American Barns... thoughts on them?

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wench

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Just pondering really, was stood in one this evening, and it seemed that I may as well have been stood outside!

Just been in an old Victorian stable, its really nice and warm! So therefore just pondering, what are people's thoughts on American barns
 
My horse lives in an american barn sort of stable but it is just in a normal barn rather than a purpose built horsey american barn. I love the fact i can tie up outside my stable and horsey stays dry, i love the fact she has a view out of all sides, i love how ventilated my stable is, i love the fact her feed and everything is able to be kept right next to my stable therefore i dont get wet in the rain fetching it.
The only down side is if it is blowing a gale we cant close the barn up so it is sometimes windy ( although it is still sheltered ) and the only other down side is it doesnt look as pretty as the older victorian stable other than that i think i would choose barn stabling any day.
 
Seren used to be in an American barn style livery yard, I loved it and think its a lovely system, large,bright and airy, good ventilation, under a roof and plenty of room. That's my experience and if i had my own land one day and the money I would build a large barn converted into an American barn style stabling unit
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I don't like big american barns, they can get very dusty and chilly. We have just moved from a yard with probably 20 stables in a big american barn, it got really cold and the ventilation was awful, we were down the other end of the barn and all hay/straw was right up the top. They can be hard to secure, another american barn I have had a horse in was open at one end, and I really didn't like that. Plus we couldn't tie up outside the stables
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We moved into a new yard at the weekend, it's a small american barn with 6 foaling box sized stables, office with toilet, and large storage area. All of the stables have windows, it's well lit and is secured with a big sliding door and there's lots of room to tie up outside the stable... it's lovely!
 
I love my barn, unless I lived in Barbados or somewhere hot where stables just have a roof, I have absolutely no intention of going back to outdoor stables, ever.

Mine isn't a massive, tall, modern building that sometimes seem very cold and noisey, it is long and low with stalls either side, and a 15' aisle (was a trotting yard so horses were harnessed to the bikes indoors) but I have everything I need under one roof, and believe me, when there is 3' of snow on the ground and the drifts are 6' up the wall I REALLY do not want to have outside stables.
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The barn is always at least 10C warmer in winter, or cooler in summer and that really counts when it is + or -30C outside for maybe months.

The daft thing is that my horses all live out 24/7.
 
My horse is in an american barn, though it's not a really modern one with a high ceiling/ grills/wooden partitions etc etc. I love it!! Can chose to tie up in stable or outside, don't get wet tacking up in rain, horse can see everyone and no longer boxwalks, sociable, well ventilated and lit, can keep all your stuff outside stable and never gets wet, can hang rugs over door without them getting soaked. Love it
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Mine are kept in a barn, it is a fairly modern barn on a former dairy farm. The stables are Lodden ones with a mixture of bars and solid partitions so the horses can see each other but can have "quiet time" if they want. It is very well lit and ventilated, cool in the summer and warm in the winter. There is plenty of space to tie up and I was able to clip Sunday despite the appalling weather. I love being able to store my rug on racks outside the stables, at my old "outside" yard you had to store rug inside stables which just didn't work for my horses (compulsive pullers down of rugs) The entrances are alarmed at night so pretty secure as well!
 
The RS has a barn with 8 stables in it - I think it's just a converted grain/tractor storage barn but it's nice. The stables have mostly wooden walls, but with small grilles between each one so they can see their neighbours (haha, NEIGHbours...
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....
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). The tack room is at the end of the barn so you can carry stuff back and forth without venturing outside, but the aisle down the middle of the barn isn't terrifically wide so there's not enough room to tie a horse up outside a stable. Actually, I tell a lie, there is - just as long as nobody needs to get past, which is basically never as it's a busy yard.

I think there are good and bad things about the barn - it's brilliant being able to do chores in the warm and dry (especially with the torrential downpours we've had lately!), and the horses like being able to "chat" to each other; but at the same time, it's really annoying that when you're leading a horse through to his stable, the others on either side can look over their doors and bite him as you go past (only one or two do this, but it's flipping annoying when a 16.2hh TB crushes you against the wall because he's scared of the 13hh pony trying to take a lump out of his backside.
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Been in 2 purpose built - this one the horses can see each through the grills so had to choose their "partners" carefully and YO has had to move some around who have hated each other. Previous one was completely closed off - just stable doors.

We can tie up outside their boxes - although tend to do 1 side only as they are all big horses in our barn and while the boys love each, the mare doesn't!

And because I am down when it is cold and dark, I really appreciate being undercover when fidding and its more sociable too!
 
Shiney our oldie hates them, turns him into a different horse, he barges the door everytime its opened. In a brick enclosed stable I don't even shut the door when Im around.

Mickey is ok in them, but he won't move stables on a yard but will settle on a new yard.

Strange animals
 
American barns are great for owners during the winter months as you can do everything in the dry.

I don't think horses like them so much though. One of mine had to have her grills boarded up as she hated having a next door neighbour. The other horse was OK to talk through the grill, but she didn't like being inside. Both were so much happier when they were moved to outside stables. Horses are outdoor animals and it's more natural for them to see the sky. (Well, that was my experience though I know there will be those who insist their horse likes to be out of the weather!)
 
Ours has full walls between each stable so there are no arguments. It has double doors either end so when the weather is good we can leave them open and it's like conventional stables. Also, our aisle is wide enough that you can safely lead a horse down the middle without being attacked!
 
to make my life complicated one of my horses hates barns as all the action excites him and heighten his vices so he is in one of the yards external stables but my other horse freaks in these stables and has to be in the barn! i cant win!
 
That can be true.

Mine has double doors at either end, windows and fans.

Plus the horses don't actually live in it!
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love them. my horses are in one and its nice to be able to tie them up outside their stables out of the wind and rain. also good for clipping with the doors shut as it helps stop all the hairs being blown over you as you clip!!
 
Depends on whether it really an American Barn or a barn with stables in it. I visited my daughter in Lexington and we went round some racing studs (the tourist thing). Their Barns are fantastic and everything is done for the comfort of the horse. They are well ventilated, have windows on the outside and doors which open to reveal a mesh door on the outside. The central alleyway is WIDE, so 2 horses can be tied on opposite sides. They are light and airy. Solid walls between stables, grills at front. All mares and foals go out every day, even in the snow. Only stay in if there is a blizzard. But in Lexington even the prison is built to look like a horse Barn - the prisoners are in the basement !
I've seen some barns here where the only way to get any ventilation was to open the big doors at both ends - freezing and still stuffy. Another barn had an alleyway so narrow that only the horse by the door avoided having his bottom bitten as he was led out.
 
it depends on the barn!
my guys always lived in loose boxes but then we came to live in the Cairngorms and we needed something where we could muck out and groom sheltered from the weather.
BUT we chose a mini barn which had exterior opening half (top) doors as well as sliding front door, and the exterior top doors also have a window in the middle so if you do have to shut one due to force 11 storm, they can still see out as well as out of the other ones door.

They love it, its only got 4 stables plus tack room and big central aisle. Its warm enough at night at that size even with the exterior top doors open, but very well ventilated.

My hunter was 15 when he moved but loved it from day 1, goggles out the top door all night even when its raining. And designing it from scratch meant he got 18x12 which makes him much less messy!

Here it is a year ago, just built
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Crikey, that IS smart. The advantage of being able to design your own.

In comparison, mine is ummmmm, 'lived in' shall we say? Dogs, cats, turkeys, goat, quad, trailers, it is all in there. I did take photos this morning when I was taking shelter from the hailstorm, but it definitely makes mine look like the poor cousin.

I delivered a foal the other day, and the barn he is living in is warm and dry but pretty typical of a lot I see. Entrance is through a normal house size door, the aisle was about 4' wide, stalls about 10 x 10 (solid sliding doors and square wired half walls) with outer doors to 10 x 20 pens. Horses were perfectly happy and healthy, three years ago I would have been flabbergasted that horses could be kept in there, but nowadays...no, I have learned to be a lot less rigid in my opinions.
 
the thing I like best about it was being able to specify proper drain covers, cast iron ones, not the flimsy steel ones which pop out when your horse treads on them, accident waiting to happen.

They would be happy enough in something less glam, but the conditions get quite hairy up here sometimes so we wanted to make it nice. Also cos its a farm we could say to the planners it looks more barn like than a long row of messy looseboxes.
 
American barns are brill in the winter time when it's raining, but can be so cold, the summer time has its good points to as nice and cool, i like them
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here's mine, have two exits 12 stables 13x13 all have really good air flow and lighting
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I love your barn doors! Is that loft storage you have? Very convenient.

By contrast to the brick built barns on this thread here is mine, as I said, not pretty and no frills. It is about 35 years old.

I have been here three years and apart from taking rusty bars out, putting in doors rather than stall gates (which my British head just couldn't come to terms with) cutting the walls down about 2' (we broke a chainsaw doing it, the walls are double layer inch thick mature oak...practically indestructible) and painting it white instead of black we have done little to it. It is sound, dry, has power, phone line, water, heated workshop and does the job. A case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" it would be good money wasted in my opinion, we have spent $15,000 it could have taken on fencing instead and will need to spend as much again yet.

In winter, yes it does get cold, I have to use heated water buckets of course, but cold is relative, 10C warmer than outside when it is -30C is a lot.

I love my barn, warts and all.

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