From the article: Stable Design
Do you have a tip to share that makes your horse's stable more comfortable, attractive, safe or efficient? Share your stable design tips. Share Your Tips
modular design
- Our barn design is modular so the spaces can be adjusted as required. One end of the barn is open housing for the horses. They can come in and out at will. It's a refuge from the sun and flies in the summer and shelter in the winter. They have easy access to pasture through an open paddock gate and in the winter, the barn is in the winter paddock. We keep our water inside the barn out of the sun and snow. We use slow feeding nets and they can be move around inside the barn and outside as needed.
- —Guest auntienina
Height and door widths
- Make sure your stall roofs are at least 3ft above your horse's head so if it spooks or rears up it will not injure itself. Also, the door to the stalls should be at least a metre wide (more for bigger ponies or horses) so both you and your horse can get through safely.
- —Guest Gina
LED Lights!
- Obviously fire is a big risk in stables - particularly in warm climates such as mine (Australia). I am still in the planning stages of my stable building, however I will be using LED lighting throughout. LED's do not give off heat, and cannot set fire to insulation or other materials. I also have LED lights throughout my house, just thought they were worth a mention. another thing I thought to mention is wind direction. If you're building a breezeway or WIWO complex, you will want to consider the prevailing winds and make sure you factor that into the orientation of the building. :)
- —Guest Nellar
Stable design
- Just completed a 36' x 36' steel building designed to hold an rv on one side, a 12' open isle in the middle and three12 x 12' stalls on the front side with three individual " Dutch Doors, for each stall facing the main road. The neat thing that is working out better then I expected is, I used 11' gates as dividers between the stalls. I used this because I have a filly who isn't weaned yet from momma. I can close both center gates and make three 12 x12 stalls, close one gate and make one 12 x 12 stall and one 24 x 12 stall [ which I use if I lock all three in the barn at the same time, or I can keep both gates open and have a large 12 x 36' area for when I leave them out at night so they can get in if they want to. When doing this I also leave both end doors open so the dominant mare can't trap the gelding in the corner and get nasty with him. I also use peat moss over regular ground as bedding [ I live in Tn ] because it absorbs a lot of water, is soft and makes cleaning the stall
- —kennethjb
Hire an Electrician
- It's important that barn wiring be done right to avoid the possibility of an electrical fire. Have your wiring done by an electrician and properly inspected. It's the one thing you won't want to be cheap on because you'll be risking your horse's and maybe your own safety.
- —Guest Peaches
