How to Design Your Own Equine Facility

Designing your own equine facility means you can maximize its effectiveness by fine-tuning it to meet your needs. Designing your own establishment involves making many personal choices, because a feature or layout that you like may be inconvenient or impractical to another horse person. The property features and terrain where your build your facility will also affect the design.

Things You'll Need

  • Property layout with terrain marked (creeks, hills, etc)
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Instructions

    • 1

      Determine what kind of facility you want and how many horses you plan to keep. Some equine facilities are designed to hold a handful of horses, while others can hold hundreds. The number of horses that will be using the facility will affect how you design it.

    • 2

      Determine the purpose of the facility. If you are planning to host horse shows or run a stud farm, your general layout will be different from a person who just wants to be able to practice running barrels in their backyard. The size and number of your arenas, the ease of moving horses on to and off the property, and the amount of equipment needed (hot walkers, wash racks, cross ties, round pens, foaling stalls, etc) will vary depending on what the facility is used for.

    • 3

      Make a list of all the equipment and facility features you want your barn to possess. You need to have enough paddocks, round pens, pastures, arenas, hay storage, shaving storage and tack storage for your facility. Forgetting to include details like a parking area or planning where the manure/compost pile should be located can lead to big problems once your horse facility is up and running.

    • 4

      Arrange everything so that it is convenient and safe to use. Figure out ahead of time how horse trailers, delivery trucks, veterinarians and farriers will be able to access the buildings and horses with their equipment. Place the barn in a central location that will not have horse owners and barn employees taking long hikes to get to the arena, turn horses out, or bring them in. Plan for water, electricity, restrooms and drainage. Do not plan on horses using ponds or creeks on the property except in emergency conditions; these water sources can dry up or become contaminated-- and some horses will use them to swim to freedom.

    • 5

      Hire a contractor who can help you develop your plans into workable buildings and structures. Measure out all facilities and make sure stalls, walkways and other amenities are adequately size for the horses you plan to keep on the property. Plan out fences and paddocks that will keep horses in and secure. Do not plan on keeping horses in wet areas or areas that are difficult to access.