How many stall rooms will I need?

Question

I do not want to have a walk-in-barn. I would prefer to have dutch doors and etc, but anyways...I plan on having two stalls (2 stall rooms). Also I'll need a place to keep hay, shavings,tack, feed, supplies, and a wash stall. So I have come up with this answer; 2 stalls, 1 wash stall, 1 hay stall, and 1 shavings/tack/feed/supplies room, which equals 5 stalls!! My father was thinking of getting T-town sheds (which are the equivelant sive of 1 stall) but that would cost a lot right? There is about 1.5 acres of land plus our own land which I will use for riding space. I plan on seperating the 1.5 acres into 2 different pastures each with there own water troughs. I was hoping you guys could fool proof everything for me, I am not getting a horse yet but my father and I have it all planned and would love some advice. Well I just needed some opinions from all of you horse owners out there and thanks!

Answer 1

I might also keep tack  and feed/shavings separate because if you forget to clean your tack and it gets moldy, that can spoil the food or if you leave the food for too long and that gets moldy, it can ruin your tack.  Good luck!

Answer 2

I would say that 5 stalls would be a minimum - 6 would be better.  You'll need as much space as possible for hay, and if you use bagged shavings you can store them anywhere.  If you buy loose bulk sawdust, you can create a storage area outside the barn.  

Personally, I think you should have a walk thru barn.  You can still leave the doors open, but it is easier to care for the horses in bad weather from the indoors - you won't have to work outside in a pouring thunderstorm or dig thru 3 feet of snow.  

Dividing your pasture is a good idea.  That way one side can rest and recover.  It also gives you an extra turnout if you have to repair the fence.

Answer 3

Its probably best to have a 6 stall instead of a five, just in case you find a horse or you have to re-arrange horses for some reason. But it is best to keep the feed and wash stalls as far away from each other as possible because if water gets into your feed it will turn sour. It might even be best to have everything inside with 6 (tack, hay, shavings and wash stalls) inside and put the food outside.

Answer 4

Hello,

MY input:

I HIGHLY suggest picking up this book!  It will help you out SO much since you get to build from the ground up!

http://www.amazon.com/Horsekeeping-Small...

HAVE fun designing it, and YOU will love the book, it is full of info, from barns, placement, feed, fencing etc....

Answer 5

actually, right now, my dad and i are building our barn right now! what my parents have done is make a "blueprint" of it on graph paper to scale, making all the measurements and mathematical stuff. so what we have is 2 stalls, a middle thing inbetween which i guess you could call an aisleway for crossties and tack storage, and a hay loft/ attic. so what you could do is have a stall, then the middle aisleway thing where you could have a tack rack/ box on teh back wall, keep hay up top but keep a bale or two on the floor for easy access, keep shavings under a shed roof attached to the back (whole length)of the barn, and that area for crossties and washing also.  if all that makes sense, i hope! i can show you email me if you want them at [e-mail]. it will all tie together and make sense once you have a visual!

Answer 6

I am agreeing with JJH. That book is AWESOME!! We nearly bought some land and I seriously had the entire place desgined using that book. Sadly the land fell though but it was still lots of fun desgining everything