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Barn dimensions

Hi, Jessica! I have questions regarding barn dimensions, specifically heights. I am hoping to build a barn this summer and will be using a plan I found in the October 1995 issue of Horse & Rider. The call the barn the "Bellvue Barn" and provide floor dimensions but say nothing about height. I have a quarter horse, about 14 hands, and will like add similarly sized horses as finances permit. For QH and simialr breeds, how high should the peak of the barn be? What about the open wall through which they will pass to go out into a small paddock? Also, what is a good size for a foaling stall? I am planning on extending the "Bellvue" shown in H&R by adding a foaling stall and a 3rd regular size stall.

Thanks, in advance, for your assistance.

Deb


Hi Deb! Lucky you, what an exciting summer project!

First, let me make a suggestion -- if you haven't looked at other barn plans, call your county extension agent! There are all sorts of plans available, and you might as well look at a lot of different ones before you build a permanent structure on your property.

Another source of information and ideas is the literature produced by the various firms that put up barns -- FS, Butler, Morton, and so on. They'll send you illustrated brochures if you ask for them, and you can get great ideas from the pictures.

There are also some good books available -- Nancy Ambrosiano's COMPLETE GUIDE TO BUILDING HORSE BARNS LARGE AND SMALL is excellent. It's reviewed in my web pages if you'd like more information on it.

Now, about your questions:

Barn height and air space The peak of the barn isn't as important as the interior height of the rest of the barn -- the question is whether the rest of the roof is high enough! Ask yourself whether a horse could, by rearing or flinging his head high (or both!), possibly hit his head on anything, anywhere. If the answer is "yes" then it's too low. (Trusses and supports count -- anything that the horse could slam its head into.) If your roof allows 11' of clear space from the ground up, your horses will probably be just fine. The higher the roof the better, in terms of both equine safety AND equine health -- air space is essential, and for horses in stalls, you need to provide 2000 cubic feet of air space per horse.

Barns and stalls: build small? or one-size-fits all? Remember that in all dimensions -- height, length, and width -- you can limit yourself severely by building too small a structure. If you build a barn that can accomodate large horses, you can use the stalls, aisles, washrack, etc. for smaller animals with no difficulty -- in fact, they'll appreciate the space. But if you build with small horses in mind, what will happen if you or your SO brings home a wonderful 17 hh horse someday -- or if a beloved homebred foal just keeps on growing, and growing, and growing.....? It's better to think bigger -- a bit like building rooms onto your house! A big bedroom will accomodate a king-sized bed for your 6'2" son when he's in high school, and will be a nice place to put the crib when he's tiny. But a room the size of a glorified broom closet, although it may hold a crib and changing table, won't work for a larger child or an adult.

BTW, this goes for trailers too! A trailer that will fit Thoroughbreds will fit TBs and QHs and Arabians and ponies, and perhaps even a Warmblood in an emergency (gotta make it to the vet hospital!); a small trailer doesn't allow that kind of flexibility. It's better to allow yourself as much flexibility as possible, and the way to do that is to design to fit larger horses. The next horse you bring home may be two hands taller than your present horse!

Also, if you should ever want to move elsewhere and sell the place you have now, including the barn you're going to build, you'll have much better luck if prospective buyers with horses know that their beasts (appendix QHs? TBs? Friesians?) will FIT in the barn. ;-)

Doors from stalls to paddocks

Like a stall door, a door connecting a stall to an attached individual paddock should provide an opening at least 5' wide by 8' high.

Foaling stalls

A "normal" horse stall should be at least 12' x 12'; bite the bullet and build them larger if you anticipate EVER having big horses in them. A foaling stall needs to be at least 14' x 14' for a small mare, and 14' x 16' or larger is better. This doesn't mean that you have to have a huge stall that sits unused most of the year. Some people get around this problem by putting up a barn in which the stalls are 14' x 14', with a removeable partition between two of the stalls, so that a lovely large foaling stall can be created whenever you need one, simply by removing the partition.

Lucky you to be planning this -- will you send me a photo when it's built?

- Jessica

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