I'm looking for ideas and advice on building a wooden horse shelter. My wife and I are moving to a new place with plenty of pasture but no structure for the animals. We have a mare, two donkeys and two goats. Snow is not a problem, and I understand placing it relative to the prevaling winds. I have an idea of the location for it with some nearby trees for summer shade.

I'm curious about dimensions for this number of animals, concrete or dirt floor and any other ideas or pictures of yours.

I was thinking of a concrete slab for ease of cleaning but it is rocky and good draining soil.

Thanks in advance.

Pete

Good Plan Leftlane^^^

Yes, Hoss summed it up nicely.

I can really testify to a built-in quarantine area. With a door either on a slide from the ceiling, or one that swings shut, but most of the time stay propped open.

I had that option in my chook coop too. Amazing the times when it was needed, all you do is shut the door.

Have the roof so that rain doesn't drip into the openings and flood up the doorways.

If possible, have the open areas to where you can look inside at a distance, from your house, if possible.

Thanks Hoss...yes, ease of seeing what's going on inside easily without having to walk outside. In winter, I loved to be able to see inside the windows at my chooks . The infrared soft light would just allow me to see them. And they loved looking out at me too , warm in their coop, and at what was going on outside .

With horses, especially foaling stalls, being able to see inside easily is a real plus, if you don't have a live feed video cam set up.

That also works to monitor anyone sick ...to see quickly if they are standing ok or laying down .

Thanks for the ideas. I've seen plenty of pictures on the internet that will accomplish the suggestions for drainage and visibilty if I put it in the right place. For 11 years the stone barn at the farm worked great with a dirt floor. The mare foaled in there at night years ago while the donkeys stood guard, and it has been easy to clean. I wish I could take it with me.

On my next visit to the new place I'm going to talk to some others who have horses and talk with them. Skipping the concrete slab would be great, but probably not a big deal to get a truck in there to do the pour. I'm also going to put on a corrugated roof with a gutter so I can collect rainwater for drinking water. We have about 15 acres of pasture, so hay should only be a winter issue.

They eat well together but the mare is naturally the head beach, so I give them hay in two piles and they get along. There won't be any more foals and I doubt we'll ever have more than we have now.

Thanks again.

Pete