New barn layout- thoughts please

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millitiger

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We're planning a new barn for the boys, the external size is fixed as I cannot go any bigger in the area we're planning.

Would welcome thoughts on my layout plans.
The salmon (?) colour will be able to be opened out to use as a field shelter for them when they aren't stabled as will have gates that fold all the way back.

My big niggle is the cross tie area- I don't know whether it would be better to put next to the backroom on the other side?
Would be more convenient for tacking up etc and cheaper if I can lay just the one concrete pad.

The rest of the flooring will be hardcored with mud mats and pea gravel in the holes.

Screenshot_20250328-085347.png

And this is the sort of style I'm going for, except one end will be completely open, mine won't be so tall and my overhang will be bigger.
Screenshot_20250328-085439.png
 
I'm so envious...

If the salmon coloured part is open, is there a risk that they wander into the cross tie area and play with the hot wash, boiler, brushes, shampoos etc... maybe better to have this bit elsewhere that they can't get at it?

Although perhaps you could train them to go in and take showers by themselves.

Agree that perhaps the cross tie area would be better elsewhere, otherwise it looks gorgeous.

There's a lot of space on the non-stable side, is this just general storage or does it have a purpose? More stables never go amiss... or a specific rug room, say, that you can have shelves etc for efficient storage.
 
My personal experience of Yorkshire Board is that if you have any prevailing winds it will let in large amounts of rain and snow. I now have a new barn with a metal cladding with air vents and it is much better.
 
Red-1 said:
I would put the cross ties next to the tack room. Make sure that area drains away efficiently to outside though.
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I would do the same otherwise you are going to get very fit walking between the tack room and cross ties.

are you going to soak hay? if so where is your soaking area re drains and also re the water. If you are going to soak then plumb in a human bath, turn tap on, pull plug out so easy :)
practise using your set up in your head, take a typical morning where do you walk in, where is the feed store, where are the feed bins in the stables, are you going to muck out into the tractor, is it going to be through the inside stable doors or outside, are your stables matted and if so how do they drain, are you putting drains and taps in each stable for water buckets. I have that and it saves an awful lot of time and lifting/carrying buckets, get your horse out of the stable, tack it up, are you having an indoor mounting block,
basically do a time and motion study so that you are making life easy for yourself.

Lovely set up, what about some pens attached to the stables to increase size and wandering? They would have some shelter under the overhang but could also get outside to experience the weather.

what about drying rugs, do you need to separate an area (warm and damp) from your tack room.

if that was mine I would buy a very very small hydrostatic tractor with a box on the back, store it between stable 3 and the tack room and then straight down the corridor past each stable to muck out into, then out to the dung heap/dung trailer which I would have below the yard surface ie you are tipping down with the tractor box onto the dung heap/trailer. Far less work. Perhaps I'm just very lazy :D:D:D:D

the other thing I would be looking at is wind/draughts with a building open on 1 side and with an open hangover on the other. ie in a storm will it matter. Obviously don''t know your site, climate or wind direction. Also how will the hay store with the weather. What if it snows and blows in?
The other thing is, and I don't know if it matters, everytime I walk into the stables I seem to end up going to the feed area/tack area/rug area far more often than anywhere else. If your tack room (and presumably this will be the feed room) is at the far end will that be a longer walk each time.

sorry not trying to pull it apart. It is a lovely set up. :)
 
sport horse said:
My personal experience of Yorkshire Board is that if you have any prevailing winds it will let in large amounts of rain and snow. I now have a new barn with a metal cladding with air vents and it is much better.
Click to expand...
Has this issue on a yard I was at yonks ago, top half of the storage barn walls were yorkshire board and the rain was forever blowing in and soaking everything.
 
Thanks all for your help and ideas.

Will think more on the Yorkshire boarding, however I don't really like the look of metal walls. Perhaps I can get some windbreak type material to go inside the boarding?

I may move the tackroom to be narrower and come up to stable 3, however I'm not sure about that stable not being able to see into the barn properly then.
I can't put the cross ties by stable 3, otherwise whoever is in that stable will be helping me with grooming and tacking up etc!

The boys are only in for 3-4 hours a day, to eat breakfast and for me to work them. A large barn wouldn't really work as I need to separate them otherwise they're all clammering for attention and on top of each other! The joy of 3 boisterous boys.
Likewise, they don't need little pens as they are out 20 hours a day.
I definitely wouldn't want them to have access to taps, they can't even be trusted with auto waterers and one of them can't even have a bucket 🙈

I will definitely look at cladding and see if I can play around with the tackroom shape and size.

Thanks all for the help and any more suggestions appreciated!
 
kerrieberry2 said:
if it was mine, I would just have the barn without stables and let the horses come and go as they please!
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This is the arrangement I have - with a secure corner tackroom at the rear RH corner and part of a huge barn separated so that Hay and bedding are not in the horse space. I could put a wash bay in several places but haven't. The horses have a large area under cover with a huge central bed, rubber mats around the perimeter with a number of hay stations and a large hardcore yard out from the covered area. There are large gates off this open-covered area onto another hard core space where I can store my trailer and/or turn it - arrange for lorry deliveries etc. This then opens into the fields. On the yard itself, the muck heap is through another gate at the rear - easy to access with a wheelbarrow and for a tractor. I can set up a single pen for emergencies or box rest very easily in the area that is next to the tack room as that has created an L shape in that bit. I haven't needed to do that yet thankfully! It is the easiest yard I've ever had - for horses and to manage in all weathers. For me, my only quibble is that it's not got 'traditional charm' and it has been created out of mostly recycled materials so is a bit 'basic' lol but my vet thinks it's marvellous as does my OH who can still store kit in the hay section and can easily access with his big tractor. The horses are so relaxed and contented in this horse hall. :) When/if I acquire another youngster I will have to amend said long perimeter as it is not especially secure fencing ATM but that won't be difficult or expensive.

I am planning to plant more horse friendly plants and herbs on the long perimeter to keep me aesthetically motivated!
 
My salmon coloured area will be the open area though, which they can access 20 hrs a day.
That will be 15 x 33ft so plenty big enough as a big, bedded, shelter.
That will run out to the hardstanding area which, in turn, leads to the field.

They are only stabled 3-4 hours a day.

I appreciate some people don't have stables but I want seperate areas so I can feed, brush, plait etc. and so people like physios, dentists and vets can deal with each horse without the others clammering all over them and chewing equipment.
 
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millitiger said:
My salmon coloured area will be the open area though, which they can access 20 hrs a day.
That will be 15 x 33ft so plenty big enough as a big, bedded, shelter.
That will run out to the hardstanding area which, in turn, leads to the field.

They are only stabled 3-4 hours a day.

I appreciate some people don't have stables but I want seperate areas so I can feed, brush, plait etc. and so people like physics, dentists and vets can deal with each horse without the others clammering all over them and chewing equipment.
Click to expand...

It looks like a super set up! Envious!!!!
 
ihatework said:
It looks like a super set up! Envious!!!!
Click to expand...
Ah
millitiger said:
My salmon coloured area will be the open area though, which they can access 20 hrs a day.
That will be 15 x 33ft so plenty big enough as a big, bedded, shelter.
That will run out to the hardstanding area which, in turn, leads to the field.

They are only stabled 3-4 hours a day.

I appreciate some people don't have stables but I want seperate areas so I can feed, brush, plait etc. and so people like physios, dentists and vets can deal with each horse without the others clammering all over them and chewing equipment.
Click to expand...
It's so interesting to see all the different ways to make a space work as well as the different things we all want. I wouldn't want the expense and inconvenience of stables again but I miss the look of them! It's great being able to design a yard from scratch and hugely fortunate! I hope you enjoy the planning and development. 😎
 
palo1 said:
Ah

It's so interesting to see all the different ways to make a space work as well as the different things we all want. I wouldn't want the expense and inconvenience of stables again but I miss the look of them! It's great being able to design a yard from scratch and hugely fortunate! I hope you enjoy the planning and development. 😎
Click to expand...

The stables will be boarded 15ft gates so not too expensive and means they are flexible and can be opened up etc. if I want.
Only the front wall will be rendered concrete block with stable doors, the other 3 sides will be the gates.
 
The only thing I’d say, is how big is the space between stable 3 and the tack room - ie, is it big enough to get the horse in stable 3 and out again comfortably?
Will add, my YO has a barn which is concrete half way up and Yorkshire boards the rest of the way. Even though they put a fine green mesh under the boards, when the weather came in from a certain direction water comes in. They’ve just had it re-clad, board on board if that means anything, and it is now weather proof.
 
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