock/runs off the back and add an overhang and get the benefits of both.


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## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

I agree with everyone else , 10 x 10 is small . IF you have ponies it would be okay. I would do 12 x12 , but that is also small. I prefer shed row , you can leave the back open and the horse can choose inside or outside. Have all openings at the back so if you need to get in a tractor to scrape or bring in dirt you have room. I missed doing that when we built pens. It would be so helpfull. I live in area that is usually hot, so we just have the mare motel type of set up, shade/rain covers. The aisle way is large enough for a small tractor to fit through. I did have a horse get cast in the pens , leg stuck between bars and poles, he was very old and did permanent damage . I have also seen horses get cast in box stalls and cause themselves severe damage. My pens are 18ft wide by 36ft long. The width gives them space to roll some and less chance of getting stuck. The horse that became cast had at age 32 started kicking fences.. no horse was next to him on side, and his girlfriend was on the other side. my hay area is separate .


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

Other things to consider:


-10x10 is small for stalls unless you have ponies or 14 hh quarter horses. 12x12 or at least 10x12 is nicer. Go bigger if you can, especially if you anticipate having horses in the 16 - 17hh range. If you're doing a row of stalls, set it up so you can take out the boards between two stalls to make one larger one for a horse on stall rest or a mare/foal if need be. 



- make sure your aisle is wide enough and door is large enough to be able to drive a tractor or pickup into the aisle. Your farrier or vet will appreciate this on a miserably rainy day, and it makes stall mucking so much easier if you can just scoop into the loader of the tractor. If you ever have to remove a deceased horse from a stall or get a tractor in to break up packed frozen bedding, a wide aisle is essential. I would go 10' minimum on the aisle width if you can.


- You want your tackroom enclosed if possible or everything will end up dusty and dirty no matter how clean your barn. Build with plans for plenty of electrical outlets, water hookups for a sink/washing machine/toilet, wiring for a heater/ac, and space for a refrigerator even if you don't plan to install them at this time. You may in the future, and it really helps with resale.


- I keep feed in the barn, but hay in another building. If your climate is decent, you can keep hay outdoors under a tarp much of the year, only taking a few bales at a time into the barn for convenience. This really cuts fire risk.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

For safety reasons hay belongs in a separate building. I wouldn't chance a fire. Either could work. 10ft is tight to work in drive through it works but to maneuver into a stall to strip or whatever you'd need something small to work with.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

My preference would be shed row. The lean to on each end would work as the "aisle" space for getting things done. You could put a firewall and store hay on the end.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

I adore my aisle barn, but then I live in Massachusetts. There's a lot of glorious days but very few that don't have some reason to get out of one kind of weather or another, or away from the deerflies. My farrier and vet deeply appreciate a well-lit, matted aisle to work in, especially when it is zero out. With electric outlets. 

I have little horses; my stalls are 11' square and work just fine, but if you are not even sure of what size horse you want, go bigger. 

Think about orientation before you break ground -- if the wind is terrible there, don't set it up so it whistles down the aisle. Or if the main need is cooling, maybe that's exactly what you want. The north side will be dark and cold, the west side will overheat the fastest, the south will warm up soonest in winter.


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

I like shed rows, but I don't need hay storage. Nor do we have many really bad weather days.

One friend built a shed row to start with, and later turned it into a barn when he started a breeding operation and needed foaling stalls. He found plans online specifically for doing that.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

My preference would be shed row. The lean to on each end would work as the "aisle"


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## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

I grew up with shed rows....in SE Texas. They had enough overhang that rain did not usually blow in, but not enough to keep a horse dry. As quickly as a I could, I moved to the barn with the center aisle. Ahhhhh.... 

An aisle is MUCH more easily lit for work at night, the vet, or farrier. You can walk a hot or colicky horse in it, out of the elements. 

In our current barn, I made the aisle 16 feet wide, so I could easily pass any activity with the carriage. The Boarder Beast’s new farrier loved it....

ETA photo


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## Kriva (Dec 11, 2015)

Great information, thank you all!! There's a lot here that I didn't think about. My original plans on the shed row barn extended the feed/tack room out to the end of the "aisle way" under the lean to on the "human" side of the stalls. Then I had thought to store hay outside on the side of the barn with an overhang and maybe one side for protection from rain. Really the main reason I changed that thought is because how I'm envisioning it all working, the horses would be able to see and almost get to the hay storage. To me that's an accident with a fence waiting to happen...not that they aren't all accidents waiting to happen 

I've tried to download my drawings to this thread for further inspection/thoughts, but since I'm in finance I do all of my drawings and plans in excel. I can't figure out how to show those. As soon as I figure it out I'll put them up. 

After reading things here though I'm going to find a way to make the stalls 12x12. Picturing the size of something in my head is difficult, but I do plan on getting a larger horse for myself. Preferably a draft cross of some sort. Would 12x12 be big enough for a larger horse? For the most part the horse(s) would not be kept in the stalls for long periods of time. We really don't get terrible winter weather. A couple of inches of snow and the entire state shuts down. We do get freezing temps but they don't usually last for more than the overnight hours. We have a lot of trees for wind protection, but they are the normal central Texas cedar trees so they don't provide a lot of shade. They're helpful in Winter but not quite as much in summer. So catching a summer breeze is more important than blocking bad winds/temps in the winter.


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

For a draft I would go 16 x 16 minimum. It just helps cut down on the risk of one becoming cast against the walls. You can probably get away with less, but the bigger the better for the big guys.


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## COWCHICK77 (Jun 21, 2010)

I have both a shedrow and a barn with center isle.
Both have their purposes but if I had only keep one I'd keep the barn with isle and modify it some.

I don't use the stalls or shedrow pens for my personal horses for the most part. I lease them out for overnight travelers. Mine are turned out in a lot behind the arena.

Anyhow, the shedrow pens are 12×24, the back half is covered by the lean-to. Horses who are not used to be in box stalls and need a bit to move love them. Those get rented out more than the box stalls. But for anything other than housing a horse not very useful.

The barn has 6, 12×12 stalls. 3 have the bars on top so horses can see each other, 3 on the other side have solid stud walls. Tack room on the end on the stud wall side each rack on opposite side of the 10 ft. Isle. 

If I was to change things in the barn, wider isle. 10ft I can get a pickup down, I can tie a few horses in but they need to be staggered. It can get crowded pretty quick.
I still love having the isle! Friend or hubby who shoes the horses have shade, I have cross ties set up. The breeze is lovely in the summer, sometimes we set up lawn chairs in there to get out of the heat.
In the winter, I have people ask if they can come shoe their horses or have the dentist work on teeth here because I can shut the doors, turn on the lights(also have the plexi-glass under the eaves for natural light) and it is out of the wind and snow. It can be quite comfortable.

Another note on how dark the barn can be, I have Prefiert stalls, the fronts are stained but the inside wood was white washed at some point. It makes a difference on the light inside! When I replace some boards and level the floors this spring I'm going to white wash again.

I don't use the wash rack, we use the tie rail and hydrant on the front of the barn for washing horses in the summer. The indoor wash rack is the space that houses the shoeing anvil, stands, tools and feed bins. Also my big chest freezer and a fridge is for summer drinks, water, pop and beer. Eventually I'd like to make it into a feed, med room. Covered and walled off like the tack room, a counter, cabinets and a big utility wash basin with hot water. 

I generally feed free choice round bales to my horses so I don't really store hay. I have full time boarders in the stalls this winter. She stored her hay outside the barn tarped. Not too far away it's a pain to get to but far enough were it doesn't obstruct access to doors or driving around it. I'd be more in favor of storing hay in a seperate building or area if possible.

If I lived in TX rather than NV I'd probably do an isle barn with the mesh stall fronts to help with air flow when it's hot. And make runs off off the stalls that can be opened or closed depending on what was needed or weather.


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## AndyTheCornbread (Feb 3, 2019)

I like longish 3 sided barns but that also have a fully enclosed shop & tack area at one end that has enough room to park a 35 horse diesel tractor in it and has a wood stove. That way I can keep my tractor warm as well as do other work in the shop. FWIW the shop I have now is separate from the actual 3 sided barn but when I build the next one I am shooting for all in one. With a 3 sided barn so long as each segment has poles fore and aft you can very quickly turn a section into a foaling box or recovery/catch pen with some corral panels if needed and I can have the 18 wheeler with 25 tons of hay pull up beside it and my hay crew can have it off and stacked right into the barn in under two hours. I hire 4 or 5 local Amish teenagers each year to do the hay work for me. Even paying them $10 - $12 an hour in cash I still come out ahead, they are hard workers. My primary use for a barn is hay storage out of the rain and snow and where the deer and elk can't get in and tear up my bales. If your primary use for a barn is other than hay and equipment storage this might not be as useful to you as it is for me.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

I have a pole barn, also would qualify as a modified shedrow barn.
I have 4 dedicated 12x12 box stalls, then a feed room where I can keep some hay stored so not having to drag a bale at a time to feed from the hay storage area...
When it rains here, it rains and nothing stays dry when outside for more than 5 seconds....
My overhang to the north side is 4', to the south I have 18' as I also use my overhang so my horses can come home at any time for out of sun or weather reprieve and stay dry with no access to closed stalls during the day.

I have had several sizes of horses in my barn, not all mine but horsesitting for friends brings different bodies and breeds occasionally.
My one friend has a draft cross, think Percheron x Thoroughbred...about 16.2 & large boned.
He was very comfortable in my box stall. Was able to turn around, lie down and take a good roll in the stall and me not worry of getting stuck.
If you go to the "off-sizes" you are also going to need to get inventive for corner posts and wall supports for those extra lengths...not as easy as you think.
Lumber comes in set sizes and anything different gets very expensive very quickly to use.
If you build on the multiple of 4' you will have better success and ease for lumber.
Not only must you consider stalls size but as stall size increases for larger horses so_ must_ your rafter height for head clearance too..._don't neglect high enough rafters for larger horses._

I found Horizon Structures has some nice tutorials about barn basics you can learn tips from, see different styles and dream of the things we all would love but when $ is reality so must our needs be.
_https://www.horizonstructures.com/_
I would also look at Morton barns as at one time they were one of the best in the business...
_https://mortonbuildings.com/projects/stable_
I know Morton was the barn builder for the Budweiser Clydesdale barn when they were at SeaWorld Orlando...years ago when Anheuser-Busch owned the parks.
Those barns were spectacular for design and modifications for those large horses who often had a baby at their side...so some real ideas if you need them might be found.
Barn Pro is another builder with pricing and options found on their site you can use for reference...not sure if they are in your state or not.
_ https://www.barnpros.com/barn-plans-products.aspx?itemid=1889&pagetitle=Barns_

Build with the foresight done from the get-go cause once it is done, it is done and not going to be easy to do any changes unless planned for today.
Prefab barns offer many good points and made with a intended sized animal can be built sturdy enough to handle the extra forces larger breeds can do on a barn.
Build with a mind to your weather conditions...both summer and winter needs.
Central Texas... consider concrete block since you also encounter severe storms in summer and winters wrath too do you not?
I would _*not *_do a metal barn in Texas as blistering heat, intense winds from severe storms happen often and those metal barns are thin sheet metal and a poor excuse to stand against those storms...tearing sheet metal is deadly to horses.
Thin sheet metal barns also are dangerous to horses if they kick from inside or out...it is still thin metal.
Many have them, many use them..a ticking time-bomb.
To me if you are building it yourself why would you start a project with a known high risk factor with a innocent kick at a fly gone terribly wrong and through a wall...injuries are more apt to be horrific, truth!

Bottom line is either barn of shed-row or center aisle works when well designed.
Good layout, thoughts to what needs are in the future plans to make life easier for you...
One thing I see many not do regardless of where it is is not to place the barn to collect summer cooling breezes but warmth of winter sun...it can be done.
Many also not raise their barn but build on grade and that to me is a mistake...remember the cooling breeze, a simple way to get this is raise the barn a few feet above grade helps immensely.
Built above grade also stops flooding from heavy rains from storms and or snow melt...
Loosing your stalls from flooding, loosing your feed and hay supply, your husbands tools, tack...all in the advance planning and few $$ spent now saves time and hundreds of $$ later...honest.
It also looks really nice to see the barn set on a grade as a welcoming beacon when coming home. :smile:

I love my barn, but if doing it again...still would be a shed row design because of the overwhelming heat/humidity of my location but I would extend protective walls so wind driven rains _*not *_blow in from the ends quite so easily. A extra 4' wall length would solve near every one of my problems I fight with every rainy season.. Somehow making it retractable yet storm sturdy and strong would be heaven-sent.
Planning, all in the planning....enjoy the planning for the perfect for your needs build done.
:runninghorse2:...
_jmo..._


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