Building a Barn and Pens

My dad and I are going to build a barn soon. Nothing big or fancy, we don't have enough money for that. Just a little two stall barn with a tack room and a covered aisle on the outside. One side will be open to the east( thats where no/little wind comes from here). The stalls will be 12x12, and the tack room will be small, 6x12. There will be either one or two sets of cross ties, haven't decided yet. But about anything will be better than what I've got now. What we have now is just a stock barn with one 10x10 stall built into it. It was on the property when my parents bought it, and it wasn't built right. Let's just say drainage is a pain. So, I'll be glad when we get it built. We want to finish it before, or shortly after, Christmas.

Also, we have fifteen panels. One of which is being used as a gate to a field at the moment, so fourteen. Five ten foot panels, and nine twelve foot panels. I am going to use the five 10' panels and make a small pen as an isolation pen or maybe putting one of my hard to catch mares in it. And the nine 12' panels, I am going to set up a small (about 35') round pen to warm up in. I don't ride in pens much.

Now, that was long, but I wanted to share. :) Anyone have any tips/pointers on things we can do to improve it? What little 'it' is. lol

You're lucky! My horse is boarded at my boyfriend's house and all we've got there is the shed where they keep the hay. That's where we put saddles and stuff. There's no cross ties so saddling is a pain. Have you ever had to hold the lead rope on a skittish horse and try to saddle him at the same time?? LOL.

Anyways, sounds like you've got it pretty much worked out. I'd be interested in seeing pictures when it's done! Good luck!

Me and my brothers and my cousins and family friends are building a 8 stall barn we are trying to have it up before the snow hits and we are just now leveling out the land we cut down alot fo trees and dragged them by hand and stacked them (Not little trees either).

Its gonna be a 8 stall barn with a tack at the end it's gonna be awesome we have it all drawn out and everything our only worry is if we will get it up in time.

But even if we don't our horses are performance horses they will do well with out it but it' s not always good to do it.

Because we have a yearling out there that has'nt experienced a winter yet i don't beleive. So I hope we get it done.

Thanks, and yeah, I've had to do that. :( It does suck. That's what we used to have at my friends house before we moved the horses to my place.

Lucky.

I'm still working out the plans/leveling the land for my own barn (six stalls, plus tack and a wash rack!), so I'll pass on the tips that I've gotten from asking around:

You know all those horse magazines that pile up at your local tack shop? Thumb through a few -- if you see anything at all related to a barn (building, rennovating, fire safety, etc.), even if it's just something silly like "spring cleaning your tack room", at least take down a couple notes. Also, if you know anyone with a barn, ask them what they like/don't like about theirs, maybe take a tour. You'll find all kinds of ideas that way.
Also, always make the building bigger than you think you'll need... it's so much easier to go back and add things than it is to put a whole 'nother wing on the barn! To save money, my current plan is to basically make a huge pole barn, and then just use that as a run in until I can save up a bit more money to add stalls, rooms, etc. My ultimate plan is to eventually have an indoor arena and everything, but my finances won't allow that to all go up at one time.

Also, make sure the horses can't get at the outside of the barn to tear it apart -- you'll spend more time fixing it than you will working with your horses!

Thanks. I hope they don't tear up my barn. :( that'd be sad. I'm like what you said. Just something small now til we can afford more. lol