Barn advice!!

Erin · Foal

Barn advice!!

Barbara F · Grand Prix

Congratulations! It sounds like you are about to build a stunning facility!!

I'm no expert, but I can tell you what we have at the barn where I ride.

We have bars between the stalls. The horses love to be able to be social. We also have two stalls with solid walls for those horses who like their privacy.

We have automatic water bowls and they are great. We also give our horses soaked beetpulp and soaked hay, which helps get lots of water into them.

The rubber mats that look like interlocking bricks are stunning. I wonder if they would be harder to sweep?

Some other things we have:

A music system with speakers in the viewing room, kitchen, arena and barn. Everything is independently adjustable.

We have heat lamps at the top of the wash stalls, a laundry room, large floor to ceiling lockers that can hold two saddle and lots of other stuff.

A horse vacuum.

A barn floor vacuum.

A heated arena.

Lots of paddocks.

And the answer is "Yes, we are very spoiled!!" :)

Diamond_Jubilee · Well Schooled

Sounds like a great place! I have been to a barn with the rubber interlocking bricks. They were very nice but they were hard to sweep so they just used a leaf blower. The barn was also older and the bricks shifted. They had to dig them all up and put more fill (screenings) back under the bricks again to even them out. Something to keep in mind for the future...They were really nice though...especially if it rained out, no more slippery concrete floors!!
If you are going to keep bars between the stalls (it does make the barn look and feel more airy/spacious) I would suggest keeping the last 2 feet a solid wall so when the horses are eating their grain they are not fighting with each other since they cant see each other. I have seen some barns do this and its much better. Much less wall kicking and fighting!
We have auto waters at our place, which are great, but some boarders prefer the bucket way so you can see how much they drink. If you are worried about that you could always have buckets in the stalls with pipes going to each bucket. There can be an on/off valve at each stall, so all you have to do to water is peek in and turn on the tap to fill up! I have worked at a barn that had this feature and I think its the way to go!

-- Edited by Diamond_Jubilee on Thursday 27th of January 2011 07:58:54 AM

-- Edited by Diamond_Jubilee on Thursday 27th of January 2011 08:00:58 AM

prospect · Advanced

Congratulations - so exciting for you.

Auto waterers for sure - way to many stalls for buckets
We had bars between stalls and have removed almost all of them - our walls don't go all the way to the top so there is air circulation. We have had horses actually kick out the bar walls and fights and aggrevation so it is easier if you have solid walls - easier to keep clean too.

Goal - try to keep it simple and easy to clean.

Soft stalls (padded floors) make a huge difference in cleaning and how much bedding you need.

The easiest floors to sweep in my opinion is rough concrete with rubber mats - that is what we have - the paver rubber looks nice but dirt gets in between - it does on our rubber mats too but we can clean that easy.

Get welded bars - not the self-assembled bars.

finish everything before you bring the horses in - because you will never get back to it - that is a huge piece of advise that you will be glad you listened too.

I would have drop downs on all doors so the horses can put their heads out.

Good luck and have fun.

Barbara F · Grand Prix

Prosepet, I love the idea of the stall windows.

I am a bit afraid of the drowdowns, as, a few years ago, one of the horses at our barn was playing with his - grabbing it with his teeth, lifting ang banging it. well, he got his jaw caught in it and we couldn't free him!

Finally, between the barn staff working his neck and the horse bending the bars with his teeth, he was feed.

He was cut and sore, but miraculously he didn't break his jaw.

I wonder if there is an alternative to the dropdowns. A window that opens sideways and secures flat somehow?

Queenrider · Advanced

Two wash stalls and 3 groom stalls? This is too many from an economic point of view. These are sellable spaces if a stall were there instead.More stalls would lower your fixed costs. The more stalls you have the bigger the indoor arena you can afford. The stalls pay for the indoor arena. Have mechanical ventilation in the barn. Many horses end up with breathing problems due to poor to nonexistent ventilation. Allow 3-5% of your budget for repairs every year. Horses can be very destructive.
Paddock gates should be close by so the walking distance is minimal for turning out.
Plan your business so you can make a profit. Think of labour saving devices like automatic water, inside and out. How is mucking to be done? A manure track is expensive to build in but pays for itself many times over. Include a John Deere Gator or something similar as these also save time. A tractor is always a necessity.
Remember labour is usually your greatest cost so thinking about the need to reduce labour ahead of time will save your money.
The failure rate of new boarding barns is 50% in the first year and then 50% in the second year.
Most horse people are good at looking after horses but not so good at looking after clients or their business.

-- Edited by Queenrider on Thursday 27th of January 2011 09:26:57 AM

Nikki Salo · Grand Prix

I am easy to please, lots of safe turnout with run-in sheds. A decent washroom for the boarders. Hay storage out of the barn. Good footing in the riding areas. A well throught out boarding contract. Lots of clean water. Lots and lots of great ideas already mentioned here, congrats on the place! biggrin