Share Your Barn Photos

[MountainWoman]

We're in the process of building another barn geared strictly to the minis. I was wondering if any of you could post your photos if you've built a barn specifically for your minis. I'm especially interested in seeing your stall set ups. I've also heard about mini barns that have their own individual paddock/run areas for each stall and if you've done something like that, I'd appreciate seeing the pictures. Any special features a mini barn should have. I'm trying to figure out the best way to go for this new barn. Thanks!

 

[Jill]

This isn't fancy and chances are good, you're aiming for something fancer, but this is what my barns are like. We have six of them in the paddocks. Some 3-stall, some 2-stall. We have split a 2-stall one and made two paddock areas, one for each stall. Those paddocks are about 50x60. Stalls are all 8x12. Doors are simply pipe gates. I do not stall our minis unless it's near foaling / with a new foal, or if we're going to a show the next day. The horses go in and out as they please. Myt husband, H, built these barns, the first one almost 15 years ago!

 

[Jill]

Also, we have this, what I call "small pen" with an 8x8 stall. The pen area is maybe 25x15. Lots of times we put a new mom and her baby here, or watch a horse if we have a sick one, etc. Also, the stalls have wireless cameras for foaling, etc.

 

[MountainWoman]

Thanks so much! Love the photos and just what I'm looking for as we move ahead with this project.

 

[MindyLee]

6x8 run in's

Each pasture has one.

cost about $100-$150 each to build.

 

[Earthology]

I love the ideas posted here! It leads me to a question I have been meaning to ask myself...

I have a VERY large shed. Before I brought my first miniature horse, we converted it to a chicken coop.

This shed was originally an ugly piece of junk! METAL SHEDS SHOULD BE AGAINST THE LAW!

Once it nearly blew away in a wind storm (THAT WAS NOT FUN!)

Because of that, we moved it, cemented posts in the ground, put the metal shed up and over the posts, built a wood frame inside the metal shed, and anchored this metal frame to the wood posts that were set in the ground. IT WON'T BLOW AWAY ANYMORE!

In addition to that, we took old rustic barn siding from a barn that had been knocked down. We cut these pieces to fit the shed.

We took off the ugly metal sliding doors and added our own wood doors that we built as well. Again, we attached these doors to the wooden frame we built inside.

Originially this was a chicken coop for my small frizzle serama chickens (who still live in there, by the way... & please don't worry: when my mini horse is out in the pasture, the chickens get their food then and only then. My mini never has access to chicken feed. We are hoping to build the little mini chickens their own new smaller home this spring). ALSO, keep in mind that while we did our work, we didn't want mini chickens running all over the place. Therefore, in the photos below, that is why there is a small kennel-type fencing around the front. It was to contain the chickens. (This will now lead out to a paddock for my mniature horse, which gets attached to the pasture).

Anyways, although it is not apparent by the photo, this "barn" is on high ground.

The problem I am running into follows. This is what my question is:

For those who posted above who have the smaller barns,

******WHAT DO YOU USE AS FLOORING?******

Currently my floor is dirt. I *had* been using the "deep layer" bedding method for my chickens (which is a beautiful and sustainable method that I love).

This winter has been nothing but mild, that said, the floor bedding kept getting TERRIBLY wet because when the ground would thaw, the dirt floor underneath became soggy and the bedding would soak up all the water.

IT HAS BEEN AWFUL! In past years, this was NEVER an issue. Everything stayed DRY.

So, for a temporary solution I had to lay down a large tarp inside. I put the bedding on top if this. It works well. Pixie, the mini horse, doesn't mind at all. It isn't slippery in there.

It is only a temporary solution though, because I KNOW that deep cleanings will be hard with a tarp as a surface! ***FURTHERMORE it is a temporary solution because know the inside of my barn looks "tacky" (pun intended)! because it has blue tarp going up the walls (the horse has not attempted to eat it).

It is also a temporary solution because ***The pitch fork LOVES poking little holes in the surface of the tarp.*** Overall, it is working though, since I LOVE to spend time out there & clean the barn everyday. There are no smells, and it has been set up this way for three weeks.

My fist thought was to mix a bunch of cement this spring and lay that down, creating dry ground. Someone said, however, that I would also have to put re-bar braces in so the cement doesn't crack under the miniature horse's weight.

******Is this true?******

Also, If I do put cement in, I would be sure to coat with a thick bedding. Perhaps even floor mats to help protect her hooves and legs.

I also thought about just lining the floor with recycled bricks (leveled out of course for a smooth surface), and again with floor mats.

***ANY suggestions will be appreciated!

 

[SampleMM]

Here's mine. I don't think I have any indoor photos though. Hmm, I'll have to work on that.

 

[Earthology]

I am DROOLING all over myself SampleMM..... DROOL. Like a St. Bernards drool...

 

[mydaddysjag]

Put a 6" layer of 2B gravel down inside, tamp it very well, and cover it with rubber mats. Perfect draigage for an area that gets swamps, the rubber mats keep the horses off of the gravel and save bedding, and provide a nice comfortable surfact to stand on. Over my mats, I use wood pellets for bedding. I can clean a stall in 5 minutes now that I have mats. The only thing I would want to see different in your little barn is more ventilation. In the front doors, can you make it so she can stick her head out the doors for fresh air? Small buildings with metal roofs get stuffy, and really reek in the summer if they dont have fresh air.

 

[SampleMM]

Aw, thanks Earthology. I'm not sure how close you are but you are welcome to come visit anytime.

 

[Earthology]

Put a 6" layer of 2B gravel down inside, tamp it very well, and cover it with rubber mats. Perfect draigage for an area that gets swamps, the rubber mats keep the horses off of the gravel and save bedding, and provide a nice comfortable surfact to stand on. Over my mats, I use wood pellets for bedding. I can clean a stall in 5 minutes now that I have mats. The only thing I would want to see different in your little barn is more ventilation. In the front doors, can you make it so she can stick her head out the doors for fresh air? Small buildings with metal roofs get stuffy, and really reek in the summer if they dont have fresh air.

There is a large window we braced up and place on the back. It is... how to say... Small square wires... Sort of like chicken wire, but better... The old rustic wood windows open from side to side on a hinge. It keeps raccoons out. My chicken miniatures are NOT food, LOL.

Also on those front doors, it is the same thing, except in winter, we cover the wire mesh windows with plexi glass that we just screw in, There is also a ventilation "circle" on the south side for air flow that can be covered as needed.

Lastly, for the windows on the back side, they open low enough that she can get her head out. Until the newer and smaller chicken coop is brought in, the wire mesh has to stay (rascally raccoons trying to eat my expensive serama chickens!). We are hoping the ground has a hard freeze SOON! It it would just stay frozen, their new home (another large wooden shed I bought from my father) could be brought in. If it doesn't freeze, well then, we have to wait for the ground to dry up once spring is over...

******That said, thanks for the stone idea! Sounds brilliant! I now have a solution and I thank you VERY much for that!******

 

[fancyshadow]

Don't have many pictures of the inside of my barn, but here is a barn layout. We have 37 horse stalls (3 are 8 x 12 and the rest are either 6 x 8 or 7 x 8) one tack stall and one hay/storage stall. We have wire gates ate the ends of each aisleway and multiple wire gates at the one intersection part. Makes it nice when trying to seperate horses or making them go where we want them to. We enter the barn from the cleanup area. Don't have the door marked there. The round pen is 27 ft in diameter. Nice size to work one or two minis or small shetlands. There are lots/play areas on three sides and a 6 acre pasture in the back beyond and around the driving lot. The one thing I would do different is have 5 ft aisles throughout. We now have 4ft aisle everywhere but the short center aisle. The doors to stalls are approx 3 ft. and doors to outside are all 4 ft. We don't have enclosed outside walls. Have one photo to post to show what we have.

This shows one of our outside walls.

This is north side in winter. In summer, we open the tin on top.

This is inside our round pen.

 

[MountainWoman]

Oh, thanks everyone!!! I'm loving the pictures and layouts and suggestions. Have my DH at the computer looking with me. Thanks again.

 

[Mareish Mom]

To Earhology: Second the gravel (or rockdust) covered with mats. works great. I don't even use shavings anymore. My horses have full access to the stalls but aren't ever locked in so they rarely pee in there and the chickens instantly mulch the poo so it dries right away. I just go in once a MONTH with a snow shovel! Of course if you are locking them in at night you will need shavings or pellets to absorb the pee.

To Sample: I'm loading up my horses and driving up, we are moving into your barn!

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

Here are my barns. The little stallion barn is the only one done so far, we are still in rebuild mode and sadly winter finally caught up and put everything on hold.

My stallion barn has 4 permanent stalls on one side with exterior doors that will eventually have individual runs but right now just share a roundpen for turnout. On the other side of that little barn there is room for 4 gate stalls and hopefully 5 once I rearrange. It has a rollup door as well and once everything is finished that part of the barn will be divided off to be a run in shed for the pasture that will be over there.

My main barn is up but not finished on the inside yet. It will have at least 8 stalls, hay loft, tack area, and eventually a wash rack. I will have to try and get a more current picture of it sometime but here is before the driveway and garage door were put in.

This is my run in shed for my mares with a lime base.

 

[wildoak]

We built this barn about 6 years ago, after being in a older barn for 20 years I had some idea of what I needed lol.

http://www.wildoakfarm.com/barn4.jpg

Interior.

We initially used Priefert panels for stall dividers, they are great for airflow & light but we had to reinforce with wood top & bottom as the horses leaned & rubbed on them. Still can be removed fairly easily if I need to double a stall for foaling.

http://www.wildoakfarm.com/barn5.jpg

Overhang at rear of the barn - rear dutch doors on every other stall, opens up to 4 large runs behind.

I do have stall mats, wouldn't trade them for the world.

Jan

Don't know why photos are not showing up but the links do work...

 

[MountainWoman]

Jan,

I'm going to borrow your stall set up. Loved your kitty sitting there in one of the photos , Maple Hollow, I love your barn too and the idea of having a stallion barn.

I'm getting fabulous ideas from all of you and I love seeing everyone's photos. These are some lucky miniature horses who are obviously well loved.

 

[jyuukai]

I love the ideas posted here! It leads me to a question I have been meaning to ask myself...

I have a VERY large shed. Before I brought my first miniature horse, we converted it to a chicken coop.

******WHAT DO YOU USE AS FLOORING?******

So, for a temporary solution I had to lay down a large tarp inside. I put the bedding on top if this. It works well. Pixie, the mini horse, doesn't mind at all. It isn't slippery in there.

It is only a temporary solution though, because I KNOW that deep cleanings will be hard with a tarp as a surface!

I had to laugh when I read your post, because it is so familiar! When my mare was about a year old we suddenly found that she was going to be homeless!

My parents however had a nice large fenced in back yard with a wooden 'too shed' that they kept random things in. They agreed to let us keep her there until we could find a better solution and we put a tarp down in the shed ontop of that wooden floor in place of a rubber mat, and we put shavings over that..

Now it was the biggest pain in the rear and I will never do it again but it worked because it had to! In order to deep clean we stripped the stall (which should be done sometimes anyhow) put the tarp over the fence and hosed it off. We did this every couple of months, depending on how much she was kept inside.

I do second the tamping down and gravel and rubber mats though. I cannot stand a dirt floored stall, I have worked at many barns over the years and those floors are such a pain! Rubber mats make life so much easier and seriously reduce the waste you go through with bedding! Not only do you throw out less but you can use less because the mats are a nice cushion for your horse!

Anyhow I love this thread! When we move up to be with the in-laws the wife and I plan to gut the old full-sized horse barn and re-do it for a small number of minis instead! I love seeing how people make barns and run ins for cheap, I get the best ideas from this forum

 

[Equuisize]

This is our barn on the outside. It was a big open cavern, used as a workshop

when we bought the place 4 years ago.

Michael had to build stalls before we could move in and move the horses,

down to live here. They are 10x12.

Everything is screwed together, no nails, so configuration can be changed easily and

also should we ever move from here, if someone wanted it to be a shop again, it can

easily be turned back into that.

It's still a work in progress, inside. The exterior of the stall walls are cedar,

interior walls are tongue and groove, sit in a channel for easy height change or

removal, the doors are scooped on top so they can put their little faces out, floors are 3/4"

mats over concrete floors, the chew rails on the top of the divider walls are stainless steel.

There was already plumbing for a bathroom/which hasn't materialized yet and I'm waiting

with bated breath for my warm water wash rack.

The interior will look, eventually, like an old western town, with Graffe, our last big

horse's bedroom being the sheriff's office, the girl's will be the dance hall girls

Even though unfinished, at this point, it's a dream come true after boarding my horses out

for 30+ years.

 

[SampleMM]

To Earhology: Second the gravel (or rockdust) covered with mats. works great. I don't even use shavings anymore. My horses have full access to the stalls but aren't ever locked in so they rarely pee in there and the chickens instantly mulch the poo so it dries right away. I just go in once a MONTH with a snow shovel! Of course if you are locking them in at night you will need shavings or pellets to absorb the pee.

To Sample: I'm loading up my horses and driving up, we are moving into your barn!

Load 'em up and head on up but we will have to put in an elevator and build stalls in the hay mow.