Horse and construction people: Know anything about portable horse shelters?

[Karen sn]

We are looking for a small one horse room for bad weather. I have seen them in horse magazines - small shed looking types but when I google it NOTHING comes up. No matter what combination of words I use.....for the first time google has failed me. Literally the first time ever. I know that you shall not. :-)

[Mekanamom]

Are you looking for pipe panel shelters or a wooden structure?

I have a pipe panel shelter... and I know I've seen wooden "kits" around... I'm off to a 4-H meeting right now but I'll check back and maybe I can point you to some websites (if someone else hasn't already by the time I get back!)

[Remudamom]

Well, I googled "run in shed equine" and lots of stuff came up. I'll check my horse magazines.

[Jann in TX]

We took in our (former) neighbor's old horse right before Christmas. We had to have some land cleared, fence installed and a shelter built.

I'm very pleased with our shelter. It is 20X20 and has a 12X14 'run in' shelter for the horse--the rest is hay and tack storage--sort of an "L" shape around the run in part.

We used rough cedar posts for the corners and center shelter supports. The rest was framed with 2X4's and 2X6's. The top and sides are made from corrugated tin sheeting. It is just over 10 ft high at the run-in opening and slants to 8 ft high on our side (for drainage). On the inside we have cedar posts with coral boards (with removable plywood for a wind break) separating our part from the run-in. This division is about 5 ft high--and I can easily feed the horse over it--or under the bottom coral board.

If you are just looking for a run-in shelter then you can get away with a 10X12--but 12X12 would be better (I REALLY like our 12X14--especially on rainy days like today!). Jack (our horse) used to be sheltered in an 8X10 and it just was not big enough to keep the rain off. For a 10X12 you could easily get by with a simple 3 sided frame (use 2X6's or larger for corners and center support on the long side). Add a few more 2X4's and then nail/screw some metal sheeting (inexpensive) for the roof and sides. The sides are about 6 inches below the roof for ventilation. You could make a 'portable' shed by building the frame on boards instead of setting posts.

Our shelter opens to the south--because most of the bad weather comes from the north around here.

Because our ground is solid rock the posts for the shelter were set in concrete.

I googled 'horse run-in sheds' and also just 'run-in sheds' and had several hits on designs and plans.

[Cindyg]

I'll give you an idea I'm contemplating for another life...

Make a simple T shape out of two walls and put a roof over it. The roof would need to be bigger than the walls to provide an overhang an all 4 sides -- north, south, east, and west. With such a structure, the horse could get out of the wind, rain, or sun regardless of what direction it comes from; yet he would not feel boxed in.

Given a choice between a 3-sided shed and standing out in the weather, many horses will choose standing out in the weather. Yet, given a choice between standing under trees or standing out in the weather, many horses will choose to stand under trees. So, the T-shaped structure would be more like standing under the trees.

I really love my barn. First of all, all the walls swing open and shut so we can open it up entirely in the summer, and close it up in the winter (or have it half open and half closed). But even when all the walls are closed up, the horses can still freely walk in and out. (Kind of like walking into a bathroom at the airport. No doors, but the walls kind of wrap around the ladies' room so passersby can't see in.)

And the second thing I really love about my barn is that I can see inside the stall from my den or bedroom. We have a wall of windows across the back of the house that faces the stall. I leave a light on in the barn at night so I can see whether the horses have wandered in, whether they have hay, etc.

Right now (10:00 p.m.), I'm sitting in my easy chair and I can see Ivan standing in the stall. He watches me too. When the lights are on in the house at night, he can see me too. :) When I walk around the house, I can see his ears following me. I know he's just watching for me to come out and feed him, but I still love it. It's like we're connected all the time. :) We didn't exactly plan it this way, but now that I'm used to it, I can't imagine not being able to see the horses at night!

Good luck with your stall. Try to face the opening towards your house. :)

[Mekanamom]

Here is the company I used... I don't know where you are, but is this the sort of thing you're looking for?

http://www.highdesertlivestock.com/shelters.htm

Mine is like the one on the bottom; a 6 stall shed row. (It was actually supposed to be a mare motel but the doors were on the wrong side. The guy who took our order was no longer with the company when the order was actually processed and there was a little mix up. They would have fixed it, but we decided we liked the shed row configuration better anyway.)

The climate where I live is mild enough so that we didn't even really need walls on the end stalls this winter. Well, maybe it would have been helpful on one or two days to have walls. Not enough of a problem to justify the expense. ;)

My horses must be wimps because they almost always stand in their stalls when it rains hard. Good desensitization too, because the metal roofing is loud. Then they go roll in the mud and get soaked anyway. :rolleyes: The ponies are oblivious to wet weather and just hang out in the middle of downpours. :rolleyes: