run in sheds

[GrullaBlue]

I'd love to see pics! I want to build one in the spring. One to accomodate my mini and pony geldings (2, 36" and 40"), and my three mini donkeys. They are all kept together, and currently have a "run in" area in my barn, that is 10x15', and they share that just fine. So I'm kinda thinking since that size is ok for them now, they all get along well, and share the space well, that maybe going with a 10 or 12 by 16 run in would be ok. The thing is, I'd like to be able to close my barn, I'd like the space, but most of all, they all come in, poop, pee, and leave again. My minis are total PIGS. I can have more than a muck bucket full of manure in one 24 hour period. So they are used to having their paddock with run in, this would be no different, in fact the run in would be better, because we would have it facing a better way. I'd want it facing more east, SE, based on our winds. It's facing south now, and we get a lot of blowing snow in there....but I shut one of the sliding doors, so they have plenty of windblock.

I don't want to go too tall, just barely tall enough for me to stand in there, if that. I don't mind bending a little. But my biggest issue is I don't want this run in to block the view of the pasture behind it. We'd build it with wood frame, steel siding/roof, insulate at least the roof (condensation), and plywood the inside, I'm sure. But as far as how we want it to look, that's up in the air. I'd love to see pics of other people's mini run ins. I'm even thinking of instead of a three sided lean to, maybe making it longer, and divided down the center, with doorways on each side, rather than open. The geldings get along very well together, as do the three donkeys, and if it were big enough, I'd have two big stalls, and could stall the donkeys together, and the geldings together, and shut them in if the weather was absolutely horrible.

Do you actually anchor your lean tos into the ground? We did have one tall one go over this year. It was one we weren't using, and was made as a single horse shelter...it was about 10 by 12. We've had it for years, and this was the first year it went over in the wind, and it went over twice! So, I'd definitely want to do something to anchor it into the ground...as we were thinking of making this a moveable shelter....so not having the posts dug into the ground. But may want to reconsider that part....

Any ideas would be welcomed! I did start searching the forum for "sheds," but got frustrated...I don't know if it's just me, but whenever I do a search and get listings, I'll look at a post, and hit "back" on my browser, and the page "expired." So I have to retype my search and start over again. I thought, at one time, we had a forum on here just for mini equipment, like barns, feeders, etc....but perhaps it was just a post I saw, not a forum.

Angie

 

[JAX]

Next time it says expired, try this

Hit the refresh button (or F and 5 together might work for your computer also) to the right of the address you are going to. After that you may get another window and hit retry. Usually works for me.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I just wanted to say:

1) I think the size you are talking about, depending on how large an area they have outside, sounds absolutely fine and should be OK, especially as they are already sharing a similar space

2) If you are only getting one bucket of poo from 5 animals, please let me know what you are feeding them on as I must be doing it WAY wrong

From 5 animals I would get easily five times that amount!

 

[Minimor]

I would suggest you rethink having the roof so low that you have to bend down a little--even if you think that isn't a problem now--I do have a couple of small, very low sheds & I can tell you that it is a major pain having to bend down while in there doing the cleaning. Thank goodness my two low sheds are small--my 12x20 sheds are tall enough that I can stand straight & still have some head room, if I had to bend over the whole time I am cleaning sheds that size my back would give out.

My sheds are all built on poles dug into the ground. Sometimes it would be nice to be able to move them, but we do from time to time get winds that will flip un-anchored sheds over (some have been known to get flipped onto or right over the fences. I really don't need that, so prefer to have mine set permanently into the ground, then I know that the horses have a safe place to be in the worst winds, no worries about a shed flipping onto them.

 

[wingnut]

Our two "barns" are actually run-in sheds with tack rooms. One is 12x12 with a 8ft tack room and one is 12x10 with an 8ft tack room. We've divided both to create a total of 4 stalls. Before we had 4 stalls and 6 horses, we had 2 and 2. My husband built dutch doors on the shed and when needed, we could "stall" the girls. Based on the herd dynamics and personalities, we would pair them up and have 2 per stall. This was never a problem. Now that we have 4 stall and 6 horses, we will still use the 12x12 to pair up the 4 that work best for that and then the other two will be stalled separately in the slightly smaller barn. I like have a full size building. We've contemplated ones with smaller heights but I think it limits what we can do with them and you never know when constant bending over to clean out may not be something you can do. For the same reason, I bought a full size trailer....down the road, ANY horse owner would be interested should we want/need to sell it.

95-98% of the time, the stalls are left open and they are free to come and goes as they please. And many days, you can find 5 of them in a single stall together. All but our "boss mare" will go into a stall in the slightly larger barn. The boss mare will be in the other stall of the same building. We joke that we wasted our money on a second building!

This works well for us right now. We need to build doors on the other building yet. I do long to have a proper barn some day though, possibly with concrete floors and drains. My dream is to have a 10 acre spread with a proper barn and at least 8 stalls, maybe ten. And a tiny, tiny house so that I don't have to spend my time cleaning house and can spend most of my free time out with my horses.

ETA: We do not have ours anchored simply to avoid having to deal with permits/zoning issues. A "temporary" or "moveable" building does not require permits but a "permanent" building would. We also don't live in an area where we would frequently have winds reach such speeds that could move these heavy things.

 

[GrullaBlue]

Well, as for the muck bucket (I'm talking the big thing with the rope handles, not an actual bucket), they're doing some of their going outside...but I wish they'd do all of it! lol... And bedding makes it worse...this is ALL manure, no bedding. They got mats, that's it.

I'm betting if I did have to bend down even a little to clean, I'd probably wish it was taller, and would be too late. Will have to rethink that. We are a bit uphill from the barn/pastures, so I don't think it would block my view of the horses too much...

It would just be SOO nice to have that extra space in the barn, and be able to close it up. I'd like to put some more stalls in there, and be able to bring EVERYONE in, under roof and most importantly, SHUT THE DOOR, on the worst winter nights. If the run in worked for two stalls, that would be great, but without having a run in in the barn, that may provide space for an extra stall or two also (and I have room for two more along another wall) for nights when the weather gets really cold. My donkeys prefer to be inside. My two mini geldings, however, can often be seen standing outside, alongside the barn where the wind is blocked, with a foot of snow on their backs. They like being outside, unless it's raining hard....so I wouldn't lock them up unless I felt it was absolutely necessary. (the geldings aren't chased out, those two are the top dogs of the small herd.)

I also get a large snow drift next to the waterer, and where I would want to put the lean to, would direct the snow further away from that. I actually have to shovel a path for them in the wintertime because of the way the snow drifts around the barn.

I just saw the other post (looking for barn for weanling) and saw some GREAT photos there!

Angie