horse shelter

[bigballer]

thanks for the compliments and suggestions.

i designed this one with more overhang than the others I have built, so far the walls have stayed completely dry and though we've had our share already the sideways rain of Nov/Dec/Jan is yet to hit. i am still considering putting up an exterior wall which would fully enclose 3 sides but then i give up air circulation. it's a tradeoff i guess and the horses are usually blanketed anyway most of the winter so should be fine with 3/4 walls, yah they are spoiled!

i debated the beam on top of the post to further safeguard against downward forces, hopefully i won't regret it. though compared to the other shelters i have which are 4+ years old i should be ok. if winter brings too much heavy snow in one blast i have a nice roof rake i can put to use.

i ended up getting some wall caps boy those are expensive, $17 for an 8' stick which, they are heavy duty though and should prove their worth. i am looking locally for a steel mill which will take flat galvanized 20/22g stock and roll it for me but will see.

 

[uintas]

HI,

I am a bit late but if i may and pardon my english i'm from "over the atlantic" :
I've built 2 horse shelters over the years and i've been repairing them and making them sturdier each time. The lesson : horses tend to destroy everything
in the end ! At least, my wife's ones !!!
So i would have gone on something sturdier. But now it's done.
First thing, i can see on one of the picture that you nailed the boards on the outside for the back of the shelter, i would nail everything on the inside side of the poles cos they tend to scratch their asses on the walls ! 500 kg or so pushing on the boards and i won't last long.
Nice job though, looks really neat

 

[mkane09]

Nice looking shelter. Its amazing how much the horses like these things. Horses like to chew wood mostly on the edges and corners. I bought some aluminum angle and mounted it on the edges and ends of the interior wood to stop the horses from chewing the wood.

Cayenne pepper sprinkled liberally on your edges will keep the horses from chewing....

MK160

 

[tcreeley]

Do you get much snow? Here is Maine during a windy snow storm the horses could easily be standing in 1-2 feet of snow by the morning. Pain to shovel out- especially with manure mixed in. How about a drop down canvas tarp where you want it, pulled up when you don't? Even with the walls closed in, the open rafters provide a lot of ventilation. Diagonal or plywood bracing might be a good idea as well.

 

[bigballer]

Do you get much snow? Here is Maine during a windy snow storm the horses could easily be standing in 1-2 feet of snow by the morning. Pain to shovel out- especially with manure mixed in. How about a drop down canvas tarp where you want it, pulled up when you don't? Even with the walls closed in, the open rafters provide a lot of ventilation. Diagonal or plywood bracing might be a good idea as well.

well so far this winter it's been extremely dry but usually precip is in the form of rain rather then snow.. so far so good, no chewing, rubbing, or otherwise ill results from the horses occupying. i have yet to add the second beam across the front and back but am taking some time off over Christmas and have added this to the list. one of the last projects was to build some slow grazer boxes which mimicks a horse grazing on the pasture and slows the consumption of hay so keeps them busy and their bellys basically working to digest their feed over several hours. if interested, i can post some pics of these things, they are super easy to build and so far have been working well..

 

[bigballer]

HI,
First thing, i can see on one of the picture that you nailed the boards on the outside for the back of the shelter, i would nail everything on the inside side of the poles cos they tend to scratch their asses on the walls ! 500 kg or so pushing on the boards and i won't last long.
Nice job though, looks really neat

they are actually screwed in but yes they are attached from the outside, the advantage i have here is that the horse spends most of it's time inside the shelter eating otherwise it's on the fence end sticking close to the othe horses which are across the "aisle way".. so far i have not witnessed any pusing or rubbing but i'm sure it will happen, most of our stock is pretty well mannered but they do get bored in winter and tend to spend long days finding ways to expend their energy which usually results in chewing.. time will tell, so far no battle wounds

 

[bigballer]

Cayenne pepper sprinkled liberally on your edges will keep the horses from chewing....

MK160

i'll keep this in mind, but would likely have to apply when my wife is not around.

 

[tcreeley]

i'll keep this in mind, but would likely have to apply when my wife is not around.

I read somewhere that chewing was a lack of some mineral- not sure what. Re chewing- we used to coat the wood with creosote. Always kept some handy.

 

[uintas]

Hi everyone,

Yes they tend to chew a lot during the winter, i will ask my wife she's the expert, but anyway i will try the pepper trick. I did put some old car oil on the poles in the shed mainly to do like the guys did in ancient times for weather protection and apparently it keeps the horses off from chewing also ! As for creosote, it's totally forbidden now here because of the catastrophic pollution it creates.
cheers