# Can we see pictures of your barns and stalls



## GrandmaC (Jan 15, 2011)

My husband and I have been drawing on and off, planning a new barn.

If anyone cares to share we'd sure appreciate some pictures, ideas and warnings too.

Min size of stalls, min size of foaling stalls. We want a tack room, hay room and wash racks (2)

We may start and add on the following summer.

Many years back I saw a two story barn and it was awesome they had stalls on the 2nd floor.

It was pretty unique and cool. Kind of like a barn with a ferry boat interior where you can walk horses up to the 2nd floor and

they had full sized horses






Looking forward to the input, advice and warnings and of course pictures. Many Thanks!


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## GrullaBlue (Jan 15, 2011)

I think there's a "sticky" post in the BEST OF mini forum on this particular subject, with lots of pics.... I've been through it before. I've loved looking at the ideas people have come up with for building stalls. So be sure to go check that out! The only thing that kinda stinks is, occasionally there will be links to pics that don't show up....the post may be so old (but worth saving!) that the photos have been removed....but there were still more than enough to get some ideas from!

A fun topic, however!!

Angie


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## Miniequine (Jan 15, 2011)

Hi

Exciting to build a new barn!!!

I can add a few things....

1) unless the second floor is a bank barn... enter from the ground.... I wouldn't have a loft.

I have a huge loft, and it has proved to be a great pain in the a$%^$%^ !!! too much effort!

The cats love it though





2) a wood barn is beautiful,, but maintenance is expensive and a lot of work.

3) Overhangs on the sides are a MUST! Well worth the cost.

4) instead of concrete isleway.. I had mine paved with asphalt.... WAY way cheaper... and I keep it

spotless clean with a leaf blower.

5) The iron bars between stalls.... I will never do again. Some horses love to rear.... and yep... stick there legs in the bars.. YIKES!

6) all my stalls open from the isleway and from the outside too. The top doors were all made so if the top is closed,, the bottom must be closed. I had to trim all the top doors.... I like being able to close the top doors in the winter,, cuts down on wind... but the minis can still go in and out.

7) my stalls are 10x10.. too big for minis.. One day I will move some walls.. and have several more stalls!

8) My stall doors (to the outside) all have windows. nice to have lots of light!

9) I have two lights in each stall and outlets for each stall. So glad I did that! Elec buckets in winter.... and 1 regular light

and 1 heat lamp if needed.

10) stall matts are nice.


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## GrandmaC (Jan 15, 2011)

Can't yet find a 'Best of' area on the forum, can someone direct me to it?


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## targetsmom (Jan 15, 2011)

I have removable wooden dividers between pairs of stalls to easily make foaling stalls. Metal pieces hold the dividers, with optional spacers between some of them so minis can see each other and air can flow. But feet can't get caught!

To find The Best of the Miniature Horse Forum, go back to "FORUM" and it is more than half way down the list, just above the Back Porch. You can also do a search on the Photo/Video Forum as I think this topic has been discussed there too. Good luck!


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## Suzie (Jan 15, 2011)

We just built a new barn this past summer and used some things I had not seen on the Forum before. We used the "goat fence" walk through metal gates as stall "doors" This works great. They measure 8'3" from end to end and our stalls are 10 feet deep. We ordered 14 from the factory in KY and just dropped them in place down the isle. We have an 11' concrete isle that allows us to drive our Kubota down the middle to clean stalls on each side. We also used a sort of rolling "pocket door" to close off the isle, it rolls out from inside the stall next to the stall partitions, closes the isle off when desired and rolls back into the stall partition for eazy self-storage. I love this feature. The boards between the stalls are all fitted in a slot in each end, They just lift out and in board by board, can be flipped over upside down to make closer spaces between the slits very easily or removed in about 3 minutes and stored to create a stall 20x20 for our big horse if necessary. They are secured in place at the top with a toggle bolt so the horses cannot raise them up from underneath or with rubbing. We also included 8 clear panels in our metal roof for natural light. Well worth it. This has been our dream barn. We have had several folks come look at it to get ideas for their barns. I have posted pics of it while under construction below.


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## Becky (Jan 15, 2011)

Barn pictures! I'm not sure how many I can load on one post, so this may be two posts. I just shot these tonight so forgive dusty barn and dark pictures!






This is my show barn. 24 X 40. Metal barn, fully insulated. Two overhead doors and a walk through door. Windows over every stall. Lots of light and ventilation. Stalls are 8 X 8. Plenty big for 34" & under miniatures.






Stalls are all metal with bars on the front and expanded metal 'windows' in between so the horses can view each other and get up next to their buddy. Barn floor is fully concreted and mats in every stall.






I bought these stalls used and the only thing I would change is to put the bars on front closer together. I do not like my horses putting their heads through as there is always the possibility they could get stuck. Hasn't happened yet, but it could. All stalls have sliding windows over every stall.






Other side of the aisle. 4 stalls on each side of the aisle. 8 total. Spotted nose sticking out of the first stall is the 2009 AMHA World Champion Multi Color Mare.


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## Becky (Jan 15, 2011)

There are two 8' flourescent light fixtures down the center aisle. Each stall has a pull chain light fixture over it as well. There are duplex outlets on the wall behind every other stall. Great for fans in the summer. There is a small office through the door you can see. It has a bathroom, sink and small refrigerator in it. Heated and air conditioned.






Another picture of the office.






This 8 x 8 area houses a treadmill, Pyranha fly control system (nozzles over every stall) and feed for the show horses.

I have another small barn across from this one with 4 8 X 8 stalls that I use for foaling my mares. It has cameras to watch the stalls from the house. I find that 8 X 8 stalls are plenty big for foaling mares under 34".

That barn also has an 8 X 16 groom room. Fully insulated, heated and air conditioned. One end is used for clipping horses and the other used for bathing with a 40 gal water heater and drain. Not big and not fancy, but plenty of room and it works! I am always so grateful to have this room for clipping horses when it's 100 outside and I am in the air conditioning!


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## GrandmaC (Jan 15, 2011)

It can get quite hot here in the summer (well, ok hot for me anyway) high 90's

and sometimes we've been known to get a couple or three weeks of 102 to 106.

We're wondering about fans high up on each side of the wall near the roof one

to push in new air and one to draw air out, up high. We're making a list of considerations.

We know we also want to try to so some solar, self supporting things, solar hot water heater, lots of shy lights.

We'd even like to get a small home sized windmill for the house and barn, not sure we'll go that far.


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## TheCaseFamily00 (Jan 16, 2011)

We put ceiling fans with lights in our barn and I love it!!


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## GrullaBlue (Jan 16, 2011)

http://www.miniaturehorsetalk.com/index.php?showforum=8

Hopefully this link should take you there?

There's a couple helpful posts right there on the main page.... the "I'm building a barn" and the shelters, feeders, etc.

But to get there, and other forum areas on this site....below the ads on the page, you should see a line that looks like this...

L'il Beginnings Miniature Horse Forums > Forum> Miniature Horse Forum > (then whatever you're looking at)

Just click on Lil Beginnings Miniature Horse Forums and it should take you to the listing of forums there are on here. Or Forum. The Miniature Horse Forum is where you are now.

(love the pics posted so far by the way!)



GrandmaC said:


> Can't yet find a 'Best of' area on the forum, can someone direct me to it?


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## little lady (Jan 16, 2011)

Keep the pics coming. Since new members and old are adding barns or improving barns(me) these pics are so helpful! I am always looking for good ideas.


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## Suzie (Jan 16, 2011)

GrandmaC said:


> It can get quite hot here in the summer (well, ok hot for me anyway) high 90's
> 
> and sometimes we've been known to get a couple or three weeks of 102 to 106.
> 
> ...


Summer heat is a problem for us also. The design of our barn is basically a natural "chimney" design. With huge doors on either end, wind and air are naturally drawn through the barn with both ends open, a "wind tunnel effect". We also oriented the design of the barn and placement to take advantage of prevailing wind flow in our area. It is amazing what opening those doors can do. We also installed ceiling fans down the isle for calm air days and have fans set up also to move air out of the ceiling. With 12' high ceilings and open overhangs, even hot days are pretty pleasant inside. With the concrete isle, we can also just spray it with water and it will cool the air as it evaporates in the evenings. In the cold of winter, the concrete isle and skylights that have a clear view of the sun with the leaves down in winter collects the heat and radiates it back in the barn at night. Even with temps in the single digits here lately, our water buckets do not freeze. Most we have seen is a light crusting on top. Every area is different and every horse owner has different needs, but doing some research online for energy efficient ideas in your area would be worth the time.


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## Eagle (Jan 16, 2011)

I don't have many good pics but I will take some tomorrow. Here is what I could find:

These are the two foaling boxes( still need painting)






By reneejewer at 2010-09-22

I have a row of 5 mini stalls






By reneejewer at 2010-08-29






By reneejewer at 2010-08-29

Paddocks at the moment (what a nightmare!)





Uploaded with ImageShack.us


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## [email protected] (Jan 16, 2011)

Thoroughly enjoying the barn pics, I have a few I've kept over the years of good design. I'm barn free, and the budget doesn't extend that far unfortunately. Crossing fingers I get to work on rectifying that this summer.

Becky love you're set up - very efficient use of space, plus love the metal windows between, great idea.

Eagle - what is the first foaling stall walls made from in the first pic?

Suzie like the goat gates and open/airy feel.


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## ~Lisa~ (Jan 16, 2011)

My barn is very open made with panels. We have "windows" down both sides while it does get cold here the barn is not really made for the cold. The horses spend about 10-14 hours out a day depending on time of year and really wanted a well venilated place they could be out of the weather and have a dry place to be.

Stalls were at one time 10x10 however since we have a lot less horses now we took out the middle panels and everyone now has 10x20 stalls.

I do love the look of the cute little wood stalls everyone has but for me this works well. They have a fly system to keep them bug free as well and we just finally put electric in the barn this year (the foaling stalls always had it) so now everyone has heated buckets in the barn





Our foaling stalls (which are now pony stalls) are 16x16 with large attached runs.


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## GrandmaC (Jan 16, 2011)

During rain, heavy snow and of course our notorious 25 MPH plus winds we were thinking of one side stalls and the other side

an indoor play area for days they don't want to be out. Like a 12 x 36 area where two, three or four can be together.

Not sure if that is logical or an accident waiting to happen. Thoughts on that?

12 x 36 or maybe 15 x 48 ft. Just a passing idea. Also could just build a barn with a small attached off the barn arena for bad weather turn out.

So many ideas!


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## Eagle (Jan 16, 2011)

[email protected] said:


> T
> 
> Eagle - what is the first foaling stall walls made from in the first pic?


They are large planks of wood that I bought from the DIY shop. It cost about 600 dollars for the whole lot plus the steel work.

OH has a steel factory and he did all the stalls in a weekend.

GrandmaC, I have a large play area in front of the barn door which is just an extension of the roof closed on 2 sides. It is great when it is raining hard or if there is too much snow in the paddocks. I put a bale of hay out and they can stretch there legs and interact. We have snow for up to 4 months here in Italy so it is important that they can still play together and keep their positions in the group otherwise they have to fight it out again in spring. I will post pics tomorrow (after I have cleaned up a bit)


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## Sandee (Jan 16, 2011)

Oh, so wish I had turnouts from each stall or a roof that extended out into a dry lot but the pole building was already built when we moved in. We just added stalls and ceiling fans over each one. First one is 12x 12 as we had a big horse first then the second picture is 8 x8 for the minis which I find a bit on the small side. If I had it all to do over I'd go for 10 x 10 stalls with a door to the outside for each one to a dry lot some sort of shade. As for the indoor exersice area well, that's a dream that I'll never get but it sure would be nice. Especially since we have so much snow in Wisconsin.


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## Eagle (Jan 17, 2011)

Sandee, I love your stalls, they are amazing. My stalls are much smaller than yours but mine only come in at night, I try to put them out as much as possible but I would love to make stalls like yours. I will show hubby when he gets home.


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## RhineStone (Jan 17, 2011)

Here are a couple photos of our barn. We have four 5'x10' mini stalls and three 10'x10'. (We have big horses, too.) Our horses don't spend a lot of time in our stalls, only for pellet feed and really bad weather, but each horse has their own stall. Our aisle is 11' wide, so we can take the tractor down the aisle. We really like the hay loft above. Not only do we store hay up there, but also other seasonal stuff and construction lumber. We can access it from the indoor arena. That is where we unload hay, no matter what the weather. We have a hay elevator that takes the bales up from the wagon to the loft. There is a chute right in front of the pipe gate in the photo where we drop hay into the aisle. I like that the majority of the hay is protected from oppossums to minimize the risk of EPM.

Someday, we want to insulate and line the entire barn, not so we can heat it (my husband has allergies and heated barns are a NIGHTMARE for him), but so that it stays cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. We would also love to rubber floor the entire barn to keep the dust down. I do water down the barn periodically. I don't want to concrete the floors though. We have concrete in the shop, the tack room, and the shower stall.







Our mini stalls can be made 10'x10' by removing the center boards. They are tongue and groove, so the walls are really strong. I really like our conduit pipes for airflow. We have one dent in one from a tractor bucket when we were dumping gravel in the aisle. Otherwise, they hold up beautifully to the horses (including a Belgian we had for a year), and are about 2" apart on center. We have never had a problem with a horse getting stuck in them.






There are other photos on our website on the Facility page including our shower stall: http://rhinestone-ri...es.com/Facility

Our building not only houses our horses, but the heated shop is in there, too, so I can go into the shop to warm up. That is one thing I would have a hard time giving up now. And I LOVE our Nelson waterer. I wish we would have installed them in every stall! I also wish our our shed was longer. It is 10'x40'. I wish it was about 12' or 14' deep and at least another 10' - 20' longer. That is something that is on the list to add someday.


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## drmatthewtaylor (Jan 17, 2011)

Here are some ideas after seeing many barns of all different breeds.

1)The barn should sit higher than it's surroundings, barns in the hollow or down the hill (even a small hill) are always damp.

2)Windows break, make them so they can be easily repaired.

3)Horses should not come in contact with the outside of the barn, they'll ruin it. Walk away from the barn to a paddock.

4)Tin siding will cut legs off. Protect it well.

5)Build barns for warm, humid weather; not cold. Healthy animals will not freeze to death. Humidity carries bacteria and viruses and will kill at any temperature. An unheated barn should never be 10'F warmer than outside air. Have a thermometer at the entry door and the middle of the barn to keep track.

6)Fans only move hot, humid barn air. Fresh air needs to come through the barn like a wind tunnel.

7)Grates and spaces between stalls and aisle should have smaller gaps than the smallest foal of your breed and made strong enough to not bend.

8)Automatic waterers (Ritchie is my preferred brand) are cheaper to run and provide better water than do tanks.

9)Native hardwood boards don't get chewed on, cheap pine will get chewed through.

10)Hay and horses should not be stored together.

None of these are hard fast rules, just suggestions after seeing a lot of well thought out designs go bad because they didn't understand horses.

Dr Taylor


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## Allure Ranch (Jan 17, 2011)

_I've emailed the Flip Video footage of our barn. If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact me._


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## Raine Ranch Minis (Jan 17, 2011)

Allure Ranch said:


> _I've emailed the Flip Video footage of our barn. If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact me._



I would love to see the video!


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## RhineStone (Jan 17, 2011)

drmatthewtaylor said:


> 3)Horses should not come in contact with the outside of the barn, they'll ruin it. Walk away from the barn to a paddock.
> 
> 4)Tin siding will cut legs off. Protect it well.


I wish we had more room to move the horses away from the barn. My mom's barn didn't have nary a nick from my old horses, but the filly and a couple of boarders over the years have beat up our steel wainscot on the building. We want to replace the steel wainscot with tongue and groove 2'x6" planking. We haven't decided if we should go with wood or composite 2x6s.



We lined our big horse stalls right away with planking, and those stalls are great, but our mini stalls on the outside wall where the horses are outside under the shed have little nicks in them. We have a friend that has a beautiful building and his awning shed is about 15' deep. The entire outside wall where the horses are next to is tongue and groove.

I am curious to know why Ritchie waterers?


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## Allure Ranch (Jan 17, 2011)

Raine Ranch Minis said:


> I would love to see the video!



_Please forward your email address to __[email protected]_ _and I'll send it to you._


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## drmatthewtaylor (Jan 17, 2011)

I am curious to know why Ritchie waterers?

I am unable to try/see every brand, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I like this brand because animals use it well, it is sturdy, and replacement parts are easy to find and get (like windows in the barn expect any warterer to break and be sure fixing it is easy).

I have been unimpressed by Nelson (many horses do not drink from them), Pax (may not even exist any more), small bolted to the wall type (freeze and leak), and all of the no electricity/ball over the water type (they work for cattle, but not for most horses).

Dr Taylor


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## GrandmaC (Jan 17, 2011)

Thank you so much to all who replied. I have a few questions



drmatthewtaylor said:


> Here are some ideas after seeing many barns of all different breeds.
> 
> 6)Fans only move hot, humid barn air. Fresh air needs to come through the barn like a wind tunnel.
> 
> ...


#6 Does the one fan pushing in and the fan at the opposite end is sucking air out, does this concept work?

#7 I always liked to see how much water each horse was consuming and one can't do that with an automatic watering system.

Realizing auto watering systems are convenient, and water buckets take time to clean and disinfect.

For those with auto watering systems, do you ever feel (for lack of a better word) uncomfortable that you can't know for sure if someone is drinking enough?

Have heard some people say a part broke and it was a day or two before they realized a horse in a certain stall was not getting water.





On thing I want to do is a wind block as we get some major winds on a regular basis. A wood barrier would be futile, we're thinking of doing a 5 ft high rock wall in an area of our two pastures. Something where they can stand up against when the winds hit.

I love my little area of the state, it's not humid and it's not rainy. The only downfall is the wind and I can deal with wind better than rain and humidity.


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## leeapachemoon (Jan 17, 2011)

You all have very nice barns/stalls. I'm enjoying the pictures and getting lots of ideas! Thanks for posting.


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## drmatthewtaylor (Jan 17, 2011)

In/out fans only work if the barn is closed. If its hot out, its not closed and the fan will only draw from the open door it is above. If you have a tall peak, 2 out fans can remove some hot air that rose.

Auto waterers vs outside 'tanks', not buckets. I agree, buckets in stalls.

Dr Taylor


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## RhineStone (Jan 17, 2011)

GrandmaC said:


> Thank you so much to all who replied. I have a few questions
> 
> For those with auto watering systems, do you ever feel (for lack of a better word) uncomfortable that you can't know for sure if someone is drinking enough?
> 
> Have heard some people say a part broke and it was a day or two before they realized a horse in a certain stall was not getting water.


No. There are usually other symptoms that go along with not drinking. The Nelson has an optional water consumption monitor. And the only way you would be able to tell if one was not drinking is if you had all your horses separated with their own individual buckets or waterers with consumption monitors. Horses are herd animals that enjoy each other's company. I'm not about to separate each one just so I can micromanage them.

We check our waterer at every feeding. There was once that they went without water, and it was totally my fault. I left the float lock down after I cleaned it. We also had it freeze up one year during a really cold snap (-10 to -20F), and that was our fault, too. The manufacturer says to caulk around the base every fall, and we didn't get around to doing that. Live and learn.



Those were the ONLY problems that we have ever had with our Nelson, and the service is great for ordering filters, etc. I can say that over the years of having a stock tank, that went dry more often than my horses ever did with the auto waterer. Since it is not something that would need filling everyday, it might be out-of-sight, out-of-mind. And I sure don't mind not having to haul a hose around or lug buckets of water while it is sloshing around your legs in the cold.

I have never had a horse that wouldn't drink out of a Nelson, and we have had it for 10 years with probably about 20 different horses over the years of all different breeds from minis to drafts and both English and stock horses. When we get a new horse in, we might leave a bucket in that pen for a day or so, but then we take it out. They see the other horses drinking and figure it out pretty fast. I also take the pan out of the waterer and have them drink the water out of the pan, then put it in the waterer with the top off, and they can drink out of it like that once. After that, they are OK with sticking their nose in the waterer. They like it SO much that I actually have a hard time getting them to drink at a show out of a bucket, even when we take our own water, because our horses like "moving" water.


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## Candi (Jan 17, 2011)

GrandmaC said:


> Thank you so much to all who replied. I have a few questions
> 
> #6 Does the one fan pushing in and the fan at the opposite end is sucking air out, does this concept work?
> 
> ...


Our barns have auto-waterers (ironically Ritchies)... LOVE them. Though - in our bigger barn they're built-up from the floor for our big performance horses - and the minis under 34" can't reach them! We have 4 more waterers that will go out LOWER this year for the minis. The show barn have another brand of autos (can't member name) but they are ALWAYS breaking, freezing, overflowing, etc. We've had Nelson's before and also had problems with horses refusing to use them.

For water consumption - you can EASILY install a water "meter" on the autos. We've done that to each of our waterers and can check how many (liters I think) of water has gone through since we last reset it. They're not very expensive and easy to read. I have no sympathy for the folks that didn't check their autos for days and their horses had gone without- SUPER easy to glance/check at the bowls to see if there's water. You have to go out to feed anyway...


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## GrandmaC (Jan 17, 2011)

RhineStone said:


> No. There are usually other symptoms that go along with not drinking. The Nelson has an optional water consumption monitor. And the only way you would be able to tell if one was not drinking is if you had all your horses separated with their own individual buckets or waterers with consumption monitors. Horses are herd animals that enjoy each other's company. I'm not about to separate each one just so I can micromanage them.


I realize they're a herd animals and I'm not into the separating and micromanaging, they need to be out during the day

and in the summer on warm nights romping, playing and socializing with one another.

What I am talking about at night in their own stalls and during illness/injury when in a stall, or with a foal by their side or

during bad weather. I realize out in a pasture one has no way to tell who is drinking what.

Meters/Monitors??? LOL boy modern technology has advanced from 10 and 15 yrs back.


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## ~Lisa~ (Jan 17, 2011)

I agree with the concern on water intake - frankly not all horses show signs or symptoms that others recognize right away. That is why my horses come in every night so I can see who might be off feed- who is not drinking what is normal amounts for them and who is not passing normal for them amounts of manure. It does make a difference.

I personally believe every horse should get a break from the herd dynamic -those at the bottom seem to prefer being able to eat without worry of being chased away and those at the top seem to enjoy not having to be "on top" all the time.

There are many who are just fine being out 24/7 and many owners who love that.. just know there is nothing wrong with stalling your horses

I realize some here feel stalling horses is some form of cruelty and makes for miserable animals but that is simply not the case.

I did have a friend that quickly and easily added some sort of gauge to her auto waterers in the stalls so she could see who was drinking how much so it can be done

I do have a couple of the insulated buckets where they need to push down the top of the bucket to get water (not really describing it right) but only a couple of them would drink from them.

I for sure agree keep in mind hot weather rather then cold when building a barn good advice





In the end there are a million different ways to do things and the majority of them work so it is just about what you feel comfortable with and your horses thrive with


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## GrandmaC (Jan 17, 2011)

~Lisa~ said:


> I agree with the concern on water intake - frankly not all horses show signs or symptoms that others recognize right away. That is why my horses come in every night so I can see who might be off feed- who is not drinking what is normal amounts for them and who is not passing normal for them amounts of manure. It does make a difference.
> 
> I personally believe every horse should get a break from the herd dynamic -those at the bottom seem to prefer being able to eat without worry of being chased away and those at the top seem to enjoy not having to be "on top" all the time.



I've (many many years back) have worked for a well known top QH ranch in OK and 2 well known Arab farm/stables in WA.

I did a 8 to 9 pm check and a before bed walk through and many owners sang mine and my husbands praises for catching a colic early on. (these were large facilities

so with 60 to 70 horses it was in the odds to have a colic occasionally.( stress, training, leaving for shows, much activity and change

Seemed like everyone had a different type of hay, different amount, different grains and feed and a ton of various supplements)





But when I got up and started feeding at 6 am and noticed someone had a full water bucket? It made me keep a closer eye on their water consumption.

If a bucket is topped off after night feeding and at 8 pm and 11 pm and 6 am they have not drank? Well we would tend to keep an extra close eye out on them.

I personally like the out during the day (and some warm evening)

and in a stall at night or when ill / injured ( a stall with own turn out) and the week I usually keep a mare and newborn foal inside (with own turn out) and in bad stormy weather.


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## gvpalominominis (Jan 17, 2011)

Sandee said:


> Oh, so wish I had turnouts from each stall or a roof that extended out into a dry lot but the pole building was already built when we moved in. We just added stalls and ceiling fans over each one. First one is 12x 12 as we had a big horse first then the second picture is 8 x8 for the minis which I find a bit on the small side. If I had it all to do over I'd go for 10 x 10 stalls with a door to the outside for each one to a dry lot some sort of shade. As for the indoor exersice area well, that's a dream that I'll never get but it sure would be nice. Especially since we have so much snow in Wisconsin.


These look great... I'm envious. Of course if it was here right now... the cement floors would be all wet from the moisture in the air... = )


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## MountainMeadows (Jan 17, 2011)

Hi CJ - isn't it fun to see all the different barn layouts - I drool over many of them.

Our barn is set up on 12 x 12 stalls that are split "length-wise" (from aisle to back wall) with 2 x 6" rails that are dropped into a u-channel. Each 12 x 12 has 2 doors at the front aisle, so that when I convert to 6 x 12 each stall has an individual door (way easier for cleaning stalls). If I wanted to, I could pull all the dividers out and have a super long stall that is 12 deep x 72 ft long (I actually have done this on years when we have had tons of snow and I have been reluctant to put the babies out in deep snow drifts and leave them for the day while I am a work)

My stall walls are all short also, but can be made taller by adding more dividers - the front doors however are all about 32" tall - and if a horse really wants to they can jump out into the aisle, but the rarely do - even the studs are happy campers and I have never had a stallion jump out (better knock on wood - there is always a first time



)

If I was able to do anything different it would be to have doors to outside paddocks, or at least more doors in the main barn aisle opening to the outside so that I could turn out in 4 directions (right now I can only turn out in 2 directions) AND, I would have a minimum of 10 ft wide aisle - preferrably 12 ft wide. It seems like a nice wide aisle makes doing anything with the horses so much easier


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## gvpalominominis (Jan 17, 2011)

RhineStone said:


> Here are a couple photos of our barn. We have four 5'x10' mini stalls and three 10'x10'. (We have big horses, too.) Our horses don't spend a lot of time in our stalls, only for pellet feed and really bad weather, but each horse has their own stall. Our aisle is 11' wide, so we can take the tractor down the aisle. We really like the hay loft above. Not only do we store hay up there, but also other seasonal stuff and construction lumber. We can access it from the indoor arena. That is where we unload hay, no matter what the weather. We have a hay elevator that takes the bales up from the wagon to the loft. There is a chute right in front of the pipe gate in the photo where we drop hay into the aisle. I like that the majority of the hay is protected from oppossums to minimize the risk of EPM.
> 
> Someday, we want to insulate and line the entire barn, not so we can heat it (my husband has allergies and heated barns are a NIGHTMARE for him), but so that it stays cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. We would also love to rubber floor the entire barn to keep the dust down. I do water down the barn periodically. I don't want to concrete the floors though. We have concrete in the shop, the tack room, and the shower stall.
> 
> ...


Another nice barn.... wish I had an arena... = (


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## GrandmaC (Jan 17, 2011)

gvpalominominis said:


> Another nice barn.... wish I had an arena... = (




LOL you need an arena with all that rain on your side of the mountains





That's why I don't live there no more, to much rain, to much traffic. We're thinking of adding an arena summer 2012

after our show (business not horses) season late 2011. Here we need it for winter and wind





BTW just tried calling you and didn't get the voice mail, will try back in a little bit.


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## GrullaBlue (Jan 17, 2011)

I absolutely LOVE barn threads!! Rhinestone, I LOVE your mini stalls! My barn is very primitive and non fancy...and for now, consists of just two double-long big-horse stalls and a run in for my minis...rest is storage....dirt floor, I'd like to eventually put in some mini stalls...so it's fun to see these posts!

The topic of waterers made me want to throw this out...I, too, am a Ritchie person...and I like the all-poly watermatics. They're cheaper too...and when we bought ours, the cheaper model we got, you can shut one side off and just run the other, couldn't do that with the more expensive ones.

Anyway...the main thing I wanted to mention...is that the second time around, we found they had a new model out...a smaller version. I *think* we have the watermatic 150...I think that's what it's called. Well, the next one we wanted for our minis...we got one made for goats. It's the same thing as the one we had, only the middle part is cone shaped rather than flat (looks nice)...so goats don't climb on the waterer...and it's the perfect mini height! I think that one was the watermatic 150s. And by then, they'd come out with the forest green color rather than the ugly yellow and red...so we went with the green. It's the perfect height for the minis!!

Angie


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## Blackwater Farm (Jan 18, 2011)

These are some really gorgeous barns ya'll!!! I was wondering if anyone has these stalls.....My link. Or if you know anyone that has them. I think they are pretty sharp lookin and I like the Idea of the poly kick stuff but I wish they came in 10' X 10'!


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## GrandmaC (Jan 18, 2011)

Blackwater Farm said:


> These are some really gorgeous barns ya'll!!! I was wondering if anyone has these stalls.....My link. Or if you know anyone that has them. I think they are pretty sharp lookin and I like the Idea of the poly kick stuff but I wish they came in 10' X 10'!



Some companies will do custom work, why not call and ask, worse they can say is no.

My personal motto..................'They can't say NO if you don't ask'


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## Eagle (Jan 18, 2011)

Blackwater Farm said:


> These are some really gorgeous barns ya'll!!! I was wondering if anyone has these stalls.....My link. Or if you know anyone that has them. I think they are pretty sharp lookin and I like the Idea of the poly kick stuff but I wish they came in 10' X 10'!


Wow these are almost identical to the ones my hubby made me, and I thought I was being original





It is not expensive to get them custom made and that way you can choose the size.


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## Suzie (Jan 18, 2011)

Those poly-kick stalls are so cute, but my boys would wreck those in a minute. We have too many colts and stallions (and sometimes the geldings) here that like to really "work" on my partitions. Some days I marvel that the mares can be so laid back and the boys so rambuncious, but I guess that is why I love my boys the best.



Some days I think I need my stalls and fences made of something indestructable.


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## raine (Jan 22, 2011)

HI RhineStone,

I love the floors in your barn, we are in the process of putting together our first barn so this is all giving me lots of ideas..

I want to know how you got you floor so even and firm and is it just dirt on the floor or have you laid some type of material and compacted it....

Thanks Raine

.



RhineStone said:


> Here are a couple photos of our barn. We have four 5'x10' mini stalls and three 10'x10'. (We have big horses, too.) Our horses don't spend a lot of time in our stalls, only for pellet feed and really bad weather, but each horse has their own stall. Our aisle is 11' wide, so we can take the tractor down the aisle. We really like the hay loft above. Not only do we store hay up there, but also other seasonal stuff and construction lumber. We can access it from the indoor arena. That is where we unload hay, no matter what the weather. We have a hay elevator that takes the bales up from the wagon to the loft. There is a chute right in front of the pipe gate in the photo where we drop hay into the aisle. I like that the majority of the hay is protected from oppossums to minimize the risk of EPM.
> 
> Someday, we want to insulate and line the entire barn, not so we can heat it (my husband has allergies and heated barns are a NIGHTMARE for him), but so that it stays cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. We would also love to rubber floor the entire barn to keep the dust down. I do water down the barn periodically. I don't want to concrete the floors though. We have concrete in the shop, the tack room, and the shower stall.
> 
> ...


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## gatorbait4sure (Jan 22, 2011)

Our barn does have the venting system where there are two BIG fans in the top of the barn. One blows in and the other out. They are set to temps, so only turn on if the temp goes up to where we have them set. This and a stand fan in the isle keeps the barn circulating and cool all Summer. We also put in two big screened skylights over the isle, that we keep open all Summer. The skylights add light in Winter when we need all we can get!

The stalls are 6 x 12, all opening out to a communal paddock. The barn isn't an in and out unless I want then all in together. The in and outs are in the paddocks.

The whole kit and kaboodle is matted, isle and stalls. Our doors are swinging grills that everyone can hang heads over, including the stallion stall which also has a grill on top to close if need be. The grills also contribute the the good air circulation. They also allow everyone who wants to, to hang out and "chat" with neighbors.

I do use a bucket system inside for water so I can watch consumption, heated in Winter and not in Summer. OUTSIDE we use an irrigation system set up for three seasons, which not only waters our pastures but works the automatic waterers. This does need flushing and turning off in Winter as they are not heated, and then we use heated muck buckets in all the paddocks.


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## RhineStone (Jan 22, 2011)

raine said:


> I love the floors in your barn, we are in the process of putting together our first barn so this is all giving me lots of ideas..
> 
> I want to know how you got you floor so even and firm and is it just dirt on the floor or have you laid some type of material and compacted it....


We have sand in our area, but wanted a firmer surface in our barn. So we laid gravel in the whole barn. It has been there a while so it is mixed with dirt now, but I just rake it smooth. I will lay shavings in the stalls sometimes when we keep horses in. We really want to rubber mat the entire barn to keep the dust down. We do water down the gravel now, and don't want concrete. Our indoor arena is a clay base (that we had hauled in) with wood landscape shavings over the top. We LOVE that for driving.


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