Three Tips All Horse Barn Builders Should Know

If you own horses or have ever thought about owning horses then you know how important it is to have a sturdy and well built barn. Every barn is different, but experts have concluded that if anything there are at least three things that all horse barn builders need to know when consulting a client, designing, and constructing a barn.

Placement and Design

Barn placement is one of the most important aspects of the entire project. Make sure that your barn site isn’t in an area that could be detrimental to the structure such as: in a valley, on a cliff, or where heavy snow and water runoff are present. Keeping your barn downwind of your home, office, or other residential areas will help keep unwanted effects such as flies and strong odors from invading your space. Place your barn in an area that can take advantage of the weather: summer winds for ventilation, keeping away from the hot summer sun, and letting in the warm winter sun. Builders need to be experienced in barn safety and materials in order to provide the best results. For design purposes, clients should create an outline of their overall time spent with their horses so that the builders know where to streamline the priorities (i.e. spending more time feeding than in tack will streamline feeding procedures.) Experts suggest keeping storage areas such as feeding, tack, and offices near the middle of the barn to reduce the need to travel.

Stalls

The most common size of a stall is a twelve foot square; this allows the horse ample room to move around and get up and down comfortably, but any bigger and you just have more mess to clean up. Walls and partitions should be no less than 8 feet tall to prevent a horse from putting a leg or hoof over it, but they don’t have to be completely solid either. Experts recommend putting bars—no more than 2 or 3 inches apart—across the walls to increase ventilation and help the horse, which is a herd animal, see their mates. Doors should be no less than 4 feet across to allow access to wheelbarrows and other tools. Experts suggest using sliding doors instead of swinging doors to help streamline the process of moving horses in and out without decreasing aisle space.

Safety

Horse barn builders know that the number one cause of safety issues in a barn is fire; with all the hay and other flammable debris hanging around the barn it is easy for it to catch fire without the proper precautions. You’ll want to modernize your circuit breakers, rodent-proof your wires, and place many fire extinguishers in strategic places. Make sure to keep your machinery away from your hay storage areas unless you have a special fire-proof wall between them.