Yard planning advice/experiences needed please!!

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Has anyone got any recommendations for solar/wind powered barn lighting too? I will start another thread on that but I will probably need that as getting proper leccy to the yard will not be possible immediately. OH is in favour of us using Barn 1 for equines so that feels like a really good step forward in planning. Really grateful for all the ideas and comments.

We got solar powered lighting from Amazon, every time we want to replace a bit/extend, their stock has been updated, so the best thing is to read their descriptions and choose what yo think will suit you best.
When we moved here all the yard lighting was run from a bedroom plug socket and a cable that stretched across the yard roofs.
When we had the house rewired we opted for solar power outside, rather than digging up the yard to bury cables. We find that solar powered lighting works well.

 

[milliepops]

We have an old earth floor barn that we use for storage. Just fyi, if the rain comes in a certain direction, it can/does get sticky/muddy in the exposed bits! (Ours is a large open door at the front and that’s where it gets muddy)

yeah - smaller scale but i used to keep my horses at a yard made of a 3 sided open fronted barn facing into the elements. Stables made with gates. it had a dirt floor which i loved, but the front of the stables eventually got swimming pools as the horses stood in the same place to look over the door and it made a depression. they got concrete fronts after a few years.

We had galebrake roller blinds for the worst of the weather which worked really well to keep the rain or snow out but keep the airflow pretty decent. i did need more rugs there, i remember the winter of 2008 i had my mare in 2x heavyweight rugs which I have never repeated since leaving. but the horses were all healthy and happy.

 

[palo1]

yeah - smaller scale but i used to keep my horses at a yard made of a 3 sided open fronted barn facing into the elements. Stables made with gates. it had a dirt floor which i loved, but the front of the stables eventually got swimming pools as the horses stood in the same place to look over the door and it made a depression. they got concrete fronts after a few years.

We had galebrake roller blinds for the worst of the weather which worked really well to keep the rain or snow out but keep the airflow pretty decent. i did need more rugs there, i remember the winter of 2008 i had my mare in 2x heavyweight rugs which I have never repeated since leaving. but the horses were all healthy and happy.

Thank you - we do think that the earth base will need to be tried out as we have a couple of diggers in our herd I suspect that we might extend the hardcore/hardstanding under the first few feet of the barn roof so that weather isn't responsible for mud. The horses won't routinely be stabled so hopefully they won't wear particular holes in particular places but potentially I could concrete an area inside the barn longer term. Heavyweight rugs are to be expected and senior horse already has some very fetching purple and lime nightwear that can go under a heavyweight turnout!! Madam Welshcake will still probably only need a rainsheet and Arab type no 2 is likely to cope well/ not actually notice gale force winds/-20 temperatures . I will have a look at galebrake roller blinds - never heard of them lol!!

 

[rextherobber]

Can you put up a link for the site you would recommend? Thanks. I am kind of familiar with equicentral ideas and use those for the current yard but inspiration for our next place would be great!!

Hmmm, I'll try, but I'm not good at this kind of thing!

 

[rextherobber]

https://www.equiculture.net/the-equicentral-system

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Thank you - we do think that the earth base will need to be tried out as we have a couple of diggers in our herd I suspect that we might extend the hardcore/hardstanding under the first few feet of the barn roof so that weather isn't responsible for mud. The horses won't routinely be stabled so hopefully they won't wear particular holes in particular places but potentially I could concrete an area inside the barn longer term.

Mud control mats will sort that our for you. Ime, if you concrete part of the floor you will get a ridge that is not at all helpful.

 

[tda]

Thinking of winter, is there room to just make a slimmish track riund the enclosed sides of barn one, just maybe 6ft wide

 

[palo1]

Thinking of winter, is there room to just make a slimmish track riund the enclosed sides of barn one, just maybe 6ft wide

Yes, I think we will try to create a track or access all the way round the barn though in bad weather I think they would avoid using that bit. They will also be able to go out to graze directly from the barn/yard which will make using the grazing in a limited way easier.

 

[tda]

Yes, I think we will try to create a track or access all the way round the barn though in bad weather I think they would avoid using that bit. They will also be able to go out to graze directly from the barn/yard which will make using the grazing in a limited way easier.

Plus if the weather is blowing in they have the option to stand round the other side, away from the wind

 

[palo1]

Plus if the weather is blowing in they have the option to stand round the other side, away from the wind

The barn has it's back to the weather but there is only so much protection that it can give in some conditions! It is deep enough for horses to be able to retreat from most elemental stuff - except in the case of severe Easterly snow storms which are thankfully rare but will need contingency planning for if really extreme.