Inside Dream Horse Barns
Everyone likes a pretty horse stable. However, the best barns go a step beyond beautiful, incorporating useful design details that help keep horses healthy and safe and make management easy for you. These are some of our favorites.
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Airy Stalls
The open-type stall dividers and stall fronts in this barn, as well as the lower front grids, allow horses to see and interact with each other. This configuration also aids in air circulation. | Photo: Mary Cornelius
Safe Stall Latches
This inset, trigger-type stall latch offers two benefits. First, it prevents Houdini-type horses from escaping and, second, no sharp edges protrude that could catch a horse's side or hip as he moves through the door. | Photo: Mary Cornelius
Daylight in Barn
This barn incorporates an open center ceiling to let in light and air. The layout creates healthy airflow for horses housed in the stalls while also reducing energy usage for lighting. | Photo: Paula da Silva/www.arnd.nl
Ventilation Fans
Ceiling fans move otherwise stagnant air through a barn and help manage equine respiratory diseases, such as recurrent airway obstruction (RAO). | Photo: Alexandra Beckstett, The Horse Managing Editor
Composting Area
The average horse produces 9 tons of manure a year. Having a well-designed composting system like this one can help turn waste into a useful, and possibly salable, product. | Photo: Michelle N. Anderson, TheHorse.com Digital Managing Editor
Lighting in Farrier Bay
The up-lighting in this dedicated farrier bay helps the shoer better see his or her work. | Photo: Mary Cornelius
Tack Lockers
Lockers in a boarding barn can help keep tack rooms organized and prevent borrowing of supplies. | Photo: Alexandra Beckstett, The Horse Managing Editor
Sound System
This sound system is built into the wall, which means no cords for horses to trip on or stereos blocking the aisle. Close the cabinet and protect expensive equipment from dust. | Photo: Michelle N. Anderson, TheHorse.com Digital Managing Editor
Raised Thresholds
These raised thresholds are low enough not to trip humans or horses but high enough to contain stall bedding and keep aisles free of blowing debris. | Photo: Michelle N. Anderson, TheHorse.com Digital Managing Editor
Blanket Closet
Horse blankets are notoriously bulky and dirty. This dedicated blanket room, complete with hanging hardware, keeps blankets orderly and prevents the dragging of dirt and mud through your tack room. | Photo: Michelle N. Anderson, TheHorse.com Digital Managing Editor
Kitchen
A kitchen area offers a place to entertain during clinics and warm up during winter. They can range from a coffee pot and microfridge in a heated spot to a full commercial kitchen such as this one. | Photo: Michelle N. Anderson, TheHorse.com Digital Managing Editor
Recessed Water Spigots
These hot and cold water spigots are recessed into each stall wall for horse safety (no protruding hydrants) and hose-free bucket filling. | Photo: Alexandra Beckstett, The Horse Managing Editor
A Well-Designed Grooming Area
This grooming area includes a therapeutic drying area with heat lamps (far left) and easy-pass-through dividers to store and share grooming supplies and products between stalls. | Photo: Mary Cornelius
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The Horse: Your Guide To Equine Health Care is an equine publication providing the latest news and information on the health, care, welfare, and management of all equids.
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