Building new stables! Advice/wishlists please!

[Orchardbeck]

We are finally going to start building stables at our new house. We're going to put up a steel frame, 40ft long by 15ft deep, which will incorporate 3 10ft wide by 12ft deep pony boxes, and a 10ft wide by 15ft deep store which will be split in to two; the feed room will be at the front with a connecting door to a tack room at the back for security.

The feed store will have two barn doors at the front, (so we can put bales etc in with a tractor) with a pedestrian door leading out to the stables - the front wall will extend right to the end of the 3ft overhang so it will shelter the stables in a kind of mini L- shape, but in a straight line.

My husband is a farmer and has put up a few of their own agri sheds. The stables will all be south facing, and be external rather than American barn type.We have water connected already and I'll be fitting automatic drinkers, sink in the tackroom and washing machine, along with a hose for washing.

As we are doing it on the cheap and upgrading as we can afford it, we'll eventually block the walls and face them with brick to match the house (we've just built our own) but for now we're going to use galvanised steel gates with wooden panels to weatherproof which we'll replace later, and we'll put hard standing with rubber matting which we'll concrete again when we can afford.

Has any one else built their own stables and can offer any advice/ pics? I'd love to see what other people have done! Or what would you love to have in your stables?

 

[Magicmillbrook]

This is what we did for our stabling on the cheap - I havent got any photos (must do it- have the construction phase). We wanted stabling for 2 horses, 2 ponies and an extra field shelter. But as the ponies only come in opccasionaly it seemed a waste to have 4 boxes empty.

What we did was have a 34ft x 12 ft sectional building made that would stand as a 'lean to' on an existing tin barn (hay and tractor store) facing into one of our paddocks. It has a 12x12 box at each end, window to the front and sliding Loddon style doors opening into a central 12 x 20 field shelter. The field shelter has draw bars and a substantial central support to the front into which we can bolt a dividing panel (bloody heavy to shift) so it can be divided into two 10 x 12 pony stalls if required. Alternatively we can open the sliding doors to the horse stables and they have acess to a 12x10 or 12x20 covered area. The field shelter also has a stabkle door leading back into the barn/hay store to the rear.

We have a good overhang at the front, but havent put a concrete apron as we dont want it getting slippery if its being used as a field shelter in the winter. Instead we have used rubber grass matting with french drain underneath - worked well from Feb last year, we will have to wait and see how it copes with a whole winter.

Did the concrete base ourselves (£500) and the stables were about £3500, the sliding stable fronts we brought from our old property that had internal stables so saved a good chunk of the cost.

We made sure we got good falls on the concrete (old stables held the wee - stinkly)
Have realy insulated the water pipes
Put lots of taps and exterior plug sockets in to try and avoid the need for extension leads and hosepipes.
Put extra cable ans swithching in ready for my arena lights (planning applied - just need to sell a kidney to pay for it!)

Is there any reason you are going for 3 pony sized stables, are the stables for kids ponies, if so they will be onto horses before you finish the build! Might be worth doing one or two 12x12
I suppose my only other advise would be to avoid spending too much on temporary fixes, gates and boards would be quite exspensive, couldnt you do blockwork and just put the facing on later? Any hoo, good luck with your build.

 

[Honey08]

I've just one thing to add, due to planning, our stables ended up having to be North facing, which I didn't want at the time, but up here in the pennines, most of the rain amd wind comes from the South, so in fact its been a blessing. Only the snow seems to come from the North, which, although it comes more than it used to, is not around half as much as the sideways, driving rain!!

 

[JANANI]

Lucky you!

Regarding the hard standing. We did this our are temporary stables which we built for £800 and they lasted four years. It was great for a drainage point few but it wasn't so good when we found rats burrying in although this didn't happen until the last few years. I would concrete as soon as you can.

If possible I would do 12x12. Our 11hh pony stays in a stable that size and to be honest there is not much more work in mucking it out if it was 9x9.

We made our first doors with thick plywood and bought good quality galvanised fittings. When we moved into the new stables the fittings were transferred onto the new doors. Make your own doors - We did a frame which had tounge and groove wood attached to the outside and plywood attached (recycled our original doors) to the inside. We then sent the doors to a local fabricator for a metal strip to be attached to the top of the doors.

If you need cheap partitions. Wooden frame and attach thick sterling board to each side of the frame. In our new stables the partitions are made with blocks set flat so the horses can't kick through. I remember my friend telling me at the time we were building that her horse had kicked a few locks out. Don't think her dad was two happy. As our horses are well used to each other the partitions are only up to chest height. Although with weaning babies we have put an additional wooden partition in.

Rather than using a tin roof we used a concrete fibre based roof. As your hubby is a farmer he will know what it is The advantage to this roof while more expensive the stables are warm in the winter and cool in the summer. You also don't get water dripping down.

We also recycled bread racks for the bars in the front of the windows. Dad made his own windows and bought the glass.

HTH Jana

 

[JANANI]

Our really cheap stable door was made with 3/4 in outside plywood.

 

[Tnavas]

Just wondering do you raise ponies or do you have children.

I would be inclined to make the boxes horse size - if you have kids they will grow up and want horses, so the stables will fit them, also if you ever plan to sell the property the horse sized boxes will make the property more sellable.

 

[Foxhunter49]

When we put up our barn I didn't have the stable floors concreted. Scalpings formed the basis for the concrete and on top of the stable area I had fine rubber granules with a hard wearing special membrane put down on top. It has worked well. You could always leave the scalpings down and use rubber mats on the top, a lot cheaper.

Other than saying that I would make the boxes 12 x 12 as you can always put a smaller animal in a big box but not the other way, it all sounds great.

 

[meesha]

I had my 12x24 building as a 12x18 field shelter and 6x12 tack room (since added on hay barn at side and its a great idea to have doors big enough to get a bale in with tractor - my doors arnt big enough !) I thought I might regret not having stables but it is great.

Whilst everyone else is worrying whether they have the right rugs on or panicking as it starts to rain I know my two will pop into the shelter if the weather turns bad or even more so if it is too hot as it keeps flies away as well. I have hardcore base with rubber matting in shelter - i dont put down bedding (if I do they make a right mess and come off the field specifically to wee in it!) they live on harstanding/feild shelter which adjoins arena (cheap 7k) so can sleep on arena as nice and soft or in shelter - nets also hang in shelter so no hay on field and it doesnt blow around.

Could you have 2 stables rather than 3 and make one much larger that they can access as a fields shelter - you then have options

 

[dunkley]

I would echo the larger boxes - 12x12 far better. Also, plenty of power/water points. I prefer not to have automatic drinkers - lovely idea, but I like to know exactly how much my horses are drinking. Put the money you save from the drinkers into rubber matting the boxes, then you will continue to save money, on bedding. Also, give yourself plenty of space for hanging rugs. Those swinging arms are brilliant - keeps them off the floor, and far easier to dry. If you can afford to put a swinging hose "arm" where you plan to wash down, that makes life much easier as the hose doesn't keep being trodden on!

 

[kerilli]

i'd go for bigger stables too, you'll never regret the extra space.
a wash box is a godsend.
cowmats are better quality than horse mats imho, thicker, lighter, warmer, just as tough (i have mayomats and wouldn't go back to normal hard rubber matting now).
as above, i've never wanted auto water drinkers - more to go wrong (freeze in winter), horse poo in them (!) and i like to know exactly how much my neds are drinking.
good luck, hope it all goes smoothly.

 

[MrsMozart]

Ditto the horse size stables.

 

[SusieT]

Auto drinkers are briilliant- put it this way you can always turn them off (have individual stop caps) if you don't want them that day.
Lots of rings for tying up to etc.
I woudl never build stables out of wood-particularly as you are having a feed store attached-just too risky with the fire risk.
Horse sized boxes.

 

[PennyJ]

Definitely 12 x 12 boxes, I have 10 x 12 and whilst they are OK, if you are starting from scratch...

Good luck with your project, I hope it all goes smoothly.

 

[Orchardbeck]

Wow, thanks all, lots of food for thought!

We were going for 12x10 sized stables as my Welshx Arab mare is only 14hh and I am a committed pony rider - we also plan to get a Highland or something similar for my OH when he has time. She has only ever lived in odd shaped cattle boxes or tiny old stables and is fairly tidy which is why I thought she'd be ok - hubby reckons buying materials would be easier in 10ft lengths too but we've discussed and think we should now go for 12x12. I have a baby daughter too so we will have ponies but then what happens if she takes to riding and wants a horse in years to come?!!

We won't be selling the house anytime soon as we had it built especially on an agri clause, so whatever we do will be for us, but I may be able to rent out a couple of the boxes at some stage so there is no point making them too small!

Glad you agree with matting on top of the hardcore! Bit worried about potential rats though *shivers*! The mats I have at the moment are cow mats (we can claim the vat back through the farm...shhh!) - is there much difference? I plan to have a swinging arm hose eventually, always wanted one but that will come later!

Re auto drinkers - I always preferred not to use them so I could see how much was being drunk, but after using the cattle boxes just recently with them in I am a total convert - no more water down welly tops!

I plan to put rug 'arms' in the tackroom - I hope I have enough space! I'll keep you posted, getting prices for steel as we speak!

Thanks again! xxx

 

[meesha]

do get the odd rat hole up through the hardcore which I just fill in - once got a baby rats nest too - they were very cute but mum abandoned them and they died. stables back onto rean though and we are one field away from river so prob milions of rats in vicinity - i know people who have mats on concrete and they smell nasty - hardcore seems to absorb better and hardcore much less slippery than concrete on a yard !

Have fun ! ... dont compromise unless you really have to you will regret it later ! (I put rubbish hardcore under arena to save money and wish I hadnt !)

 

[catherinep]

Hi,

We did our barn 2 years ago. I wanted HUGE stables so have 2 x 15' square and a 10' x 15' for the pony. Things that we have since thought of and wished we'd considered.....

Where to position the muck truck/muck heap close to stables but out of prevailing wind (we live in a wind tunnel!). This is a perenial problem! Our winds come from SW for 90% of the time - until it snows.....

Concrete falls are v important - we got ours right but worth taking extra time over

Drainage (I have no drainage within the barn - which can be a bore)

Long term future extensions/expansion?

Good luck - it is v exciting and you end up with your dream set up.

Catherine

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

Don't forget about drainage in stables if you are going to concrete and then use rubber mats. You need somewhere for the wee to go otherwise it will just accumulate under rubber mats and then stink!!