Horses are beautiful companions to adopt, but they require a lot of room for exercise, feeding, and shelter. You can’t exactly bring a horse home after an impulse decision, as your home and yard need significant restructuring to house a large animal like a horse. One of the most essential features of a horse haven is a barn for shelter, storage, and feeding. In this guide, learn about the steps needed to transform your backyard into the horse haven of your dreams, particularly concerning the barn you choose.
Barns
Before you start pursuing horse barns for sale, you must know how many horses you’ll need and what you’ll use them for. For example, if you plan to ride or compete with your horse, you’ll need adequate riding equipment storage and saddle racks. You’ll need appropriate space and equipment for horse foaling and raising if you want to breed horses. Additionally, more than one horse means more than one horse stall in your stable. Most importantly, barns should be sturdy, structurally sound, and well-constructed to ensure the safety and security of your horses.
Amish Construction
Many horse owners hire the Amish community to craft, design, and construct horse barns. Amish-crafted barns are structurally sound and well-built using natural, durable materials. They have spent hundreds of years practicing their craft and can offer reliable, custom services for any type of horse or horse owner. Some key features of Amish-crafted barns are included below.
Horse Stables
A horse stable in your barn is essential. Stables provide adequate space for horses to relax and enjoy a private space. Stables are particularly useful if you host more than one horse. Stables provide safe shelter at night to protect them from predators, inclement weather, and other issues that stem from lack of supervision. If a horse were to free roam in your barn, it could get into food storage, dangerous equipment, or cause damage.
Grooming Stations
Horses require regular brushing, grooming, and bathing, especially if you host competitive or show horses. A barn with adequate grooming and bathing space, including faucets, is a good design choice. Separate grooming areas can keep a horse stable in your barn, keeping it clean and dry for relaxation.
Feed and Equipment Storage
Barns can serve as excellent storage spaces for food and equipment. Regardless of what type of horse owner you are, horses eat a lot of food, require a lot of water, and need a lot of health and wellness equipment. Horse care items and equipment take up a lot of space, and barns can feature additional storage rooms, lofts, shelves, or racks to accommodate it all.
Saddle Racks
Horseback riding is a common pastime for horse owners, and saddle racks are great ways to store large riding equipment like a saddle. Your barn can even feature built-in saddle racks to save space and add convenience.
You can construct your barn to your liking. Smaller properties may not have room for a large barn, but you’re good to go as long as you can host a secure and private horse stable while allowing for room to exercise on your property outside of the barn.
Space
Horses can weigh up to 1,800 pounds! They need plenty of space to roam, relax, eat, and exercise. Before bringing home a horse, you’ll want to ensure they have an ideal amount of room for their daily activities without being limited or cramped. You don’t have to feature an entire racetrack on your property, but if there’s nowhere for a horse to get exercise correctly outside of the barn, it may be a concern.
Pasture
Horses love to roam and feed on pasture grass outside your barn. Consider planting pasture grass and legumes in a secured open area on your property to give them adequate space to enrich themselves with feeding and roaming. Pastures don’t have to be particularly large, but the bigger the space is, the more room they have to graze.
Fencing
Fencing is crucial to keeping your horses out of dangerous areas and items. Fences should be tall and sturdy enough that a horse can’t leap over them or knock them down. They can be included around your entire property or just their pasture, but you’ll definitely need some sort of barrier from the outside world.
Exercise
You can exercise a horse in their pasture or provide special equipment such as exercisers or treadmills in their exercise routine. No matter how you exercise your horse, be confident they have enough room to do so daily. Horses are prone to gaining weight quickly; exercise can help combat this. You can also buy horse jumping and training equipment for a more hands-on exercise experience. However, a simple walk or run can provide enriching exercise.
Feeding
Horses require a lot of food. On average, they drink nearly 10 gallons of water and consume 20 pounds of food daily. Your property should be able to host and store a wide variety of grass, hay, and grains for your horse to enjoy. They will need feed in their pasture and their stable as well.
Grass
Grass is a steady part of a horse’s diet. They obtain grass through grazing, typically in their pasture. Your property should be able to grow grass or, at the very least, supply grass for your horse to graze. You can buy grass sod or grass seeds.
Hay and Grains
Hay and grains can be highly flammable, so you may not want to store them in your barn without precaution. However, you’ll need a steady supply of hay and grains for your horse to eat, especially when weather conditions don’t allow them to graze as often.
Conclusion
Horses are lovely animals to care for, but not for the faint of heart. They weigh over a thousand pounds on average, so they need appropriate space to eat, roam, exercise, and relax. Constructing a decent barn on your property is one of the best ways to care for a horse. They need shelter and security from weather, predators, and other dangers. Don’t forget to include equipment storage and grooming in your horse-raising property plans!
