Talk to me about barns...

[Kelly G]

Yes, each stall is 12x12. I went with the five quarter boards because they give really well, are sturdy (very sturdy - it held the stallion really safely), and the biggest reason is they are easy to replace piece by piece if necessary. I'm not saying it's the best way...it was just the best way for us.

I think if I could do it again...and spend a little more, I would have done 14x14. They spend a lot of time in their stalls in the summers here...staying out of our daily thunderstorms and the miserable heat. Here, we turn out overnight.

 

[Kelly G]

Oh, I just realized I didn't answer the last part of your question...We didn't build the barn "all the way up" just because it's soooo hot here. We wanted the west wind off the water to be able to blow through and keep the barn not so stuffy!

Here the horses need protection from the sun and the rains (daily through the summer)...so many barns here don't look traditional (but traditional barns do exist here)

Here are a couple other barns we looked into building...but they were just too expensive - just like you were saying. But you can see that they are open, like mine: