This new weekly series invites readers to send in photos and a description of your barn (or where you board). What do you like about your setup? What would you change? There are some fabulous barns out there, from big and extravagant to quaint and workmanlike. Tell us about yours! It doesn’t have to be fancy or dressed up, in fact some of the “bare bones” no-frills barns have been my favorite for horsekeeping. Send us an email about your barn, with attached JPEG photo(s), to [email protected] with “Barn” in the title.
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To start off the series, I may as well use the place where I currently keep my two horses–it’s a great place, and I’m very lucky! Out of respect for the farm owner (it’s a private farm), I won’t list the farm name, but it’s located in Lexington, Kentucky… a place that knows a thing or two about nice horse barns. When visiting local stud farms, you’ll notice there are some very extravagant, fancy horse hotels around here…and some stalls that I would gladly move into!
I keep my horses at a pretty nice place, if I do say so myself. The whole barn includes 12 stalls and an indoor. Don’t get too excited about the indoor– it’s very small, just enough to trot some circles, but it’s quite handy during awful weather when you simply MUST ride. I like the indoor’s footing, a sand/rubber crumb mix, but you must water it before riding or it gets incredibly dusty– a Bad Thing when your stalls are under the same roof!
The stalls themselves are rubber matted, with auto waterers in the corner. It’s nice not having to fill two buckets in the summertime, or break ice in the winter. But as with all auto waterers, it’s difficult to know just how much water your horse is actually drinking if you suspect there’s a problem. But it’s still a nice feature to have, despite the two well-located aisle faucets.
Another useful aspect of the stall design is the “window” wall between the horses. The extra contact and being able to see each other keeps them very happy. It’s also nice to be working with a horse in one stall, and being able to look down the row and check on the others– if you notice a cough, or one may be cast, you can see who it is. The barred “window” area is large, but there is solid wood wall between the horses at their feed corners, so no snipping and snarling at each other over grain or hay. There are nice big windows on the back wall, too, allowing the horses to see outside. Swinging wooden exterior doors can close the windows during bad weather when needed.
This rather fancy barn only has a dirt aisleway. I believe the original intention was to blacktop it, but problems arose during construction and it was decided to leave the aisle as dirt. Not my favorite surface…it’s dusty and keeping freshly-bathed white socks clean is a challenge! But, it is easy to scoop poop with a fork and not make a mess; always a plus.
An unusual feature of this barn is a concrete “sidewalk” on the stall fronts; while it helps keep bedding inside the stall, it also is an annoying step up and down to and from each stall. The path is only about 3′ wide, kind of an awkward distance for the horses to negotiate, but perhaps better than a single floorboard to step over as seen in some barns (that seems to always make horses trip!).
This barn has two nice tackrooms, and a good-sized wash stall. It’s great to have a proper indoor wash stall with concrete floor and hot water. There is also a small office area, heated in winter, with washer/dryer and bathroom. I’ve spent many days in that little room on the laptop writing for EN, looking out the window at my horses. Paradise? You bet!
