Building a Small Horse Barn: Plans for 36×36 Horse Barn

Horse barn plans come in lots of shapes, sizes, and budgets. If your goal is to bring your horses to your own property, you really only need shelter, a fence, and a way to get them food and water.

We started out thinking we only wanted a run-in shed and a fence. Then, we thought it would be nice to have electricity…and water…and better hay storage…
So we ended up with this design:

This barn fit our situation perfectly, and here are the reasons why:

3 Stall Horse Barn

We currently have two horses. One is a draft cross, and we weren’t sure how comfortable she would be in a 12×12 stall. She has plenty of room to move around, but we made the divider between the 2nd and 3rd stall removable just in case. In addition to accommodating larger horses, having a removable stall divider means we can create a larger, foaling stall if needed. Finally, having at least one extra stall “just in case” is never a bad idea.

12-ft center aisle and 12-ft height

Having a wide and tall aisle allows a little ‘breathing room’ when working with your horse in the aisle. The height and width can also allow for large vehicles to come through like a hay truck. This makes unloading hay much easier than parking outside the barn.

@dooleyhomesteadInside our 3-stall horse barn. ##horse ##horsebarn ##horsebarnbuild ##barn ##barnlife ##equestrian ##equine ##PepsiApplePieChallenge♬ FEEL THE GROOVE – Queens Road, Fabian Graetz

Hay Storage

This horse barn plan easily stored our 240 hay bale delivery. The area dedicated for hay storage is slightly less than 12ft x 24ft.  We could fit more than 240 bales if we used the area on top of the tack room, stacked it higher, or pushed the bales to the edge of the tack room. We left the tack room border clear of hay for tool storage that wasn’t in the center aisle where horses could bump tools or injure themselves.

Tack Room

Brooke does a mixture of English and Western riding, so we have at least a half-dozen saddles. The 12ft x 12ft tack room gives us plenty of storage and wall space for tack and feed. It also helps protect the electric entry/box, our internet lines, and our DVR/security cameras.

Metal Horse Barn

Brooke cringed at the idea of a metal horse barn at first, because the image in her head was much different from reality. In the end, we were happy with the aesthetics of the metal horse barn and it fit our budget. If we had triple the budget, perhaps we would have gone with a stone and stained wood exterior, but then you’re getting into true custom barn building territory. That wasn’t in our budget.

Small Horse Barn

We only live on 10 acres and the scenery out our back porch was idyllic. We didn’t want a large structure dominating the landscape and view. After staking out 36ft x 36ft barn (plus a 12ft lean-to), we decided that would be enough space for everything we wanted without compromising the overall feel of the property.

Before the horse barn addition

So far, we’ve been quite happy with our choices and wouldn’t have changed anything in the design process.

We look forward to sharing more about the build, from water and electricity to lighting, internet, and remote monitoring with security cameras, drinking posts, etc.

Related:
Building a Small Horse Barn: Foundation / Footing / Site Pad
Horse Barn Flooring: Flooring for Horse Stalls & Aisles
Small Horse Barn Costs To Build