The Home of Champions | 5 Horse Barn Ideas for Your Equine Athlete
Nature’s designed horses to live outside all their lives. Some breeds like the Icelandic horse can stand around happily in temperatures up to -20 degrees Fahrenheit.
However, most pampered ponies of today are ill-equipped to withstand these kinds of hardships, especially when they work for a living.
So if you prefer to keep your precious equines undercover, read on. We’ve got some fabulous horse barn ideas to ensure their maximum comfort.
1. Basic Essentials
Most horses are perfectly happy with a simple shelter to spare them from the worst of the weather. They’re very efficient at converting food into heat to keep themselves warm.
However, if you want your horse to conserve their energy for more important things like competitions or trail riding, you’re better off keeping them inside.
Building stables is a good way to provide constant shelter for your horse, so after that, all you need to do is ensure they have a constant supply of water and hay to satisfy their basic needs.
2. Space Considerations
Horses are large animals and need plenty of space to turn around and lie down in their accommodations. You’ll also need enough room to groom, feed, and tack them up inside your barn or stable.
Experts recommend a minimum stall size of 12ft by 12ft to account for these aspects.
If you’re looking at horse barn designs, plan to leave a corridor at least 12ft down the middle. This allows enough room for the passage of animals as well as stablehands pushing wheelbarrows or carrying feed bags.
Free-standing stables are best when they have an overhang of about 6ft to stop the sun and rain.
Be sure to take these minimum dimensions into account in your horse stall plans.
3. Extra Conveniences
No stable design is complete without a few creature comforts of the human as well as equine kind.
Including a feed and tack room in your barn design or attaching them to the end of your stable block makes riding and feed time much easier.
Fans make your stables a no-fly zone for pests, and a seating area with a coffee station is a nice place to relax and socialize with your barn mates after a ride.
A small run attached to each stable also allows your horses to indulge in outside time ad-lib without expending too much energy.
4. Safety Considerations
Horses are extremely curious which makes them notoriously accident-prone. If there’s a loose nail or jagged edge somewhere, you can bet they’ll find it.
Invest in fixed mangers and water feeders to avoid feet getting stuck in unfortunate places.
Tamper-proof bolts on all your stable doors will prevent escape artists from getting out and hurting themselves or breaking into the feed room.
Make sure any hooks for tack and cleaning equipment are out of reach of enquiring noses.
5. Upmarket Horse Barn Ideas
Of course, there’s more to stable designs than brick and mortar. The latest innovative equine systems mean you can add as much bling to your stable yard as your budget allows.
From polished wooden partitions to elegant stonework, the sky’s the limit when it comes to horse barn designs.
Find out More
The internet is an excellent source of inspiration for your horse barn ideas or, in fact, anything you want to know.
Keep browsing our website for more useful ideas and information about the world around you.