# Building a mini barn for my weanling. Any ideas...help



## Lil Timber Buck (Oct 28, 2011)

My husband and myself are about to buy the materials to build a miniature barn for our new weanling. We only have the one miniature so it would be all his. I am looking for ideas on this. Any good advice, pictures of your barns, ideas on types and heights of feeders, door height, stall requirements......etc etc etc. Thanks in advance. you guys are GREAT!!!


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## SHANA (Oct 28, 2011)

I have seen people buy at Canadian Tire or Wal-mart, etc those small tool sheds they use for lawn tractors, etc. If not insolated they insolate them, most have a window and make a mini barn with them. You can buy different sizes, but a 10 by 10 one would be fine for one mini. You could make him a 6 by 10 stall and that would leave you four feet in front of the stall door as you go in to stoor hay, bags of shavings, grain bins, wheelbarrow, etc. Just a thought. They usually can be bought for about $1000 and then you would just have to fix up a stall, etc for your mini.


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## MindyLee (Oct 28, 2011)

heres my 6x8 4-sided run in lean toos that cost only aprox $100-$150 each.

heres examples of 2 that I have.

these are my stallions homes. as you can see one boy has straw and dose great on it and my other boy is on shavings cause he eats straw.

they can easly fit 2 A sized minis in them at the same time with no problem.

materials

2x4's

1/16 plywood sheets.


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## Marty (Oct 28, 2011)

First and foremost, bigger is always better. Some people think that just because a mini can fit in a small space, he should live in one. Nah.... Also, whatever you build, do it twice because I really hope you won't leave your little guy alone too long without a friend of his own species to buddy up with. They do need companionship.








My stalls in the main barn are 10 X 10 but I would not go any smaller. Here is a picture of my two stall barn which I use when I get an overload in the main barn. My son built most of this for me in about a weekend, pretty much by himself. The second weekend he added the roof and it was done. It has two 12 X 12 stalls and it is made from 4 X 4 pressure treated posts and OSB board.Rafters are 2 X 4. The doors are less then three feet tall, I forgot exactly, but its important that when I close a door on a horse, he can easily see out without a struggle. The roof is tar paper and shingle as I hate metal with a passion. I leave the doors open for anyone to go in and out, but I also have the option of closing them when bad and dangerous weather strikes. I never leave that kind of option to a horse to decide. My son made top doors but I removed them because there is no electricity there for lighting and I couldn't lock a horse up in the dark like that. This two stall barn cost a little under $500. to build. Since this picture I have added vinyl siding and insulation to it which of course has opted the price of it but OSB will not last forever without it being exposed. Its shown here with severe weather paint on it that actually does last a long time.


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## Miniv (Oct 29, 2011)

What ever you do, don't build for just ONE mini.



Secondly, be sure there is plenty of ventilation and face the front away from the prevailing winter storms you get.


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## rabbitsfizz (Oct 29, 2011)

I agree completely with Marty (I usually do



)and the other advise of not building for only one is spot on, cos if you think you are going to just be having one, think again!

For a start one tiny weanling on his own is going to be lonely- that will govern the size of a shed, too, as there is no way you can shut a tiny, lonely little foal into a 6 x 8 shed on his own- he would be desolate.

So, as big and as open as you can possibly afford and easily accomplish- you can get pretty big ready made sheds or you can find pallets free pretty easily and then you can rebuild Buckingham Palace if you want- for nothing!


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## Jill (Oct 29, 2011)

Here are some of our simple but well serving barns and run in shelters:


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## Genie (Oct 29, 2011)

We added a couple of structures this year.

The larger arena could be used if a storm comes up quickly and our old bank barn has the foaling stalls in use.

I could see using our new building with stalls around the sides and keeping the centre section open for exercise if we had no other barns.






The shelter is for the weanlings and could easily have a loft to hold enough hay for a month and backs toward the prevailing winds.






The round pen has a shelter backing toward the prevailing winds.






THe snow gets very deep in this part of Southwestern Ontario so minis being out 24/7 where we live is not an option.






Our old barn keeps 30 horses comfortably.


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## SHANA (Oct 29, 2011)

Genie that is what tractors and snowblowers are for to get rid of the snow in the horse paddocks.



We get quite a bit of snow here in southern Quebec and I have wintered horses outside but hubby would clean the paddocks with the tractor and snowblower. Always blowing the snow over the fence away from the horses. Though I do have stalls in the barn if the weather is really really nasty but my vet said it is much healthier for the horse to stay outside year round as long as they have shelter, hay and fresh water daily. I feed hay year round and have round bale feeders. Right now one round bale lasts 13 mini mares about 4 days. They can eat whenever they want, free choice. They have a salt and Sup-R-Block(minerals) in their pasture as well. The only hard part is feeding grain, usually tie them to the fence with their grain dish and once everyone is done let them all go. Plan to get some bunk feeders or have hubby build some.


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## mydaddysjag (Oct 29, 2011)

I just built a barn and put up a tiny dry lot paddock and small pasture this year. Mine is like martys, the whole building is 12x24, but I have mine made as 3 8x12 stalls. These stalls are PLENTY big for even my big B horse. I could have done 8x10 and still been in the clear size wise, and I like big stalls. If I were breeding and had to foal out mares, I wouldn't go smaller than 10x12. Funny thing, I only had one horse when I build this barn, I figured, better build bigger in case we make an addition. The third stall was intended for me to store tack, feed, and some hay in.

Well, somehow Im not having to put up another structure for my tack, feed and supplies. We went from one horse to three horses since august. I really suggest getting him a horse friend if you can swing it, a foal around his size so they can run and play. Horses are herd animals, and dont like being without atleast one companion. A lot of people like goats, but Ive never been a fan of them. A while back a forum member had a goat who ate their show horses tail





My barn was built with mostly recycled materials. It took us about two months to "finish" it, although its defiantly still a work in progress. It could have been built much faster if we were using new lumber. All of my 4x4's, 2x4's, and roof rafters were reclaimed from houses that were going to be demolished. I posted ads on craigslist and had someone contact me. Of course, this means we spent weeks pulling nails from wood, scraping spray in insulation out of rafters, etc. My roof is tar paper and that rolled roofing material. That alone cost a couple hundred. I could have never afforded real shingles. Once I save more money, were planning to get that corrugated looking rubber roofing stuff and put over it, so this is just a 1-2 year temporary thing. I also plan to size the 3 sides that arent in my pasture, and put something like T1-11 on the front in the future. I worried the horses would chew the siding, I have some silly horses





It is built on "skids" so technically it is portable, just dont know how we would ever move it. If we built the posts into the ground, we would have been required to have building permits, and would have to pay taxes on it yearly.

I would have to look at all the receipts, but even using mostly recycled materials, we spent around $2,000. I honestly thought it would be under $800 when we started, but I way underestimated. The $2,000 doesnt include things like the french drain we put under it, the stall mats, some of the hardware like stall latches and bucket hooks.

My dividers are 38", I need to measure my stall doors again, but they are right around that size too. I have one horse who CAN jump his door, although he can just reach his head over to look out. I do have dutch doors on the top of my stall doors, but they arent solid, they have an insert that is made of rigid wire "fencing". This way they still get plenty of air, can see outside, but I can close them at night to keep predators out.

Anyway, Ill post a link to my facebook album that has some pictures of my barn in it. The barn wasnt quite finished in these pictures, I just never got around to taking more.

Building a barn


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## susanne (Oct 29, 2011)

.

http://www.oklahomahistory.net/palletshed.html

Here's a wood pallet (often found for free) shed that anyone can build...procrastination is the only reason we have yet to build ours. You could easily put in screened windows up high (under the slope of the shed roof) for ventilation, and you could extend the roof for more overhang.

The pallets, which use 2x4s, act as the framing, and they are bolted together with the addition of corner 2x4s or 4x4s, then sheathed in plywood or siding. Altogether, this makes a simple, inexpensive, yet extremely sturdy shelter. The photo instructions are very clear, making this a shelter anyone can build.

My plan -- with inexpensive furring strips, I can make the siding look like board-and-batten.


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## kuusou (Oct 29, 2011)

Our barn. Guess its about 4x4 m + 2x4 where we keep the hay.






Inside


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## Marty (Oct 29, 2011)

Ok I can't help myself and I know its off topic but I would love to interject that right now, CMHR has two adorable weanling colts for adoption that would love to be a companion to your baby. One is a palamino appaloosa named Thor with an adorable spotted hiney and the other is a very handsome boy with the longest legs ever named Sawyer. We are running an Adoption Fair right now as we speak and bidding starts at $100 with no reserve. I really think you need to fill up that second stall that everyone wants you to build!

http://www.chancesminihorserescue.org/rescues/index.htm


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## Lil Timber Buck (Oct 30, 2011)

WOW LOOK AT THE RESPONSES!!!!!!!!!! Thanks to everyone! I will go over all of these with my husband and compile the best of the best for our weanling. To put everyone's mind at ease, he is not alone ;-) Marty, I would LOVE to adopt one of these beauties, but we just don't have the property to do it right now. He has two regular sized horses to play with that we own as well. They are not his size, but they get along pretty good and he loves to pester them. Plus, I play with him a lot and LOVE to be his mentor in life. I think it is so neat that half the stuff I show him every day he has never seen before and is trusting me to show him things in life. Anyway. thanks again to everyone. We really had no idea where to start. I just figured it would be just like the big horse barn...but SHRUNK! Just like everything with minis...except their heart . Anyway, I will let you guys know what we come up with. There will be more questions I am sure.


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## rabbitsfizz (Oct 31, 2011)

Ummm.....



You don't actually turn him out with the big horses, do you???


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## Genie (Oct 31, 2011)

Lil Timber Buck said:


> WOW LOOK AT THE RESPONSES!!!!!!!!!! Thanks to everyone! I will go over all of these with my husband and compile the best of the best for our weanling. To put everyone's mind at ease, he is not alone ;-) Marty, I would LOVE to adopt one of these beauties, but we just don't have the property to do it right now. He has two regular sized horses to play with that we own as well. They are not his size, but they get along pretty good and he loves to pester them. Plus, I play with him a lot and LOVE to be his mentor in life. I think it is so neat that half the stuff I show him every day he has never seen before and is trusting me to show him things in life. Anyway. thanks again to everyone. We really had no idea where to start. I just figured it would be just like the big horse barn...but SHRUNK! Just like everything with minis...except their heart . Anyway, I will let you guys know what we come up with. There will be more questions I am sure.


Many years ago we had a tragedy with a "big horse/little horse" . A playful kick from the big horse ended our little horse's life. They were friends but "size matters" I hope you are luckier than we were.


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## Lil Timber Buck (Nov 6, 2011)

No he is separated from them, but they can talk over the fence. I wouldn't put him in there with them.


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## ~Dan (Nov 6, 2011)

Kuusou, your shelter is very neat!! Love your roan in the second picture.

Dan.


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## Hayley~Diaz (Nov 6, 2011)

It would be a good idea to build a small tack/feed room next door.

My stalls are open designed and about 3x4m. My tackroom/feed room sit next door.

VENTILATION-

A huge priority is ventilation!

Be sure you have plenty of ventilation as this reduces chances of respiratory problems and other illnesses. Ventilation is best above the horse as the air obviously rises. If you put the ventilation on the ground you will probably cause the stable to become drafty and cold.

FLOORING-

With flooring, if you choose to use concrete, make sure you cover it very well. Even putting horse specialized rubber over is a good idea. Bear in mind, concrete doesn't retain any heat. Also with concrete, you would need to make the level slightly 'tilted' so wee's will hopefully run off. Concrete doesn't absorb wee's, so you will have to wash out the floor every so often. A tip is to spray watered down iodine to reduce the smell of ammonia. (if you have good ventilation, you shouldnt have this problem). if you use dirt flooring, bear in mind your horse may dig giant holes!

BEDDING-

Always use untreated materials, as the chemicals may be poisonous. Sawdust is cheap, but quite dusty. Your horse may straw, shredded newspaper is good for horses with respiratory problems (but not good for greys as the ink stains the horse). I would recommend wood shavings. Get what you can afford and is easy to get.

STABLE SIZE-

For my minis I like to have a 3x4m stall so if i need to put two horses in one, there is still enough room. For the height, atleast 2m tall would allow you to walk in easily and the horse wouldn't be able to hit his head if he was to rear.

STABLE DOOR-

The double doors are usually the best. Accept the top door usually shouldnt be needed (because of ventilation reasons). Make sure your mini can see outside, as horses love to watch the yard's activities and it reduces boredom. Make sure the door is wide so there is less chance of the horse banging his hips on the sides.

PREVAILING WINDS/RAIN-

The stable should face away from prevailing winds/rain.

I studied stable designs at school, so if you have any specific questions, feel free to ask!!


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