What do you love about your barn? The horses are a given…but what features do you love?
Maybe you have dutch doors? Or a special wash rack design? Run out pens attached to each stall?
If you were designing your dream barn what would you include?
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I also like how it was small enough to use as a training tool for my youngsters to get them used to being in stalls if need be and to enter and exit from different exit points. It was the perfect set up.
When I lived in Ontario and had a small hobby farm, I loved how the stalls each led out to it’s own fair sized pasture. As I don’t stall my horses, I was able to use the stalls as run ins so that the horses could get out of the inclement weather.
Me too only mine lacks a roof nice walls, fancy stalls as it is the great out door, our horse are tough and on the coldest days they will come up for their blankets, they do not like barns all, this makes them healthy happy horses. There is a wonderful big barn and arena for them but they just want to be out side. Work in 3 ft of snow at 20 degrees C. Happy winter
There are so many things I love about my barn. I have a 44 x 64 barn with 5 stalls.
1) All the stalls are at least 14 x 12. Love the large stalls.
2) I have dutch doors and can let horses out into a small paddock or into the large pasture without leading a horse.
3) The room I have for hay. I can put enough hay in the barn for the whole winter. So no hauling hay.
4) I love that north / south breeze. I set up the barn so it lets in the summer breezes and keeps out the winter winds.
5) I have the stalls on the east side as there is not as much wind that comes from the east. The hay is on the north west end of the barn where it blocks the winter winds.
6) I now have electricity and water. Something I never had before. Spent 25 years hauling water and working with a flashlight or headlights.
7) The barn is north of my house so in the summer I don’t get the smells!
8) Another thing I love about my barn is I have one stall that I built with no stall front so it is open above. I made handles in the front wall and secured the section so it could be removed easily. I thought if something happened I would be able to get into the stall with a tractor. Unfortunately, I had to remove that section when I had to put down a horse. Made it easier all the way around.
9) I love that I have doors that I can close. I didn’t have doors on my old barn so it was really cold in the winter.
10) I will soon have a tack room and enough electoral outlets to plug in fans and heated buckets without using drop cords!
The one thing I dislike is the fact that I didn’t set the floor up high enough so water runs in under the barn on the southeast side. I need to do something with the downspout on that side.
ILOVE MY BARN!
Features I loved in my barn (current barn now is for storage and tack – no horses):
1) extra 12 foot paved “patio” off the front for shade/protection from rain.
2) open barred sections in common stall walls so horses can see and touch each other without engaging too much – really nice for them when thunderstorms or fireworks going on, or just hanging out together in the barn (stalls had runs out to larger areas that could be reconfigured for turnout or just run out)
I sure have enjoyed reading about everyone’s barn ideas! I am especially intrigued with Marion’s computerized system! We are often without electricity here in the winter, do you have a back up generator? Is there a way to feed manually if you wish?
I love many things about my horse barn. When I moved here, I had been boarding my mules for 2 years. Being able to say with a grin, “MY barn!” was joyful. The barn is only 50 steps from my house. There is electricity and a frost proof hydrant where I use a short hose to fill the heated 16 gallon tub twice a day. I added a 10×30′ hay shed/tack room addition to the back of the 30×40 original barn when I bought a 3rd mule in 2010. Now there is room for 500 bales, which is plenty for 3 mules and my Paso mare. It is very easy to take care of my critters. I can back my truck into the wide aisle when I bring feed. The sawdust stall is easy access also.
I leave the big sliding door open just enough and the ponies can come and go as they please. That door faces south, and most of the wind is from the north and west. I can use the front loader on the tractor to scrape out the soiled bedding when I have to keep them in for extreme cold weather and cleaning by hand is too much.
The original barn was built using regular -not treated-posts, so the year after I moved here, my brother replaced them all with treated lumber. I have had a new metal roof put on, built a chicken room from recycled materials and put windows (also recycled) in the stall I use for rabbit pens and the chicken room, and the tack /feed room.
The barn was in rough shape, but I was able to adapt it to my use, and my ponies and I are very happy!
Furthermore, I had a clear plexiglass roof ridge installed with the new roof, so there is plenty of natural light.
What I love is that it’s an active barn: horses are all kept together and outside. They have a huge sort of paddock/pasture. Hey, water and grain is at different spots so they always have to move. The horses wear a chip around their neck where the amount and kind of feed they should get is saved. The can help themselves by entering a self feeding station. The computer reads the chip and provides the kind of feed they should get (pallets, oats etc). After leaving the station they have to do the full round trip of approx 500 meters (=approx yards) to reenter. If they reenter within 1 hour they don’t get anything. They get up to 24 portions a day, i.e. one per hour. The computer considers how often the horse picks up feed, I.e. a horse that comes less often gets bigger portions to reach its daily amount than a horse that is busy visiting the station.
Other than that the horses get hay 24/7. Of course plenty of covered shelters are available for shade, against wind, rain etc..
To me it’s the way to board a horse closest to the life a horse would life in nature. That is what I love the most.
We incorporated a number of unique design features in our barn, but I think one of the best is that the fronts are actually doors and we can open the whole front of each stall. Not only does it make cleaning easier, but God forbid we have to get a downed horse out, we don’t have to negotiate
around the stall door.
I have just had the dream come true to build my barn! It is a 48″ x 60″ Morton building with 14″ sidewalls.
5 porta-stalls down the south side, with 12 x 60 runs.
Continuous fencing and pipe runs with the two outside corner runs being 60′ square. (due to the tragic accident to my mare last year on a fence)
14 x 16′ tack room and a bathroom next to it.
Above the tack and bathroom are two sleeping/bunk rooms, to be rented out to horse travelers or hunters.
Underneath the steps to bunk rooms is a grain room/ tack closet for my boarders tack…..
Above the stalls along the entire south side a 12′ x 60″ loft…..with trap door to drop hay down into the corner floor feeders:)
I have barbarahorsedrinkers auto waterers in the runs, they need no electricity, drain back into the ground and DO NOT ever freeze!
I do have to hang buckets in the stalls, if I shut them in, but then can sanitize the buckets.
There are high electrical outlets between every other stall for heated buckets or clippers, ect….
An inside hydrant with hose to fill the buckets.
I made a pit drain in the isle (extra wide isle) so I can wash without losing a stall space.
AND this left me with a 36″ area with fill sand to use as a round pen/riding area in our windy winters! Or I can add more stall there later if need be:)
Between this barn, and my two wonderful horses, I am blessed beyond belief:)
My barn, was built by my father. That is what I love about it. Call it a labor of love, but that barn will be standing until Jesus comes back. My dad didn’t want to put forth the money to pay someone else to build it, so my dad, being the stubborn genius that he is designed everything himself. He designed the stalls with a grill system, swinging doors for feeding time, and every stall was made with a different tree’s wood. Not to mention the metal he used, was extremely heavy. You have to lean into the direction you are moving the sliding door to move it (I am a 19 year old boy–so that is saying something) He put an wash stall complete with a hot water heater next to the feed room that leads to a restroom. There is a tack room for all of my horsey junk and a loft above the six stalls to hold enough hay for… a while. The barn is a monument to my dad’s strength, brilliance, and never ending love for me.
By the way, Stacey, I met you in Mufreesboro, TN several years ago. I didn’t wash the hand you shook for at least a week!
lol…
My barn is small, but, I love it because my husband built it,
by himself just for me. Love him and my barn!
The barn I have right now I built with my family. So what I love about it is the memory of working with my mom, dad and sister.
My dream barn would be simple, box stalls, an ally, tack room/feed room etc. maybe run out pens. I like simple and functional.
Window in every stall-the horses love it! Heated work shop, for winter repairs!
This is a great question. I consider our barn a miracle. Friends were wanting to get rid of their hog barns, so my sweet husband formulated a plan. We removed every screw so we could remove and reuse the tin, oh yes, and the screws. Then he had help to dismantle the trusses and other useful materials. We loaded everything on various trailers and made the 15 mile trip many times. We had started the ground prep, and set our poles in place long before. Then we started to assemble everything, we had family and neighbors help for a couple days, but mostly my husband relied on his 82 year old dad and me. It was pretty comical sometimes, and a little scary at other times. We also took down our small feedlot, so we could use and repurpose the windbreak which became inside support and walls, and dividers for the outside paddocks. The old lean-to became the lean-to on the south side of the barn. The barn runs east and west, is 40 feet wide by 60 feet long, eight of that is the porch over the front, which is faced in rough slab to go with the rest of our rustic theme. We stripped two mature evergreen trees that were downed by a storm and set them to look like they support the porch. South side is storage, and four 12×12 stalls, each has a door to a paddock that is 16 feet wide. They can be locked open or closed depending on weather or needs. We left a 16 foot wide aisle, yes you can open the doors on the truck if you want! North side is a wash stall, I use an insta-hot water heating system for hot water. A completely sealed 12×16 tack room with an extra wide door. The rest of the length is for hay. There is a light panel on three sides, the hay fades a bit but I love the natural light. There is concrete in the wash stall and the tack room, the rest is dirt/gravel covered in some areas with carpet! It stains terribly but sweeps surprisingly easy. This will be upgraded this year. We waited a very long time for this barn, and I am ever grateful for the labour of love that I watched become a reality. We have a habit of recycling and repurposing and I have come to appreciate what can be created. We helped our friends and they helped us. It’s a beautiful thing! And a Miracle! (Southern Alberta, Canada)
What an awesome project! I too like to take whats there and make it into something new and exciting.
I love everything about my barn. We just built it two years ago and it has been so wonderful. I think my Dutch doors are my very favorite. The horses love hanging their head out on pretty days!
Octagonal barn with feed room in the center and eight stalls around that. The outside aisle way works as an indoor riding ring in bad weather. Tack room is breezeway style which leads to the barn apartment. Hay loft is above feed room and stalls. Tractor shed is attached as add on building to barn on opposite side from apartment. Round pen outdoors.
I wish I had a barn ;(
I hope one day I can build my dream barn which would be a mix of several barn I have boarded or worked a variety of horses in. I’d have an indoor arena of decent size with hay storage on one side and stalls on the other and an isle way in between of at least 8 ft on the stall side (allows horse to be tied perpendicular to arena an makes tacking up much easier). Stall would have runs at least 24ft long attached with a sliding door to keep horses inside during particularly windy conditions or extreme cold. The gates into the stalls from barn would automatically latch (we have them were I’m at now and they are fantastic, just pull the gate behind you and it latches but horses can not unlatch them because it requires you to lift the lever and push the gate into the stall. Believe me my filly has tried very hard to get it open. Also no more forgetting to latch a chain!) I’m not sure on my choice of feeder, the set up that we have at the barn I’m at right now is nice. They put round bale feeders in so half of one is in each stall and then built a wooden fence over top. It makes feeding easy as you can just drive by on a truck and throw it in, though it has to be in the run (ours are elevated so the hay is not in mud or puddles). However my filly likes to climb into the feeder. I’d have the plastic free standing automatic waterers with have two waterers per unit so you can split between 2 stalls, they also have built in heaters and are easy to clean. I would also like the back panel of the run to be a gate so it is easy to bring a tractor in if necessary. I’d put in an indoor tack room with outlets, and I’ve seriously considered a wash stall in the barn to make bathing easier and clipping a much less messy job. I would also have tie poles outside and maybe one inside, they are great for teaching young horses that being tied is not a bad thing and they won’t harm themselves if the spook at something, as the could with crossties, hitching rails, or even tied to a support pillar in the barn. And finally a wash room with a sink and washer that will fit horse blankets! (I’m sure the laundry mat hates me, but they don’t have a sign saying no horse blankets yet) I will probably never be able to afford to build all this but hopefully someday
I have two horses and the home I bought already had a 50 x 36 ft barn. I love the 12 ft aisle. If raining I drive from the house right into the barn. On one side of the barn is a 16 x 12 foaling stall that is empty and 12 x 12 stall, the remainder on that side has a wash rack and an enclosed tack. Wish each stall had safe electrical to it for fans, wish each stall had heated auto-waters, wish stalls had feed doors, wish stall doors opened and closed at the top so horses could put their heads out, wish tack room had ventilation (heat and air would be better), it is very musty smelling so I keep my tack in my trailer’s tack room, wish had hot water for wash rack and also a large sink for washing things (hot and cold water to it too). Other side has two 12 x 12 stalls, a 12 x 16 stall and an enclosed room with door (no ceiling to room). I use the large stall for hay and the enclosed room for feed. Wish that the open ends of the barn had doors that could be closed to keep barn warmer and stop wind. Wish there were stall doors also on the outside and paddocks for each stall. This would hopefully cut down on stall cleaning and horses would like the option of staying in or out, or I could control whether they stayed in or out. Of course all the wishes are if money was no object. Other options would be pastures with run-ins that horse could be easily fed in it and a stock gate to close if horse needed to stay in for some reason. Oh, auto-water too. It would also need a door on outside for people to come into run-in. Would still need a regular barn but it would not have to be as big. More like a special needs barn, as in getting horses ready for a show, foaling or treatment if injured Lots of options depending on needs, fun to think about.
I LOVE stone dust. I had a shed row of stalls for a long time but it was within the pasture at all times and there were whole seasons where I would have to wear tall rubber boots to make it through the mud… I’m talking almost to my knees! In the summer it was like concrete but in the wet weather it turned to slime. When we had the opportunity to match the shed row with one facing it and meet the roof line to form a hallway in the middle we also brought in tons of stone dust for flooring. It’s dry but stays soft enough to be good footing and still drain. It’s hard enough under the run-in area to scrape off the manure with the tractor and it’s cheap and easy to add to when a low spot shows up. I love my barn, but the best part is the floor 🙂
I have owned a few barns sofar, I built my first barn with my dad when I was 12, if there is one common thing I loved about my barns I would have to be the smell. My barn was my place to be me, being a young girl with young girl problems I’d get off the buss from school, and go straight it to the barn. It was my refuge. I’ve lived without a lot of amazing barn amenities and my list of blessings in the barn are, water, electric, a loft, stalls, stall mats, cubbies in the wall for little things like radio. If I had my dream barn I’d have a big center isle, with rubber brick instead of concrete, stalls on each side, with a loft above the stalls, a wash rack, with hot and cold water, a BATHROOM! Dear goodness how much that would come in handy, I’d have an office, where it can have all my horse records, tv for instructional videos, wifi for YouTube. A hitching post, a leanto off one side for the trailer I don’t have, and a sawdust shed. now I’d love an indoor area, but I’d never have one connected to my barn due to respiratory difficulties to stalled horses when the Ariana is in use. I have spend many hours dreaming of my perfect barn, and maybe one day when I get out of college to be a trainer like you, those dreams may come true…..
I am so blessed just to have a barn!!! But since you asked, … My favorite feature are the automatic waterers in the stalls and corral. They free up so much of my time to spend with our horses…
I feel blessed to finally have my own barn–even though it is metal—I have a tack room!!!!
I just love my barn. I have 3 stalls and a small tack room on one side, then the alley way down the other. On the back side I have a lean too where I keep my hay and shavings. Each stall has there own outlet for fans in the summer and heated water buckets in the winter. Down the alleyway I have windows that I can open right up in the summer which keeps it nice and fresh in there. If I ever get to have a do over the only thing I would change is have separate paddocks off each stall.
Well, I love barns, and right now I love there is plenty of room to pull motorcycles in and park,
as well as horses, dogs, assorted cats….etc…the tack room is reinforced and very secure, so
all the toys locked there-in is safe.
I was reading all the above posts and it sounds like every body planned theirs very well. Ours
was already there, so will eventually remodel..
I love the creeps ~ A wise friend suggested installing creeps in my fencing. I can weave in/out carrying stuff to/from the barn and don’t have to mess with the gates or worry whether the latches were done up right. She also suggested brass latches that thaw quicker in my hand in cold weather and don’t stick to my skin.
I have a metal barn with skylights. Wish we would’ve put those panels up high on the walls because when it snows and sticks it’s dark in there but we have lights. Four stalls, two of them big enough for foaling with dutch doors out to paddocks. Grain room, heated tack room and my art studio is out there too! We also have a 48 foot round pen inside so we can work out of the snow and wind. It’s been a drawn out process to get all this done but it’s great!
Love my Nelson waterer in winter, have 3 stalls & a tack room. I love that my horses can go in and out at their pleasure. Horses prefer being outdoors I think, they are healthier and have no vices. Have 2 horses presently. We had a foot of snow the other day, we snow plowed an area in front of the barn, they have plenty of room to get around. It’s simple but practical.
Hi! I do not have a barn yet, we are planning construction for summer of 2014! The design that we have chose to use has a loft above the barn that we will deal off with a good door, and will use it as a man cave. We will have a small kitchenette area with a. Beer fridge of course, a tv, big comfy couches and everything else needed to complete this awesome room! I can not wait to have this space.
My barn is nothing special. Just love the peace and quiet and smells…hay shavings and horses.
I love the water cabinets my husband made into the stall. I just open the cabinet, turn the spigot above it and water my horses. He also made a plug in outside the stall so I can have heated buckets. I never have to go in the stall to dump buckets. It is so convenient!
Day lie this water cabinet sounds great! I’d love to see a pic. Husband will be doing some barn-related building in the spring for me and this sounds like a good one to add to the Honey-Do list!
Sorry Dayle, autocorrect changed your name to Day lie. :-{
I love my barn! It is 36’x36′ and has 3 stalls, a wash stall, tack/feed room and a hay stall. I did a few “extravagances” that are so worth it. One is the rubber paver aisle, another is the large round- top antique leaded/stained glass window in the tack room and another over the sliding doors at the front of the barn. We also have huge green and white striped awnings at each end over the aisle way doors which really preserve the life of the doors and look really happy! There are some whimsical, painted horses on my tack room door that I painted and I also wrote “The Pony’s Prayer” on the area above all the horses stalls. Each stall is open to large paddocks so I have the choice of locking them in if it’s extra cold or for the most part letting them come and go. Also, hot water in the tack room and wash stall – important! Each stall door has bars on the top and bottom for air circulation.
I’ve always appreciated a covered round pen, and an aisle that leads directly to the indoor arena without having to go outside. Inside stocks come in very handy, too, especially when the vet is on the premises.
We installed water hydrants at every pasture, along with electrical plugs for heaters 🙂 love this especially with this very cold winter we have been this year.
I live in Michigan so I love my automatic heated waterers in the stalls and pastures. I love the smell of the horses and the fresh hay.
The memories of all the animals that spent happy hours there. Now I’d love to have one with a work room just for me, with lots of light and counter space.
Since I just finished building my Dream Barn (within financial constraints) I think I can answer this 🙂
My barn is 36×36, three stalls, oversized tack room, wash stall and storage space. Loft over the tack room.
Some of the Must Haves I designed into my barn:
Dutch doors, heated tack room, hot and cold running water in the tack room utility sink, AND in the wash stall. Energy efficiency is important because electricity is really expensive, so all lights are LED (including the exterior lights). The three stalls are along one side of the barn, at the two junctions where stalls meet, at about 6′ up, are outlets. Each stall has a Nelson waterer (the outdoor kind due to the cold temps). Although the resulting piping is kind of kludgy, it’s set up so I can turn off the water to each waterer individually from inside the tack room, and can also blow out the pipes for any of ’em so the pipes don’t freeze if one or more are not being used. That might be overkill, but we’ll see.
Aisle lighting is very important to me. Instead of running regular lights down the center, I have four high strength LED lamps set in a square – two on one side of the aisle, two on the other, plus one more over the wash stall. These are LEDs used in parking garages, and they are awesome. It’s like daylight in the barn when I fire those puppies up – and they cost a fraction of what incandescents would cost to run, and will last a lot longer than florescent lights..During the day, the barn has two clear skylights set on the east roof (roofline runs north/south) so the barn gets plenty of natural light.
If the link works, these are photos of my barn: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.582911085078665.1073741834.113282278708217&type=3
I’ll fish for comments, since I still have to set up the tack room, and are open to any ideas anyone might have. And, yes, the tackroom is lavender. I wanted more color in the house (which was built at the same time), and was overruled by my spouse, so I put the color I wanted in my barn instead 🙂
I LOVE your barn! You are to be commended on the thought and detail that you put into creating this barn. I also like that you put the lavender color in the tack room – you should surround your self with the color that makes you smile. Congratulations – I hope you have many happy hours in your amazing barn!
I built my dream barn….and I LOVE it!
http://www.threecreeksarabians.com/the%20barn.htm
Omg Jim you are living the dream mate !! gorgeous property 🙂 Wish it was that green here in Australia …..
I really like this barn because it’s made out of wood. The wood is so much warmer than the sheet metal barns. It still has the dirt floor. Barns that have concrete floors seem to make the water pipes freeze more. I have yet to have frozen pipes in a dirt floor wooden barn.
I LOVE my old bank barn! It’s cool in the summer, and with the doors open on the bottom at the east and west ends there is always a breeze blowing through,and in the winter with all the hay stored up top its always warm.
Definitely my heated automatic water! I live in Wisconsin and absolutely hate dragging a frozen water hose. In summer I love having a refrigerator with cold beverages to enjoy as i sit down in my reclining chairs after a nice trail ride. I love just sitting in my shed and watching my horses play in the pasture.
There is nothing I would change about my barn. It’s very humble, ( but not to me), but I just love it. I have five stalls. One houses a bunny, and one has a sand box in it for my grandbabies. I have water, lights, and that’s about it! It is one of my favorite places to be. When I have time off, I prefer being in my barn than going to them mall, etc. I didn’t have a barn for years, and still can’t believe I have one now. 🙂
I designed and built my barn myself 12 years ago. 3 Stall, tack room and hay loft. All the stalls have mats, opened to corals at all times, and I can just drop the hay down into feed tubs so hay does not get wasted. Its an opened air barn so ventilation is not a problem. Every year I try and add to it, next project will be a loafing shed on the off side 😉
**chutes into the stalls, so you feed from overhead. I didn’t word that part very well 🙂
I’ve worked at a few barns that have overhead hay storage and chutes for the horses- it makes haying really easy! I’ve heard some negative comments about that design but I found it to be safe and efficient. Run out pens attached to Dutch Door stalls are great. The thing that spoiled me the most? HEATERS!!!! For quick drying after a winter workout 🙂 I wish, wish, wish we had those in our barn. As far as arena’s go, I DREAM about an indoor round pen haha.
We love the feeling of history our barn has. Our historic PA bank barn was built over 150 years ago.The main beam in the bottom part of the barn is over 65 feet long and 16″ thick. All of the beams are hand hewn, I look at the craftsmanship of this wonderful old barn and think about the men who worked so hard to build it… and I think about the horses that I am sure were part of putting this barn together by pulled the trees used in construction to the sight. We feel honored to be the caretakers of our beautiful old barn that now house our horses…
I got the chance to design and build my dream barn and15 years later would change very little about it. It is basically a hay shed with lean-to shelter/paddocks off of 3 sides. I can feed10 horses in less than 10 min. Horses aren’t locked in but have access to shelter when they want it. It doesn’t get hot in the summer. Has a great view. The hayshed part is multifunctional. I’m keeping my horses in larger groups with round bale feeders now, and although not designed for that, it doesn’t hinder it either.
What I loved about my Kansas barn as a kid, was the fact that my grandpa and the neighbors stick built it by hand, no power tools in about 1936. My aunt went down to revisit the old home place in November and that barn is still standing a firm testament to my grandpa’s barn building skills….It is in some sad need of repairs, but is not sagging a bit! She took pics of the outside and inside, and all the ladders, stalls, bins and pens are all still there! What an amazing thing to see it still stand proud and tall… Miss ya Grandpa Blair! They don’t build em like that anymore!
The larger arena and it is 10-20° warmer than it is outside, always!
My dream barn would have large matted stalls with heated buckets, fans, and individual paddocks off the back of each stall. Then they can decide if they want to be out at night.