W. O. W.   Beautiful

I can't get over how organized and clean that barn is! Mine could just about qualify for an episode of Hoarders.

So I thought about it while I'm supposed to be working. Bear in mind I live in Florida and built for the summer. 

Things to get exactly right: 

1. SITE PREP!! My husband and I both grew up in the flat land. It rains, the water soaks in, you're done. And now we live on a big ol' clay hill. And the water doesn't work that way. It runs wherever the heck it wants to - right through the middle of my newly constructed horse barn. So we learned about drainage the hard way. 

2. Vehicle access. Due to the aforementioned site prep lesson, we brought dirt in after we built the barn - which brought up the floor of the barn but did not raise the height of the roof. So now, the truck and tractor won't fit all the way under the roof. Luckily, we since built The Big Barn so it's not really an issue anymore and the horse barn itself is pretty teeny but it's still annoying when unloading hay bales. 

Things I love: 

Flexible fencing - My whole place is fenced with ElectroBraid. I can change the layout of my fences by myself with an impact driver and hammer. For instance, I have a mare on stall rest who is the last animal I'd wish that on. I took the fence down on one side of her run and strung fence from the end post to the end of the retaining wall. Now she has a rehab suite and room for a pony friend so we both may make it through without murdering each other. 

Tractor access to the stalls and runs - I scrape them with the box blade every so often and I love it. 

Freakin' bright LED lights - you can see everything in the dead of winter

So many plugs and their corresponding fans - see above about Florida. I have ceiling fans in my stalls and box fans hung up in the corner all wired to the same switch. I flip that switch and my barn turns into a wind tunnel. It made August and September bearable.

The Big Barn - we got hit with a tornado back in March and took out our little tractor shed. So we took the insurance money and built the big barn. It's hay roll, tractor, lawn mower storage. We built it bigger than we thought we really needed and it's so worth every dang penny. I bought my first load of winter hay rolls the other day and it barely made a dent. I almost cried with happiness. 

The dump station - my dad plumbed a dump station for us this year to dump the tanks on his RV and my horse trailer. I thought he was nuts but now I get it. It's awesome. 

Things I wish I could change: 

The alley between the feed/tool room and the stalls is really narrow. I did it on purpose to maximize my storage/stall space back when we couldn't afford to build a wider barn. But I can only lead one horse at a time and I'm real lazy when loading the trailer.

My organizational skills - Seriously. Hoarders. There's stuff everywhere. 

I might move it a tiny bit closer to the house? My house WiFi juuuuuust won't reach.

Good luck! Barn building is fun!

Oh WOW! This is gorgeous. I love the stalls/runs. We have limited turn out also and I've been trying to design something that will allow us some flexibility when the weather is gross. The barn I have now for my horses needs to be torn down, and my husband has commandeered the other with tractors, hay, etc. So I'm hoping we can get something put up next summer. I LOVE yours!

Awesome! Those are all great things to think about. Vehicle access is important. 

How would you handle the ground transition from a concrete stall floor with mats to the dirt in a stall with an outdoor run? Just expect them to step down or keep the dirt built up or just have a dirt stall floor? 

Electrial outlets EVERYWHERE!!

THIS!!