Block, not rail

A walk through the barn as it stands. The frame is up, the roof is on, the stalls are laid in block and the first shavings are down. What is left is the stall fronts.

Block, not rail

The stall walls are masonry block from the floor up, and that was the decision the whole barn was built around. Rail and pipe leave gaps. A horse that rolls into one can put a leg through it, and a foal can do it in a stall its dam is perfectly comfortable in. Solid walls take the gap away, so the question never comes up.

It costs more and it takes longer than hanging panels. It is also the one thing in a barn you cannot go back and fix later without taking the stalls apart.

Fifteen by twenty, on three-quarter-inch mats

The stalls are fifteen by twenty. Under the bedding is three-quarter-inch matting, which carries a real amount of cushioning — enough that a horse lying down on it is lying on something that gives. Shavings go on top of that.

The size is deliberate. A mare with a foal at side needs room to turn without putting the foal in a corner, and a horse that is stalled overnight between hauls needs somewhere it can actually stretch out.

Built to be cleaned

The thing that decides whether a barn stays good is whether it is easy to keep clean, and that is a design question long before it is a labour question. Smooth block, a concrete aisle, mats that sit flat and bedding that can be picked out and thrown straight in a wheelbarrow — every one of those is a choice made at the build stage that saves an hour a day for the life of the barn.

What is still to come

The stall fronts are the outstanding piece. Once they hang, the barn is a barn. Progress posts here as it happens.