Building a barn with a run in AND stalls

[FatPalomino]

Has anyone done this? Pictures? How'd it work?

I've only seen one, with stalls on one side, a center isle, and stall door opening into run ins on the other side. Theoretically it'd work great for our set up, but....

[dmalbone]

Hmmm... not quite sure I understand what you mean. Are you talking about stalls with doors that open to the outside so they can come and go as they please? Or are you talking about a run-in separate from stalls but still part of the barn? Our stalls are going to open to the outside with an overhang over them.

[hunter1985]

I'm not sure what you mean either, but one side of our barn has a stall with a back door that leads out to a paddock which leads out to a pasture.

It's very convenient since we have 28 stalls, and all we have to do is put a lead rope over a horse and lead him thru the appropriate stall and the horses goes out to its pasture.

I hope this barn layout makes sense, left side has 5 large stalls (not your typical 12x12, more broodmare size) to make the paddocks big enough to lead out into each pasture. The rest of the barn are regular 12 x 12. It is really convenient becaue it takes 10 minutes to turn out 28 horses.

If your interested in this layout I can draw it out and show you

[Bluey]

My barn now has an aisle, then a 14' by 14' stall, then a 14' by 14' overhang and a 42' by 14' pen.
We have three of those, half the barn, the other half is a whole run in, 40' by 28' and a pen in front, 40' by 42'.

We can, in a pinch, have a horse in the stall, one in the stall sized open part under the overhang and one in the run, if needed, but mostly we give a horse all, the stall, overhang and run:

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a298/Robintoo/Horses2-20-07865.jpg?t=1249906047

If we ever get to build our barn, we will have a 130' by 250' indoor with along the South long side a 40' overhang with the same set up we have now, a 16' aisle, a stall, a stall sized overhang and a run, several of those along that long side.

I have worked in barns like that and it works great for the horses and people.

[ayrabz]

I may not be following well, either---but, my 'farmette' is nearing completion, and while not a 'big' barn, here is the set up:

picture a 'shed row', but with the 'aisle' portion closed in. I will have an opening into the 'barn'(step into the 12x20 'aisle') and that aisle will be in front of two 10x12 stalls. The right hand 'end' of the aisle will have another dutch door that will open 'into' the long backside of a 12 x24 run in. I will put their water source 'in' the run in, where I can easily water it from the barn frost free spigot just inside that door, in the aisle. This run in is attached to/in the sacrifice area, (about 60x70) with additional grass turnout options from there (can be gated shut or left open).
This way, I can lead out through the dutch door, leave the top half open for circulation, or even a fan hookup for the run in. But as well, in the winter the dutch door will allow tighter closure and protection.
Like I said (!) its not finished yet, so I can't claim it 'works great'...but I can letcha know soon! :o)

[FatPalomino]

To be more clear, the barn I saw that sparked my thinking was set up like this:

Left side: box stalls. No outside runs.
Center isle
Right side: loafing shed like, all open to small paddocks. No stalls, it's like the far right side of the barn was just left off. I'll see if I can get a picture.

Bluey, your set up is exactly what I was thinking about. Ideally, it'd be something we could easily clean with a bobcat machine (and, one day, we may even have a bobcat!!).

Our horses all get along, and like living out 24/7, but we need stalls, too. They are only stalled when the old ones come in to get fed, the need rehab, waiting for the vet/farrier, etc. Currently we have 2 box stalls, and 3 12x12 stalls with a back door leading to 40 x 12 runs, leading to a paddock. The runs are normal width for around here but more narrow than our big horses like, and the horses only seem to use the stall as the toilet. There is no overhang, so they need to go into the stalls for protection from the elements.

[Huntin'Fool]

Hey, well I was going to start this topic, how nice that someone did that for me! I am almost finished with our fence and trying to think of stall/run-in shed combinations. A friend has a run-in shed in which you can divide to make stalls. Which I was going to maybe copy *but* I can't really think of a good way to do this-her's involves carrying big boards around and putting them through slots-then the horses are still too close with no real partition between them.
So I was thinking of two 12 x 12 stalls, next to each other with a small room on one side for feed (with a concrete floor) and a small room on the other side for tack. Then an overhang in front of the stalls that would correspond to the pitch of a roof line. The overhang would be, I guess about 12 feet.
The idea was sort of 1/2 a barn so in the great "someday" we could maybe build the other half mirroring this-and have an aisle-though 24 feet (2 x the present overhang) sounds too big, and room for 2-3 stalls.
There's room for hay in the "old barn" which my husband renovated and which is now filled with his "stuff" and has no room for horses-haha. Really the stalls were *tiny* anyway.
What do y'all think? Any photos of existing structures/plans/ideas greatly appreciated!
Andrea

[Bluey]

I think that you are right 12' runs are a little tight for bigger horses or mares with foals.
I would go, if you can, 16' for width in the runs.
That still lets you hang a 16' gate on the ends, so you can have a straight shoot all the way to the barn with your future Bobcat skidloader.;)

We had to go 14' because we were building our barn added to the old Quonset barn built in 1957.
You can see how we made a barn by adding to the old barn.
The East side is open, we lacked finishing the end high up, that we now have done.
We don't get any rain or snow there ever, but the West side is closed, because of wrap around snows in our area coming from that side.
You can see the horses happy under there in the blizzard that was starting, picture taken from the house:

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a298/Robintoo/Horses2-20-07781.jpg?t=1249932381

Here is a picture of the aisle:

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a298/Robintoo/Horses2-20-07553.jpg?t=1249932567

Another picture of the whole barn, that is functional, not a traditional barn, but works great for our needs.
We build this as a later extra, maybe quarantine barn, if and when we do cover our roping arena and make a real barn along one side of that much larger structure.
That was going to happen this winter, but is on hold, due to my injured shoulder, as I can't work overhead or run machinery for the foreseable future.
Since aI also can't train, well, the others that were counting on my barn to ride out of the weather will just have to wait a little longer.:yes:

We had a good crop of tumbleweeds last fall, as you can see:

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a298/Robintoo/Horses2-20-07921.jpg?t=1249932891

This is as we were fininshing screwing the roof up there.
This side was finished solid, with metal outside and 3/4" plywood inside, so snow would not wrap around it and into the stalls there, but blow on by.
That is my neighbor and he is 20 years younger, so he gets to do the high up there work::winkgrin:

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a298/Robintoo/Horses2-20-07407.jpg?t=1249933007

I think that, since most are building where they may eventually have to resell, they probably would want a traditional barn that catches the eye, not quite such a just functional one.
For what we need, this is fine as it is.

Be sure to first get a good layout, with plenty of wide access to it and so water and snow and snowmelt will run right off, don't make mudholes around the barn.
There are gutter systems today that will channel water to a holding tank on wheels you can use to water other, or a standing tank right there by the barn.
I think that is one of the most important concerns when building horse barns, more important than the kind of structure even.

One detail I would never, ever build without is stalls that open both, inside and outside to individual runs.
That is an absolute necessity, I think, works for any horse, any time.
You can shut a horse in the stall or let it out.
Most horses, most times, are infinitely happier if they can go out of their stalls.
I am not using the stalls right now.
Our horses can use all the overhang all around and all the pens, it is all open for them to roam around.

[dmalbone]

One detail I would never, ever build without is stalls that open both, inside and outside to individual runs.
That is an absolute necessity, I think, works for any horse, any time.

I completely agree. I guess I still can't picture exactly the benefits of what you're talking about. We went into our barn building with the #1 requirement being dutch doors that open to individual runs or the pasture. I have seen and heard of way too many barn fires with trapped horses. To think that (if you could hopefully) get to the outside of the barn and just throw open the barn door your horses will be saved. I think it would be cheaper (and stay warmer in the winter!) to have a smaller barn with dutch doors and an overhang over the stalls. Maybe not cheaper, but much more flexible. Our barn has a row of stalls and an aisle. That's it. The overhang will be over the stalls. There's not a big difference between an overhang and a run-in other than you're saving money. You just close the dutch doors and there's no fighting to get in and out.

[fivehorses]

My first barn was a 30x30 barn.
right hand side had two stalls and a storage area.
center aisle
left side was one large open area opposite the two stalls. I even used 3 rail for the stall fronts, with a 'gate' for the door. it had two doors leading outside.
I loved it. I had only two horses and it worked great. I was gone at work all day, and if horses needed in, they went into the run in area. At night, I would put them in their stalls.
Only thing I would do different, for fire safety, is to have exit to the outside doors in their stalls.
It worked great for me, until I decided the run in could become two stalls, and well, as my name goes, I do have more than two horses, and even more than five.
I later added an ell, off the gable end. another 30x12 space, initially for storage and equipment, well, it has horses in it now.
It all was very nice and convenient, but two horses is also very convenient.

[Huntin'Fool]

Hey, so Fivehorses-the run in wasn't open to the outside? Is that why you said you needed doors to the outside in the stalls? Or did you just mean doors *directly* to outside not in the hall way or run in then outside?

Your arrangement sounds like what I was thinking of except I was going to stop with the aisle. Actually an overhang that *could* be doubled and made into an aisle if we ever did the mirror image of the barn. It would be held up w/2-4 (I guess 4 would be better) posts but open like a shed row. with 2 stalls, tack room and feed room all on one side. The overhang would be peaked like a roof then someday I could make the other side of the peak and add three more stalls and have a closed barn with an aisle.
.... __
__/..| >overhang-future aisle-run in
/..... l
[ ].....|>posts holding up roof
[_]___|>between posts and stall is just open space
^stall and overhang-side view. The overhead would look like:

o-------o--------o-------o>posts-these dotted lines represent the roof
. ...........aisle/run in...........
.______________________.__
|--|_stall_|_stall___|------|
|--|-------|--------|-----|
|--|-------|--------|-----|>ignore the dotted lines-they're just spacers
|--|______|_______|_____|
^.............................^
feed room-------------tack room

Right now I have one horse and have offer of "loaner" mare-I would rather have one of my own but finances, finances!
Huntin'Fool

[Everythingbutwings]

I saw a barn with one large box stall and a nice tack room at one end, a divided run in/hay storage area at the other that worked quite nicely.

Think large rectangle, on the left was a covered "porch" area that doubled as a wash rack. The entrance to the tack room was at the end, under the porch and near the "front" of the building. The box stall was behind the tack room with the stall door at the rear of the building. This area took up the first 1/3 of the enclosed space.

The other 2/3 was hay storage accessible from the front of the building, taking up the front half of the space. The run in was at the rear in the other half of the space. There was a door from the tack room into the hay storage area.

In bad weather, once you went in the tack room from the porch, you didn't have to go back out to check on the horses or feed them. The paddocks behind the barn were divided so that the stall had access to one, the run in access to the other. It worked nicely and was a nicely designed building, very utilitarian, with good proportions.

[KarenC]

My barn has three stalls, with dutch doors, and then a 10' overhang with one closed side outside of the stalls which serves as a run-in during the day (three sides of the barn are within the paddock - so no turning out, just opening the stall doors). This is about the only thing I do like about the barn - we had to gut the whole thing when we moved here and do the interior from scratch. In my previous barn, the stalls opened to the paddock, but with no overhang we kept the stalls open for shelter during the day and stall cleaning was sometimes a nightmare. We have saved a ton of money and time on stall cleaning and shavings with this approach.

If I were building from scratch, I would have the overhang on both sides of the barn so there were two separate run-ins as it were (heck, if I could have a "wrap-around" overhang, even better). I hope to never have a barn without this feature! I think the savings in time and money and the convenience factor are definitely worth the extra cost when building.

[dmalbone]

Hey, so Fivehorses-the run in wasn't open to the outside? Is that why you said you needed doors to the outside in the stalls? Or did you just mean doors *directly* to outside not in the hall way or run in then outside?

In a larger barn that's has empty space and not simply a shedrow, people usually want dutch doors regardless of whether a run-in/open barn area is open to the outside. This would be in the instance that their "inside run-in attached to the barn" is literally an open area in the barn and you still have an aisle to lead horses down, etc. Say they are in their stalls for whatever reason and the access to the barn is cut-off by a fire or whatever... then they still have a way to escape their stalls. Your plan looks like a traditional shedrow barn with an overhang. Maybe by using that term you can find more pictures as I know there are a lot. By eventually enclosing the aisle if you did a mirror image, you'd be removing their run-in and escape route. If you're okay with that from a safety standpoint, that's ok. You would then have a traditional aisle barn and without dutch doors now on the BACK of the stalls would have the safety problem.

[bdj]

I like the idea of having a run-in that's accessible from inside the barn too...
The recent thread on online design tools reminded me that I came up with a plan for a little barn that fits this description. (Mind you, I've no idea how feasible it would be from a builder's standpoint - I was just daydreaming when I came up with it.)

Barn plan is 36x24 - 2 stalls (12X12), a 12' aisle with a small tack room in the back of the aisle (so it's 12x8), and a 12x24 run in on the other side. Actually sounds very similar to fivehorse's barn (and Bluey's but on a much smaller scale), now that I think about it.
Major problem with it (as I see it, is the lack of hay storage in the barn... Not really talking about a year's put up or anything, but there isn't a lot of space in there to keep a few days worth of hay.

[Huntin'Fool]

Ok, Dmalbone, I see what you mean-and indeed I had not thought of that! When (and if) I got to close in the other side yeah, it could be a problem in that horrific instance-and I am a big believer in hope for the best prepare for the worst! So, I could put doors on both sides *now* and if I never get to build the other side/mirror image-so what, I have a convenient 2nd door and if I do then I have an emergency exit. And I'm impressed that you were able to decipher my "artists renderings" they didn't transfer ver well but yes that was supposed to be a shed row type barn. I'll google "shed row" and see what I get.

Regards,
Huntin'Fool

[dmalbone]

If you are considering ever covering it in and would want to end up putting doors on both sides of the stalls (which would then be open to the aisle and inside) and are seriously considering it, I would think about building that way to begin with. We didn't want to build our own and cut into the barn metal and it was much cheaper to have them put in when our barn is being built now as opposed to adding on later. Our 4 dutch doors are costing about $1,000 built and installed and my mom's quote was much higher since they have to reframe for them. Just a tip!

[nightsong]

In Wyoming i saw a few versions. The most common was a "normal" barn with box stalls on each side of a center aisle. Each stall also had a door to an outside run about 40' long and the width of the stalls. Like 'yards' on their stalls or a dog kennel with outside runs and inside shelter. I thought these were nice as the horses didn't get the individual attention i was used to in virginia, like frequent turnout. This way they got SOME exercise and fresh air/sunshine.

Two other alternatives were individual runs with one end in a three-sided shed, and box stalls with runs that served two stalls each, not one.