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by Nikki Alvin-Smith for Horizon Structures

There is nothing easy about running a horse boarding barn. Difficult horses and difficult horse boarders can make daily life miserable for both management and staff at any facility. The development of a new horse boarding business often necessitates a major capital outlay for suitable stabling facilities. The notion that once a beautiful barn is built, the equine and human counterpart clients will exist in harmony under its roof is often more a fairy tale than reality.

There are many reasons that things take a wrong turn and life as a horse boarding barn manager becomes a nightmare. Difficult horses can make restless bedfellows for their compatriot equine residents with their persistent neighing, circling, rearing, or kicking habits. Cribbing or windsucking behavior from an individual equine can wreak havoc on the pristine new wood structure and can quickly be copied by other impressionable equines.

Horses that are left to themselves too much of the time will become bored and sometimes behave badly, and when their owners don’t show up to exercise them or work with them on training even a good horse can turn into a bad actor.

It takes just one obnoxious horse owner to make daily life miserable for the staff and manager of the equestrian facility. This could be a client that makes persistent phone calls and engages busy farm staff in longwinded chats full of unwanted and unwarranted advice on how their horse must be cared for is a routine nobody wants to endure. Or a client that constantly shows up after hours wanting access to ride and use the facilities. Then there are the ‘aisle hoggers’ who leave their horses attached to crossties for long periods often leaving them unattended into the bargain. And don’t forget the ‘help myself’ borrowers that upset everyone by using other people’s equipment without asking or the folks that don’t bother to clean up after their horses by rolling up hose pipes, sweeping hoof pickings, or even pick up poop piles from the aisleway.

To get ahead of these horse boarding problems and others like them there are some surprisingly simple methods that can be employed to minimize and mitigate the risk of negative issues arising at the boarding barn.

Clever Barn Design Tricks and Tips

Smart design of the horse barn can help defray points of contention during daily horse care. Here are a few key considerations to bear in mind during the planning of your new barn project:

• Add extra points of access to the center aisle barn midway along the long side as well as at gable ends of the building. This will minimize the need for horses to be led past each other for turnout or riding and provides the added bonus of being able to work in the aisleway mucking stalls or cleaning up without blocking use of the entire barn.
• Avoid crossties in aisleways. A grooming/bath stall placed either centrally or at the end of the barn allows owners to go directly from tacking and grooming to outside riding and back again without constant walking back and forth in the aisle disturbing horses at rest.
• Place tack rooms close to grooming stalls. Keep ‘in house’ lesson tack and equipment in a separate space to boarders’ storage areas. Add a heavy-duty combo lock to the tack rooms and automatic closure to the doors so the tack rooms cannot be inadvertently left open. Provide all horse boarders with a lockable tack box or storage unit so they can secure their belongings.
• Make dividing stall walls of solid lumber rather than grilled halfway up, high enough to deter horses from being able to sniff nose to nose over the top board and sturdy enough to withstand kicking with adequate kick walls.
• Keep supplies such as hay/bedding under lock and key if possible in a separate storage structure.
• Build a secondary smaller barn that can be used for quarantine purposes or to house horses that are bad actors.
• Offer more than one style of horse keeping method by having more than one barn. For example, a barn with Dutch doors to the exterior and a ‘calving’ style paddock or lanai may work well for retiree horses or rehab purposes while a high-strung performance horse may do better with a standard stall and daily handling and turnout in a larger paddock or treadmill/hot walker for exercise.
• Have a gated entrance to the property that can be secured with a passcode if necessary to avoid unwanted visitors after regular business hours.
• Offer training services for clients’ horses that require behavioral management to improve the horse’s understanding of how to behave in a safe manner and similarly offer to train the client if necessary. Consistency in horse handling techniques is essential for a successful outcome in any training endeavor.

Make Good Rules and Enforce Them

The method a horse boarding barn is managed varies greatly across the industry. Rough board, partial board, or full board can make the business challenging to manage when all are offered in one facility. For example, if the barn rules and terms and conditions of leasing a stall at the barn state that the barn management will be responsible for all turnout schedules and horse handling back and forth to pastures, executing deworming and fecal worm count procedures, it is not helpful to have one or two ‘rough’ horse boarders coming and going as they please and not subject to the same rules for their horses’ care.

Read more: Difficult Horses. Difficult Boarders

by Nikki Alvin-Smith for Horizon Structures

Fences and horses go together like peanut butter and jelly, and most horse owners are ardent believers and lovers of good fencing for their beloved equines. Here are some tips to help make the best decision for your individual needs.

The question of whether it is a good idea to fence the perimeter of a horse farm or to enclose the area immediately around the horse barn is one fraught with variable options and surprisingly perhaps it is not an easy ‘yes’ in all situations. Fences and horses go together like peanut butter and jelly, and most horse owners are ardent believers and lovers of good fencing for their beloved equines. The reality is that time and money often intervene to defer or allay plans for good fencing practices.

The expense of fencing a large property is a huge burden to finance and with prices for lumber as high as the larches of Alaska the chance that most horse owners can afford such a massive undertaking are remote. While electric fences and cheaper options that may be horse friendly enough exist (barbed wire being totally inappropriate for horses), the necessary labor and time needed to complete the perimeter horse farm fence project can overwhelm even the most avid of workers. Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune where no horse ever escapes a stall or paddock, or to take arms against a sea of troubles that come along with those Houdini horses, or to oppose the human momentary lapses in memory that occur leaving gates open or latches undone, is something to carefully ponder.

Here are some tips to help make the best decision for your individual needs.

Who Lets The Horses Out?

If the barn is to be used by children, then their safety is the top priority. The likelihood of a pony getting loose, a child falling off their mount or being dragged by an equine, or a horse wandering out of a stall is much more likely with the average ‘little’ horse handler and rider than the adult version.

If fencing the barn area off from other areas of the property is not viable due to space restrictions, then for center aisle barns it is a good idea to have a barrier at each end of the aisle even during summer months, in the form of a safety bar or simple latched gate.

This precautionary barrier not only stops equines leaving the building, it also prevents a bolting or uncontrolled horse from galloping into the barn whether it is mounted or unmounted. The former can result in serious rider head injury. And as anyone that has found themselves facing down an equine barreling down the aisleway toward them can attest, it is not a good feeling.

If the barn is to be used as a boarding facility then the influx of equestrians and their friends and family that may be less ‘horse smart’ than the average equine aficionado, then a horse barn fence is also a good idea.

Sectioning the horse use area from the parking area can prevent damage to both horses and vehicles.

Turning horses in and out is often a cause of concern as a confined equine will likely express his joy at being on his way to the field en route to the space and can become a helium balloon on the end of the rope. In this case the area around the barn that is fenced may incorporate direct access to the paddocks that are predominantly utilized on a daily basis.

The paddock fencing itself may also serve as a barrier fence in some areas if the development of the pasture space has been well planned in advance of locating the barn and other horse related structures. This can save a considerable amount on additional fencing costs.

The exterior Dutch Door stable set up that facilitates direct access to a lanai or small dry lot will require substantially sturdier fencing than larger areas in order to maintain its integrity with horses living in close quarters in a restricted space.

Bear in mind that access for tractors, UTVs, ATVs and larger equipment such as hay wagons and delivery equipment to the barn will likely be necessary, so any fencing should be gated with sufficient space to allow these vehicles to turn around if possible or at a minimum back in without difficulty.

Type of Horses Being Housed

There is a big difference between breeds of horses and their level of energy and activity. Before determining any fence placement or its type, height and breadth of segments also consider the type of horses being stabled or kept on the property.

Large breeds, such as warmbloods and draft horses, may require a more substantial fence raised above 5 feet height and gateways need to be large enough to accommodate their passage through the space without hitting their hips on fence posts.

Other breeds may require a special approach in regard to the amount of space available for handling. For example, a stable full of racing age Thoroughbreds are usually handled by professional horse folks who often prefer to keep horses in areas with plenty of room devoid of obstacles or encumbrances to allow for their charges expressive antics to be managed without likelihood of impalement.

Read more: To Fence or Not to Fence? That Is the Question

by Nikki Alvin-Smith for Horizon Structures

There is no question that the high-end prestige timber frame structure offers a literal and figurative top-notch building that will endure the test of time. Showstopping, jaw dropping, head turning, are all adjectives that folks use when describing timber frame construction, but the timber frame build is more than just a pretty face.

While the timber frame horse barn is top of the leaderboard in horse barn design for all these good reasons, there is much carpentry art and lumber heart that make the timber frame tower over its compatriot barn structures.

The utilization of the strongest joinery technique, mortise, and tenon, outshines any competitor when it comes to durability and innate strength that is yet known in woodworking. While post and beam designs are joined by metal plates, the timber frame build offers the iconic peg and beam where one piece of wood is inserted into another. This is a highly skillful enterprise to accomplish that offers maximum stability to the structure, aside from the obvious beauty this affords the eye of the beholder.

In addition to offering significant advantages in visual appeal and strength, mortise and tenon joinery is only as good as the material from which it is made and of course the level of talent with which it is crafted.

There are huge variances in the building industry in regard to the species of wood used and how that wood is harvested and the level of artisanal ability that puts everything together.

Thus, a major factor (and one that is often overlooked by buyers on the hunt for a timber frame barn), that adds more than ambiance to the aesthetic appeal of timber frame builds, is the actual lumber that is used in its construction.

Dave Zook, founder of the leading modular horse barn building company in the U.S.A, Horizon Structures, explained at a recent interview:

“In our timber frame builds all our beams and stringers are Grade 1 or higher Douglas Fir with a smooth S4S appearance. The pegs are oak. All the timber we use is most importantly, milled free of the vulnerable center heart of the tree or FOCH as it is known in the trade. Why? Because wood that is cut away from the heart of the tree offers less splitting and cracking.”

 

 

It is essential that prospective purchasers of a timber frame structure realize the differences in the type of wood used to ensure they are getting the best ‘bang for the buck,’ and compare prices across timber frame builds with an eye to more than just the eye-catching cathedral arched designs and colorful natural hues of the wood on display. Especially as for all the reasons above timber frame builds are some of the most expensive styles in the industry.

Innovative modular building architects and engineers have stepped up to mitigate the high costs of timber frame construction, by providing a hybrid modular/timber frame design that offers all the advantages of both worlds. Without compromising on a high standard of quality the less expensive options married with expedited build times make sense for the savvy property owner.

The new affordability factor in the timber frame construction means that whether you are a horse property owner looking for that extra pizzaz in your new horse barn or simply have a passion for the innate beauty of a traditional timber frame build the modular timber frame answers the need. Often timber frame structures are favored as event spaces with use of a pavilion or barn for a myriad of agri-tourism purposes such as a winery or farm to table produce center.

Timber frame design extends past the eaves of the horse barn on many prestige horse farms. When folks want the ‘best of the best’ for their horse farms, the complex of buildings often incorporates a pavilion for use at public events and friends and family gatherings. Marrying two structures within a space in design and aesthetic appeal resonates as a great project option for those that seek to take their facility to a higher standard and provides an historical nostalgic reference point that gives the development of the property gravitas.

A complete ensemble of timber frame pavilions is available that include the Western style Grand Teton, the traditional Kingston with kingpost architecture and the inviting hammerbeam trusses of the Denali.

Each style of pavilion elicits a different perspective on architectural prowess and careful selection can make the hard landscape vista substantially appealing and elevate any brand of business that calls it home.

The Grand Teton, named after the mountains of Wyoming (which rather funnily are themselves named by French-Canadian hunters of yesteryear and reference the French word Teton in a bawdy version of the colloquial name for a ladies’ breast), offers a Western take on the ambience it automatically creates. For ranches and breeding farms of Western horses, working farms or urban cowboy venues such as often exist outside city confines the Grand Teton is a majestic and impressive design.

Read more: The Art and Heart in Timber Frame Horse Barns and Pavilions