the ideal barn

[Janice Denney]

Anyone have suggestions of what you would put in a a new smaller barn if you were building one? Anything neat that you have seen?

I live near Calgary and as you can guess it is very windy so the alley has to run north and south so I do not create a wind tunnel. i also want to put a warm room in the west side facing the mountains. I do not use a barn on a regular basis as I like my horses to live outside....but plan on three box stalls for cooling out, foaling, sickness. I want three tie stalls for feeding babies and horses that need work on catching, manners and weight gain.

I was reading on a barn planning website that asphalt is good for the alley but my husband says it is more expensive than concrete...can anything be more expensive than concrete in this area! What about those garage doors on the alleyway? Better than split doors? Concrete in the stalls with mats or gravel/clay then wood planks?
Any ideas?

[Michelle Miller]

I like Concrete but it needs to be laid flat because it can get uneven after time, which is a danger to humans and equines alike.

[Janice Denney]

Then do you put stall mats over top?

I also want to do a stocks or something similar in one of the tie stalls so I cna get the vet out rather tahn haul to do palpations. Any idea where to buy this and stalls. We had a neighbor build our previous stalls so when we moved we lost that access so need to buy all the stalls, stall fronts and tie stalls.

[Karen Nelson]

How exciting!

I would talk to your vet and farrier about what type of workspace might help them. For example to do teeth, your vet may need somewhere they can hang the horse's head from. Lighting for the farrier can be important too. Your vet can likey recommend stocks she/he likes.

A lockable tack room seperate from your feed room would be good too...I don't like to encourage mice near my tack.

Ventilation is very important to consider...horses can make a barn humid very quickly.

If your hubby things ashphalt is too expensive start looking into rubber paving stones for the alley! The ashphalt won't seem to bad...

I love my stall matresses, but might be overkill for a light use barn. I used to be at a barn that had bricks over sand..worked well as it was grippy for the horse and had good drainage. Wood over clay may get stinky....same with the mats as pee will get in the cracks.

We have big sliding doors for the barn; I figured they would be easier to open and close and less spooky to open when holding a green horse. They can be annoying when snow piles up though...

Karen