Yard Planning

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horseygirl72

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Almost finished the yard plans ready to be put in for planning permission! But few little things left to decide...

Which do you find is better wooden or brick stables?
I'm currently thinking brick as we show quite a bit and don't want horses getting over heated in hot wooden stables overnight before shows.

Is it worth having field shelters in all the fields if horses will only be staying out overnight on warmer/dryer night?

Arena sizing... it is either going to be 25 x 50m or 25 x 60m, is the extra 10m going to be worth the extra cost in the long run?

What height fencing do you think would be best to keep in a 15hh traditional cob stallion?

and
Arena Fencing! Can anyone find me a photo of the arena fencing that sort of resembles garden fence panels? So that you can't see out of the arena when your in it... if you have any idea what I'm going on about? I can't find a photo anywhere & am definitely confusing people trying to explain what I'm going on about.



Also any other little things anyone can think of I might have missed would always be helpful. Thankyou.
 
Breeze block will work out cheaper in the long run as much less maintenance than wood - I hate wood and horses as they kick it, chew it and are generally distructive! But your planning people will probably have a view so it may well not be your choice anyway.

We have one big movable shelter that follows the horse round, keeping one in one place trashes the ground so movable is better anyway. I find mine use the shelter more in summer to keep away from flies than they do in winter when they happily stand in the rain!

60m long school will allow you to properly practice dressage tests designed for the long arena - well worth it if that's what you want to do. For jumping you can't make it too big!
 
I know exactly what kind of fencing you mean, but it would have to be pretty high to stop you seeing out from the top of a horse! Why do you want that kind of fencing? :) I can imagine it would take some pretty good anchoring to keep high sweeps of wooden fencing in place during high winds, so that might be something to think about, and there might be more planning restrictions ... ?

If I was planning a dream yard, I wouldn't bother with permanent field shelters at all - I'd have double rows of post and rail fencing between every field, and plant horse-friendly hedges and trees to grow into thick hedges ... maybe when I win the lottery! :D And a portable one in the meantime if there wasn't any shelter.
 
I would absolutely have brick stables, just for the fact that they need so much less maintenance, but our planning dept would absolutely not give planning for stables unless they were wood. In fact everything we had decided on went out of the window when the planning got involved! The local no department.

As for the arena, definately go for 60m length, in fact 65m perhaps - so it is 5m larger than a dressage arena all the way round.

Field shelters are just useful generally. Ours seek shelter more in hot weather than cold...
 
Oooh, will watch this post with interest.

If we sell our house this year and if the other house we want to buy is still available, we will need to build stables, yard etc. So other peoples ideas will be miles better than mine alone!

The 'dreams' I have are for an L shaped stable block (4 boxes) with a kitchen/feed room, a tack room and rug room in the corner of the L. An open fronted stable to wash down with those lights/lamps above. An an archway (with a clock on top) which leads to the sand school at the back of the stables. Complete pipe dreams, and I'm sure I can't afford all that, but its nice to dream!
 
Well hopefully I'm having a completely enclosed rectangular yard (if makes sense?)... with 9 large stables, 2 store rooms, feed room, wash box, toilet & kitchen area overlooking the arena, with the area linked to the yard with mirrors down one side, and then a hay/bedding/jump/quad store round the back of the stables. Will have to post some pic's once its finally all completed, hoping it all passes planning!

After that arena fencing as got one horse who has a very annoying habit of getting really close to the arena edge & I (admittedly) am slightly paranoid that I'll get my foot caught in the normal fence one day, having done that once before when I was 13 & getting dragged off the back of the horse :/ plus will be easier to attach the mirrors to... and tbh think it just looks smarter.

Brick stables its is then! long as allowed them.
 
My land is just outside the Outstanding Natural Beauty boundary and i dident think i would get planning at all...My big horse is a nightmare in wooden stables as he leans on the walls and break them apart so i put in for a yard with two wooden stables,wooden haystore and one large (16x16)stable and same spec tackroom in concrete block but to clad out in shiplap to match the rest of the yard..The local planning department were more than happy with this and i went through with no objections..Might be an option for you?..
 
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If do get to do brick stables will be built in breeze block first then normal house type bricks on the outside to match the house... hoping because we don't really have any neighbors to complain about it ruining the view will help get planning, the only neighbor we have who can see the area where the yard will be thinks its brilliant idea as she already rents a couple of acres off us for her horses & will get to use the arena if she wants once all built :)
 
When we built our yard I wrote to the planners to ask what would be acceptable, whether it be bricks or timber or both. We were told that as long as they fit the criteria regarding height, (Max 4m for a pitched roof) and distance from our property (min 5 metres), either proposal would be ok and as long as they were in the garden curtailment we would not need planning.
We ended up building a long block of five stables approx 12ft sq and a feed room. They were constructed of 6" concrete block walls on the outer sides and then fronted with brick, to approx 4ft high and then topped off with timber and clad in shiplap. We then lined the timber top half inside with plywood and put a window in the back of each one. The door frames and doors tops were all clad with aluminium to prevent chewing. The roof is Onduline sheets. All I would now do differently is to completely line the insides as we have had a horse that kicks the walls and has cracked it in places.
 
Planners did tell me brick would be fine... just knowing my luck at the moment they will have changed their minds by the time I've got the plans all finished! Do like your stables, wouldn't want wood lined though but will have a look at rubber wall matting would hope that would save the walls & horses legs/hooves if they decide to kick
 
Don't suppose anyone can find a photo of the arena fencing I'm talking about? still can't find one.

"arena fencing that sort of resembles garden fence panels? So that you can't see out of the arena when your in it... if you have any idea what I'm going on about? I can't find a photo anywhere & am definitely confusing people trying to explain what I'm going on about."
 
School: Make the biggest you can afford without skimping on quality.

Stallion fencing: From experience, make the fencing high enough so that your horse cannot get his head over and 'breast' the fence. My fencing is 4'6" high with electric on top. Again, don't skimp on quality.

Stables: I too prefer brick rather than wood.
 
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This type of fencing?

We have this round our arena. Recommend it a lot, especially if you have a stallion, we turn ours out in it no problem and it isn't too high, but he wouldn't ever jump out.

I do prefer higher fencing though, especially as we do a lot of free schooling, just means they're less likely to hop out! :D
 
Brilliant! Thankyou RCP Equestrian & megwan1 :)
Exactly what I was taking about... will be going for atleast 2m (long as pp allows it). Free jumping & having a stallion are the 2 main reasons want it... bored of only being able to jump on lunge atm, plus my little stallions only 4 & gets distracted far to easily what with all the fields being around the edge of the arena so should help him keep him mind on his work a little more.
 
We refer to it as palisade fencing.



We have it on the small arena and find it handy for A. young horses and B. Windbreak :)

I think wood does not always do so well in our climate. We have significantly more rain and damp compared with the continent and the states.

Best of luck with your planning.
 
Ooh how exciting :)

I will be watching your future posts about your yard with interest; I'm moving up to Scotland next spring and OH has a plot of land which we plan to build stables on. There's already an enclosed 'yard' on the plot, we just need to build the stables and split the plot into manageable sized paddocks :)

I'd go for breezeblocks over wood (OH and me have been discussing materials at great length, because we can't seem to agree on anything - including door widths!), for pretty much all the reasons above.

Let us know how it goes!
 
Google image onley grounds equestrian and it will come up with a fences arena like you are describing. Theirs slants outwards slightly so when you go past the edge you don't bask your knees/ stirrups.
 
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