Advice re american barn type stables

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Foxfolly

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Following on from my previous post re blocks or partitions....

We have decided on building our own from blocks.... that is unless we find some cheap partitions in the next few weeks!!!


Our barn means we can just about squeeze in stables both sides we'd have 6 one side and 5 the other with a washdown area by the door but having both sides means we won't have a huge walkway. We are planning on letting some out for livery so I'd be interested in opinions as we don't want to put them in then not get any liveries cos people don't like them!!

So what should we do?

12'x10' stables with a 6' wide walkway in the middle (11 stables)
or
12'x11' stables with a 4' wide walkway? (11 stables)
or we could even do
15'x10' with a 6' walkway (9 stables)

We would stagger the doors so that they were't opposite eachother.
 
If I was looking for livery for our 16.2's, I would not accept stables any smaller than 12x12.

TBH 6ft wide is not than wide when you are trying to lead out passed other stables and a horse leans out over the door to snatch/bite at rugs - my old yard had around 6ft gaps and was wful for that. More than once someone got bitten or a horse lashed out into a stabel wall. Personally I would want at least 8ft (minimum) gap

Sorry, I'm not too helpful
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I wouldnt build anything smaller than 12X12 and to be honest I would prefer 14X12 for anything over 16hh. My new stables are 16X12 and they are fantastic for 17hh plus horses. All the people who have been to look are pleased with the larger stables - we have a walkway of about 8 ft and I wouldn't want anything smaller - and they is without any stables on the other side.

A 4 ft walkway could be dangerous as you could not walk past an open door. In fact it could be tricky turning a large horse into its stable without it banging the sides.

Horses could reach across to each other - walking down through the corridor with another horse would be a nightmare - horses biting it from each side. It would be too crowded in my belief.

It may be Ok for small ponies but I would not want to keep my two larger horses in that situation.
 
Definitely keep the walkway as wide as you possibly can. You will end up with horses lunging over doors at you or anything you are leading and turning into a stable doorway can lead to knocked hips if there isnt enough room to swing round.
 
The walkway should be at least 8ft, anything less is going to be so tight with stables on either side!!!

We have 11ft between ours, so the liveries have plenty of space..
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I have 6ft for my stables but theres only stables on 1 side and the other has huge sliding doors, so it doesn't matter.

If this was for private use then it wouldn't matter too much, but if this is for livery then you need to rethink IMO, especially if licensing does come in as BHS states at least 8ft.
 
Our yard has an american barn with a narrow walk way, I'd guess around 6ft. My horse isn't in there though because all the horses have to have grills up to stop them lunging. If there is no possible way to make the walk way wider you could get around it by having permanent grilles, although as a livery i personally don't like this.
 
Could not use a 4 ft walkway - horse could not get into stable.Could not even pass someone with a wheelbarrow.
Would not like 6 ft with horses both sides as do not like full grilles.

If the barn is not 32 foot wide, then 12 ft stable , 8ft walkway and 12 foot stable won't fit in- so no double row possible, unless 10 ft deep pony boxes, tack, wash and storage bays oppostite the 12 ft stables. Still need 30ft width though
 
The barns internal dimensions are

75' Long x 28' Wide

I'm thinking you're all right its too small to have stables both sides
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unfortunately there is no scope for extending as it is already between 2 other barns and has block built walls!!
The layout would be perfect just too narrow as there is a big door one end to the right (ie. not central) for getting large bales in and out also the tap is right next to the door too!
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I really need to pursuade OH that he ought to let me have a bigger barn for the horses and then he can have the smaller one for his cows!!
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Any ideas how to sell this idea to him??!!!
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How many horses do you own? How many horses do you want on livery? Is the livery just to cover the cost of your horses? Or do you need to earn a living from it?

Also have you costed the block versus wooden partition option? We are in the process of building an equine recuperation and therapy centre and for our needs once you had costed in the labour needed for the block work then they were more or less the same price.

Also you need to think carefully as to what standard of care you would want to provide. For example we have gone for 15'x15' stables with a bow front (adding 1 1/2' to the front). We have used wooden partitions and have put extra height in to prevent horses from being able to touch each other. However the back wall is block as it is part of the building. Block can cause scrapes on hocks etc if horses rub against it and I have seen a horse after it has been cast against block have some pretty unattractive scrapes. So we have decided to rubber mat the walls were the block is.

We are aiming high and as a result we are getting companies with good reputations willing to be linked with us even though we are still in the building process.

I think you also need to look at the rest of the farm and the surroundings to decide what sort of livery you are aiming for, as if the cows are very close and there is resulting cow muck everywhere then your liveries might not be very happy each day.

I hope I haven't caused any offence!

Take a look at what you can offer, consider what market you are going for. You may find that by putting in fewer bigger boxes you can earn more and have less hassle than going for a higher number of smaller boxes.
 
We have now decided on 12x14stables we will get 6 of them along one side, and then we can hopfully fit in another 12x12 at one end to form an L shape which will give us 7stables in the barn, we already have another 2 15x10 outside stables and an old milking parlour which is currently my horses huge stable which is about 15x20!! This will be perfect as our foaling box!!
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We have 3 ridden horses and 2 broodmares, the plan is for the youngsters (Well anything not in work) to stay out all year round, well out but with access to a big fully bedded barn with hay in the winter.

We plan to buy in a container to use as a tack room and feed store which will sit nicely next to the barn this will be for liveries.

Unless we find some 2nd hand partitions at a good price we are doing the block work ourselves which will only cost us our time. Which although its valuable its not actually outlaying cash!!

We are hoping that the livery will give us some extra income on the farm We're not expecting to make a fortune from livery but any extra we can get will help toward the ultimate goal of being able to live off the income from the farm and not both having to work 40hour weeks and run the farm (100+ cattle and 50+ sheep.... and the horses) after work and at weekends!!
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We also want to start a family before I become too old to breed!!
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I was planning on lining block stables either with board or rubber mats depending on what is available and the costs at the time.
I am trying to make the area as cow free as possible and make sure that the paddocks we have for liveries will be easily accessable from the barn without having to negotiate cow muck etc.. we were looking at the positioning of the paddocks at the weekend and although we'll have some work to do on one the others should be failry easy to sort .... and my husband also surprisingly commented on where an arena would fit nicely!!!
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So long term the plan is to put in an arena and also we'll gradually build a XC course too. Although we do already have a designated area for schooling with some show jumps and dressage markers. Also we have 150 acres that can be ridden around most of the year, and good access to hacking on a network of bridleways and country lanes.
Our main obsticle is going to be North Yorks Moors National Park.... our farm is just inside the boundary so we need to pursuade them to let us put in an arena.... fingers crossed we can!!

Has anyone got any good tips on how to get PP for arenas in difficult areas?
 
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