Home-Made Horse Stalls on the Michael Family Farm
To accommodate our two 2200lb. Percheron draft horses, we had to build some heavy-duty horse stalls. I saw all kinds of kits and designs available, but they weren’t our style: simple and self-reliant. So, I visited a neighbor, jotted down some ideas and then designed my own.
These stalls (doing the work ourselves) cost us about $500 per stall. It’s just 4″x6″ vertical posts, 2x10s for the walls, treated 2x6s along the bottom of the walls, and 1/2″ EMT pipe set in 2x4s at the top of the walls. There are some diagona 4×4″ braces on the corners…and that’s it.
These stalls are huge. They are 16′ wide and 13′ deep, for a total of 208 sq.ft. Actually, that’s not big for the size of our Percherons. I’ve seen 14×14 stalls recommended for Belgians, which are smaller–that’s 196 sq.ft.. So we’re just a wee bit bigger. Our Percherons are 19 hands high…that means the top of their shoulders are about 6’4″.
So, building horse stalls is now one more project that we’ve proven isn’t too difficult to be done practically and affordably. I think they turned out pretty good. I’ve already got the neighbors’ attention–in a good way. Today, one neighbor brought us two old horse-drawn turn ploughs that he had in a garage for ?? years and told me he could also get me a horse-drawn hay rake and old wire hay-baler.
Hey, what do you know…Monday is Plough Monday and I got me two new…old…ploughs. Anyway, if you want any more info on building stalls like these, just ask.
WM
Oh my goodness, those ARE beautiful! Congrats!
Just for comparison, here’s one 12′ door and wall section for $700 at Menard’s. Now, is it a bit nicer? Yes…sliding door, more metal framing, etc.. But. that’s the price for *only one side* of the tall…it costs more than our entire stall.
http://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/post-frame-materials/horse-stalls/12-horse-stall-door-and-wall-section/p-1413006.htm
Wow I had no idea how tall Percherons were! Our neighbors have a Clydesdale, and she’s pretty big, but your Percherons are taller than my husband (who is more than 12 inches taller than I am) AT THE SHOULDER!
Your stalls are really beautifully made.
By the way, have a happy Plough Monday!
You’ve gotta stop talking like that!
You keep this up and whether you need me for farm work or not I may need to move down there just to help you with those magnificent horses!!
Those do look great. One question on your corner posts in the isle, did you set them in the ground or use a footing for them? Thank you
We dig all of our posts and set them in 2′ of concrete. Our ground is pretty hard, so 2′ in the ground is strong. Some places need to go deeper.