How to Design a Horse Barn
If you plan to keep your horse at home, provide it with a safe and comfortable shelter. Designing a barn for your horse means considering the needs of the equine and the people who will be caring for it. Horses have specific requirements in terms of housing, so the horse barn you design needs to meet those requirements while making it easy for you to care for the animal.
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Instructions
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Measure the area you have available to build the barn. Try to find the most level spot you can for the barn; this will reduce the cost of excavating.
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Mark off the area for the horse's stall. Observe the area on windy days to see which way the water runs and which way snow drifts during the winter. Locate the opening of the stall away from those windy areas.
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If you have a full-sized horse, the stall should be at least 10-by-10 feet, but 12-by-12 feet is better. Measure the area you have to work with and make sure it will accommodate the number of stalls you install in the barn. According to Horsekeeping.com, the stall must be large enough to allow the animal to move around freely, turn around safely and lie down comfortably.
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Examine the ground in the spot where you want to build. If you are converting an old cattle barn, the floor might be made of concrete that you'll need to remove. Standing on concrete is hard on a horse's joints and can lead to lameness.
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Measure the area where you want to store your hay and horse feed. Storing the hay in a loft area under the eaves of the barn is ideal, but you will need a hay elevator or some other way to get the hay into the loft. According to barn builders like J&N Structures, building without a hay loft is more cost effective, so horse owners need to weigh the extra cost against the convenience of overhead hay storage and extra room.
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Design the area where you want your tack room. If you go with a loft design, you can put your tack room under the hay-storage area. Otherwise, you will need to extend the barn farther. For a flat design, place the tack room at one end, the hay and feed storage area in the middle and the stalls at the other end. Doing so makes it easier to feed and care for your horse.
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References
- Photo Credit tete de cheval image by philippe theret from Fotolia.com
