# I'm Building a Barn



## Novel_tfarm

We have hired a contractor to build our barn. My father who is the NON-Horsey Person is "In Command" We have all miniature horses and I would like to be able to show him some "Mini" Barns..... Our barn is going to be a 60 x 60. Please tell me things you would do different, things you would like to add, Things that are a "MUST HAVE". If possible post your pics or send them to [email protected] Thanks everyone


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## ponyboi09

hey i will try to get some pics tomorrow of my barn and post them but i can tell you one thing that has proven very handy in our barn. We made it to where we could have either 2,3, or 4 stalls at a time. We intentionally made plans for a four stall barn, but we made every other stall wall removeable, that way i could turn any stall into a birthing stall and it wouldnt matter. My step-dad made a slot so that we could just slide the pannels right out. we are now adding me a room up stairs(YAY) for foaling perposes. i want to be close when they go into labor so im turning a portion of my loft in to a living quarters...i've yet to have foals but the stalls have come in handy when someone gets sick or if two little ones would rather sleep together than alone




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Best of luck to ya on building.

Will


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## Novel_tfarm

Do most people use " Panels" for stall dividers ??? I have seen one barn made entirely of Cattle panels. She said that way when she walked in the barn she could look down the aisle and "See" Everyone. But that worries me. Could they get "Cast" ? Put a leg through and break it..... I have also seen Solid wood dividers with Iron Slotted Stall doors so that the horse would not feel closed in. I'm thinking Electrical outlets at every stall with Frost free hydrants. We will be later adding living quarters onto one end or possible in the loft area. We are also "Pre-Wiring" for all video and audio componets. What type of flooring do you like ?? Our old barn had concrete floors and it was horrible.... I thinking like concrete in wash stall and tack area.....


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## Happy Valley

Check out Marty's website. Her barn is great!

Stacye


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## ponyboi09

im sry i used the wrong word, my "pannels" are solid and made of wood, no holes or nothing like that, it would be to risky on breaking a leg or something. I just didnt know what to call them

Will


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## wildoak

We just built a new barn and used Priefert panels for dividers. The spaces in them are too small to kick through, let light and air circulate, and they can easily be taken out to enlarge a stall. The only negative I've found is that they can be really noisy if a horse kicks or paws at them. Especially in the middle of the night when you are sleeping 15' away LOL.











Two interior stall shots. I need to get new pictures, just hasn't been time to blink lately.

Jan


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## ponyboi09

ooooooo...i live those, your barn is soo spacious, im jealous.

Will


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## Marty

*My father who is the NON-Horsey Person is "In Command" *

That could prove to be mistake #1

Hope they are willing to listen to horsey fok. It would help a lot I think.

If you've got an hour, feel free to browse my website and click on "diary of a barn'

www.BraveLittlePrancers.com


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## Little Wee Horse Farm

Here's our barn. Planned it myself, so it has all I've wanted in a barn We have no loft, but one side is used for hay storage and bedding. (thus no loading hay up to it, or climbing up to get it, or tossing it down) .Has a "pass-thru" in the middle that contains feed bins, brooms, wheelbarrels etc. More handy than having all this stuff at one end of the barn.

Part of the roof goes over a run-in where the horses can go in & out (happiest that way, I think). In the winter, we add solid panels to the run-in to make it more comfortable, but leave a section open so they can still go in & out. The run-in opens into the barn hall thru two dutch doors.

Also, but you can't see it in the pix, there's a "stallion" stall, that's taller sided than others. This has dutch doors that open into the run-in & the stud or "new kid" can meet the herd over the bottom door, that's mini "nose height." The pix with the carriage lights is on the opposite side from the run-in.

Overall size is about 50 x 60. Stalls are 8 x 12, with removable walls to make them bigger if need be.

Oh, and for anyone wondering, the yellow tags are fly repellent tags, NOT numbers. Oh my, our little sweeties are by no means numbers!


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## kaykay

i really think that foaling stalls should be enclosed by solid walls. I know my mares like the privacy when they have a foal. I have seen other barns with the open stalls and the mares are constantly charging the mare in the next stall to say away from her foal. I think foaling mares feel more secure when they cant see other horses lookig at them


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## Frankie

Maybe my mares are hussie's then, cause they really don't care. :lol:

I use cattle panels for stalls, main reason, my camera can see more stalls that way. See through the stall walls so to speak. But, just works for me.

Love all the photos of your barn. I need a new one sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bad.


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## wildoak

Little wee, your barn is just gorgeous, you did a great job on it.





Our old foaling barn consisted of partially covered runs, and yes the mares did become very possessive once they foaled, and spent much of their time charging the mare next door. As a "Bandaid" fix one year, I took a new tarp, folded and stapled it over the entire fence in the stall - worked so well I left it there for years. Our new barn is very open with the priefert panels, so I may have to improvise again until I make a permanent change in one stall.

Jan


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## maryann

I still like our PVC railing half way up the stalls. Allows us to see in and them to see out and not feel so

isolated. We left them far enough apart for them to get their heads through . The plus side of that is they can stick their heads out and see everyting going on in the barn. Kids can pet them without having to go in to the stalls. The down side of that is they can get their heads out and and see everything going on in the barn.LOL :new_shocked: It allows them to sniff each other when we are leading other horses in the barn and they can nip at each other if we tie one to change tack or groom near anothers stall. If we had it to do over we would put the PVC closer together. But I still love it. Must have pleanty of tie rings, and lots of ventalition. We have lots of windows and doors so we can close up tight in bad weather and open up for great air flow. Good luck with your new barn and have lots of fun. OH I forgot with minis , always always leave room for adding on. :bgrin maryann


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## hhpminis

I dont have pictures of my barn but one thing I can add is plan ahead for where to locate your stall door. Our barn was a work in progress, still is actually. It was an old barn, pre 1900, and we basically gutted it except for supports and mini-sized it.

The mistake we made at first was placing the stall door in the middle of stalls. This made it hard to find a place to put the water bucket, the grain dish, the salt block holder, etc. Some of my stalls kinda have them whereever they will fit. As we progressed we thought these things through and made a wall long enough to hang these things in appropriate places rather than wherever they would fit.

I also have an electrical outlet at each stall. THis lets me plug in my bucket heaters and I still have one for whatever else I may need to plug in to attend to a horse in the stall. This means you have to have a big enough breaker panel and enough amps to do all this.

Also, have a light above each stall so you have good light in each and not one with decent light and two on either side with just shadow light. Trust me, there will be a dark night when you are out in the barn trying to care for a horse and it never fails, that horse is in the dark stall. LOL

We do have a loft, and our hay is up there. We created a slide-shute that we just drag and drop a bale at a time and it comes down to a nice bin. No mess with hay flying everywhere and much less hay loss than before when we would just drop it down onto the floor.

I have lots more suggestions but those will give you a few things to think about. Really smart to learn from others mistakes.


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## Little Wee Horse Farm

Oh yes, hhp's post reminded me: When you are planning your stalls, you also have to plan the direction in which your stall doors will open. We had to re-hang two by the opposite side because they originally opened right into the inside side of the outer barn walls! We had them re-hung to open into the barn hall, which also entailed moving the stall gate latches.....duh!


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## Feather1414

Well I will just show the stall parts of our barn. We have a workshop attached to the barn. Inside the barn there is the alpaca area, and then my horse stall. The office is behind the stall area.






these are all the stalls. My horse stall is at the end.






My horses stall ((there is an outside attachment as well.)) Ignore the poop, this was before stall cleaning.

Then this is all of the houseide of our barn. Normally the doors are open, but it was a REALLY cold day.


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## Marty

I wanted to add that there are some things about my barn that I don't like, such as that stupid loft. But Jerry insisted that we needed storage for other things. I'll never put any hay up in it. I use another storage shed for hay storage that is away from the barn because I worry terribly about barn fires.

I'd also appreciate a couple of windows! I'm still fighting for those. There is still plenty of air flow through the barn with the doors open, but I'd still like some blasted windows! I like natural light. He doesn't see the need, but he will once he starts getting the electric bills for the lights I have on all the time,. hehe. I"m bad.

As far as the stall sizes, I do have Holly and Timmy in a 10 X 10 which does seem to be enough for a while. But then, I also am getting double pee and double poop causing me to be stripping that stall way too often, so it's either time to wean, or open up the stall and double the size.



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## Magic

A "must have" for all horse barns is sufficient air flow, or ventilation. It's natural to want to have the horses be cozy, but they NEED plenty of air exchange for their respiratory health. So you want to have doors and/or windows to let air in (yes even when it's really cold out, they still need air) or open areas, like up near the roof in a raised-center-aisle barn, for example. The more air the better.

Another thing that I insist on is stall doors that the horses can see out of. They don't want to be stuck in a stall with no way to see other horses or what is going on around them. Consider ease of use too, before the barn is built-- will you be able to feed the horses from the aisleways or will you have to go into each stall to feed? How difficult and time consuming is your watering system? I personally would hate to be without automatic waterers, they are such a time saver! If that isn't financially feasible, then at least heated buckets if you live in a climate where the water will freeze, will save you a lot of work and worry.

oh, and if there is ANY chance that the inside of your barn could become flooded with a heavy rainstorm or melting snow, etc, do be sure to put fill dirt down before building your barn. You'll be glad you did!!


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## justagirl

maryann said:


> I still like our PVC railing half way up the stalls. Allows us to see in and them to see out and not feel so
> 
> isolated. We left them far enough apart for them to get their heads through . The plus side of that is they can stick their heads out and see everyting going on in the barn. Kids can pet them without having to go in to the stalls. The down side of that is they can get their heads out and and see everything going on in the barn.LOL :new_shocked: It allows them to sniff each other when we are leading other horses in the barn and they can nip at each other if we tie one to change tack or groom near anothers stall. If we had it to do over we would put the PVC closer together. But I still love it. Must have pleanty of tie rings, and lots of ventalition. We have lots of windows and doors so we can close up tight in bad weather and open up for great air flow. Good luck with your new barn and have lots of fun. OH I forgot with minis , always always leave room for adding on. :bgrin maryann


I love MaryAnn and Jim's barn...esspecially the half walls and the pvc railing. I don't have to pick my kids up so they can see the horses in the stalls. My favorite thing about their barn is the aisle, nice and wide and foam footing (I thought it was to keep the dust down, until Jim told me the reall reason for it).


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## wildoak

> I'd also appreciate a couple of windows! I'm still fighting for those. There is still plenty of air flow through the barn with the doors open, but I'd still like some blasted windows! I like natural light. He doesn't see the need, but he will once he starts getting the electric bills for the lights I have on all the time


Yes, I'm big on windows too. :bgrin Of course it doesn't get so cold here - or at least not so often - we alternated windows and dutch doors across the back of the stalls. Easy to close up the doors when it's cold, but allows access to runs and lots of air and light when it's not. The windows are just openings that we cover with a piece of plexiglass in the winter. I've only had one oops there - I had a stallion in one night, and a gelding he didn't like out behind the barn. He stood up and banged on that plexi till it cracked, so I have to pay attention to who goes next to him. Otherwise great though because it still lets in light with no wind. Marty, our electric bills here are going to be killer anyway, so I'm glad I have natural light. Every little bit helps!

Jan


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## backwoodsnanny

We did a barn three years ago and the 2 things I would change are a wider aisle mine is 10 ft and I wish it were at least 2ft wider so tractor could go down the middle with a little more wiggle room and I would have doors to each stall leading to the outside which I didnt do. I wanted to but got talked out of it. Still may do that sometime in the future but will require more ground work now. Could have been done when we built it.


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## Novel_tfarm

I have heard mention of "Foam" Footing. Are these like stall mats ??? Also I really like the prefeit (Not sure of spelling) Stalls. The idea of putting a tarp over looked like it would work for Foaling mares. It just made the barn look bigger. I doubt we will do a loft. I think I have my father convinced that lofts are, catch-alls, dirty, invite vermin and insects, and when you have toddlers it's an accident waiting to happen.... I'm Bad... I just don't want a loft...... I am trying to convince him we need a small area in one end of the barn to work horses in bad weather and that a wash area with hot water is a MUST [email protected]!!! We have 5 horses all together, I like the stallion stall idea, with it being taller. Also the feed/tack room being in the middle of the barn makes alot of sense. We will also be building our house onto the barn at a later date. Has anyone done this ??? How do you like it ? Anything you would change about that ?


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## Bluerocket

Well -- our barn is 40 x 48 -- aluminum sided barn with trusses. We finally finished installing the electricity yesterday (electric company connected it to the power and installed our new meter). The lights are not in these pictures -- but it turned out to be just what I wanted!

You can visit this webpage to see all the pictures (sorry they don't line up right with the descriptions -- I need to fix that) and read more about our barn. We have 12 minis in it now -- one is pregnant.

Fox Holler Farm - New Stalls

Here are a couple of pictures -- sorry they are large.


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## Novel_tfarm

ok, here is another question. We will only have enough room for the barn and outside "Runs" on the

property. For the runs on the outside, how do you battle "THE MUD" ????? I see some people gravel

their lots, what type of layers do you use ? We have all the horses in temp. pens right now and the

mud and smell is a Big Problem. I do not want to treat the area with lime, because it's part of our

back yard. So what type of yards do you have ? Do you prefer Gravel or concrete in your aisle ways ?


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## Little Wee Horse Farm

Glad you liked some of my ideas -- -they work for me!

Our aisle is cement. The stall floors are dirt. Cement aisle is easier to sweep and wash down than gravel. Also, to me, gravel can get up into hooves & cause problems.

Dunno how you'd battle mud. We have our own fights with it!! But as our horses get further away from the barn run-in and other shelters, the ground stays more solid. I don't know how you'd fight mud if that's the only area the horses have to go outside.

I would suggest tho, if you're going to give hay in those outside areas, that you get feed bunkers that have hay racks above. Or perhaps attach hay racks to the outside of the barn in each area. Either way, you'll at least keep hay out of the mud! Regardless of what kind of surface you have, you still have to clean up the manure periodically to avoid odor & fly problems.


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## Magic

Novel_tfarm said:


> Do you prefer Gravel or concrete in your aisle ways ?





I definitely prefer concrete for my aisleway. Much cleaner, can be swept and/or hosed off, is nice and level for the farrier to trim horses or for me to measure horses, etc. We had it "textured" so it isn't slippery for the horses but still is easy to sweep. Inside the stalls is hard-packed dirt with heavy rubber mats on top.


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## appypintolady

As for as the footing for barns, etc. A really good book that I have found very helpful is "Horsekeeping on a Small Acreage"(Designing and Managing your Equine Facilities) by Cherry Hill. She goes over everything, footing for barns, arenas, roundpens, etc. Plus lots of good diagrams for laying out your farm, etc.


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## qtrrae

Novel_tfarm,

How neat that you are building a new mini barn! We built our barn several years ago for quarter horses but have since converted it for the minis.

I do think it is a good idea to have at least one stall with solid walls for your foaling stall, some of the mares can get quite cranky if they feel another horse is close to her baby. Plus if it is cold weather, it makes it more draft free for the new foal. We have a kalglo heater in one stall and it is the greatest!!

I also am a firm believer in LOTS of windows, I feel the natural light is great with the added plus of venilation. We have a window in every single stall.

We started with a dirt aisle and have since put concrete in. It makes it so much nicer and easier to clean plus it is easy to disinfect. Our stall are all ground underneath with 3/4 inch stall mats on top. I feel stall mats are one of the wisest investments we ever made - there again, they are so much easier to clean, saves on bedding and can be easily disinfected.

We added a lean to on to one side of our barn and I love it. Wish we had done that when we did our original build, I'm sure it would have been much more cost efficient.

Good luck with the building of your mini barn - and I absolutely LOVE the idea of someday adding your house to it. To me that would be just the GREATEST!!!


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## Getitia

Due to several moves throughout our life, we have built several barns and learned what not to do the next time. So when we built this barn, I had saved a written list of what needed to be included. In fact we built the barn before we built our house.











Here are a few things that we included in this barn.

First ensure that you spend the money to have the foundation graded and leveled.

Our aisles are 14 foot wide

stalls vary from 8 to 12 - 10-12 and 12-12

Slider wire mesh stall doors

Large fan ventilation at eachend of the barn.

Hay storage is on the ground - layer of plastic - then skids on top of the plastic with access from both ends of the barn- Stalls are all tongue and grove

Locked grain storage and separate tack room

Doors to the aisle are overhead garage doors (can easily be opened when you have a deep snow)

Bulk Shavings can be delivered in the back of the barn and stored inside

Washroom is directly across from the groom room

Groom room is double matted with a wrestling 3 inch mat for extra cushion for everyone, insulated, enclosed with both air conditioning and heat

Entire barn is wired for fire alarms to an alarm company and into our house alarm system as well

Sleeping quarters are in the office with a separate bathroom and shower

Video camera system to the house - extra telephones

The aisle between the stalls are matted (had not yet been installed in this photo ) - Concrete concerns me when horses flip over and I don't like dirt floors - so we just matted them and solved both problems. The Mats came in 125 foot rolls so it is one solid piece. (installing was a challenge however and required heavy equipment)

Insulated water buckets,

Each stall is wired for its own light and one electric outlet per stall

The back half of the barn is an overhang with 3 individual paddocks that can be opened up and cleaned with a skid loader for quick manure removal.

Plenty of parking and ability to turn a large semi trailer without having to back up. Outdoor lights that provide lighting for the outdoor arena that is within 20 foot of the back of the barn.

Hot and cold water.

It is truly our dream barn and I'm very thankful to my husband and our sons for building the entire inside of the barn - including the stalls - It took them over 2 years to complete the entire project.

I hope this is of help - Good luck with your barn - If we can be of help, let me know as we sure made many mistakes along the way - some of our earlier builds had very expensive mistakes which could not be corrected unfortunately.


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## Anne

Getitia,

I can't tell you how much I appreciated your post.

We have relocated and will be starting construction on our new barn in spring. Until then we have been "working" with an old large tobacco shed. We have tightened it up the best we can, Wisconsin winters demand it. In spring with the new constructions this will be tightened up the rest of the way, resided and roofed, and used for hay and equipment storage.

Your barn has hit all of the things I have been wishing for and some important details that will be added to "our" plans. We don't have it all designed just yet and are constantly "rethinking" the details.

This helped! Thanks again.

Anne


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## Getitia

Anne,

You are most welcome. We have also refitted several barns which can be more of a challenge. For this particular barn - Prior to building , we took the plans and spent several hours actually determining how best to lay everything out so that it was efficient. We first had the pad graded and leveled- it is so important  to raise up the actual base (pad) approximately 8 to 12 inches or more depending on your area rainfall - this will facilitate all of the drainage needed to keep everything dry. (our first barn building nightmare). A skilled contractor will be able to provide a level building base. Then we set everything up with cones - to measure and remeasure and make sure that the set up was as efficient, safe and functional as possible. We made many adjustments in the plans before we actually started to build. For example installing a quick easy to access cut off to the water lines in the case of a line bursting. We have fire extinguishers at every entrance and no equipment is stored in this barn.

As we are getting older now, we wanted to ensure we could use equipment as much as possible to make the "normal" care chores easier. Hence gates in the paddock that swing either way - gates that are wide enough for equipment to enter. We did not want to store hay overhead anymore - as it cut down on the ventilation and was so much work to store and then to take down to use. I didn't want to be a 60 year old woman climbing up a 12 foot ladder to throw down hay. :bgrin

Our grain room has double doors both open up - helps with unloading the grain. Double light switches for the barn at each door entrance - having the main lights split in half to save on energy costs. Having a walkway half way through the barn to cut the stalls in half - makes everything much easier. Also should we ever move, this barn can easily be converted for full size horses - an important thing to consider.

The hours spent in planning upfront to figure out all of the details has made the biggest difference in this barn. Good luck to you - and if you ever have any questions, just e-mail me - I'm truly glad to help in any way - not really an expert in barn building, however I know "what" not to do :new_shocked:


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## justagirl

:new_shocked: GETITIA...WILL YOU ADOPT ME AND MY HORSES?

Seiously, your barn is awesome. Your guys all look very cozy, comfy. I too prefer something other than dirt or concrete in the aisles.

We will be building a barn within the year, so I appreciate all the good ideas.


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## OhHorsePee

We have been to Getitia's a couple of times and am amazed at her set up! It is so awesome! Ron still talks about it. He was like a kid in a candy store.

Fran


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## jleonard

Getitia, I think you are going to have to adopt ALL of us! Your barn is gorgeous! This topic is great. We are going to add on to our barn some day (it started out having 4 12x12 stalls and now has those four plus 2 12x6 mini stalls and one more 8x8 mini stall in the works). My four stall barn has been converted to a seven stall and needless to say is getting a little cramped! It is great to see what other people would do differently and what works best for them.


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## Novel_tfarm

Getitia

I love the look of your stalls, Were they custom made by someone ? We are looking at Prefeit dividers, but I like your look better. Also where did you locate the Mats at ? I agree about the Flipping over, it's so hard on them, even though it does not happen often,,,,It Happens... Could you send more pictures ???? Of your tack area, groom room and wash stall ? We are looking at putting a round pen inside the end of the barn. We are headed to Graber post tomorrow to make arrangements and we have bumped the building up to a 60 x 80 freespan, I'm SOOOOOO Happy. Its finally happening :new_shocked:


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## GMAMINIS

HERE ARE SOME PICS OF MY BARN. WE PURCHASED A COVERALL LAST YEAR AND HAVE BEEN WORKING ON ALL THE STALLS AND TURNOUTS AS WE GO. EVERTHING HAS COME TOGETHER VERY NICE. WE HAVE 9 MINI STALLS THAT ARE 6X12 AND 4 BIGGER STALL FOR FOALING 2 10X12 AND 2 12X12 WITH A FOALING MONITOR. I HAVE REALLY ENJOYED THE COVERALL AND FOR THE COST TO BUILD A 4OX60 BARN IT WAS ABOUT 1/2 THE PRICE. THE SKYLIGHTS ARE AWESOME TO GET NATURAL LIGHT IN THE BARN AND IT HAS A 20 YR. WARRANTY. THERE IS ALSO A PIC OF MY MINI VELVET IN ONE OF THE MINIS STALLS. THANKS FOR LOOKING! :saludando:


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## TTF

Our barn was built for big horses, but adapted for minis. Of course, we don't have mares foaling all the time, so we leave open-ish areas above the wooden walls in between stalls. When a mare IS foaling we put up big boards to supply privacy.

We also used barred things for big horses (supposed to go at the top of the outside door so they can peek their head out) as the mini's door facing the inside of the barn. It lets them be social and talk to you when you feed. VERY good idea.



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## Raine Ranch Minis

Getitia

More Pictures please!






I would love to see more of your barn! It is wonderful!!!!!!!!!!


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