Stall Door Types: Pros and Cons

When you’re designing your stable, seemingly hundreds of tiny details become very large decisions. Stall doors are one of those decisions that can affect your daily life at the barn, whether it’s your business or your hobby. Sliding, Dutch, grills, yokes — what’s the best stall door for you?

Sliding doors (as shown in the French Hill Farm project) are popular in barns and often come in prefab stall kits. They take up less space because they don’t intrude on the barn aisle, making it easier to lead or cross-tie horses in the aisle. Because you […]

Riding Arena Construction

Choosing the Site

Choosing a suitable site for your Riding Arena is often dictated by the amount of land available to you. If you are short of land you won’t have much choice as to where the arena is built. If you are lucky enough to have a choice there are a variety of factors that should be considered. Some obvious, some not!

1. Access – The majority of people fail to consider the implications of poor access on arena construction. Poor access means suppliers cannot use large delivery vehicles thus dramatically increasing haulage costs as more trips […]

Choosing Your Riding Arena’s Footing

The footing we provide our horses is one of the most important aspects of a riding arena. The amount of concussion the footing absorbs from the horse’s legs, the quality of its drainage, even its life as the particles are tramped down through daily use, are all variables to consider and all you should evaluate. How do you choose your riding arena’s footing? Here are a few initial items to consider when looking at footing options.

Weather:
The climate will play a big role in choosing your ideal footing. Naturally in wet climates you’ll need […]

How Big Should a Horse Stall Be

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How Big Should a Horse Stall Be?

The standard size for a horse stall tends to be twelve feet by twelve feet. But is that the right size for every horse?

The twelve-foot wall standard comes from a simple calculation for the average 1,000-pound horse: the wall is about one and a half times the horse’s length. It accounts for allowing a horse to walk in a circle, to lie down and roll, and to sleep without getting cast constantly (although some horses just cast themselves no matter what you do!). This size is also a […]

Trilogy Barn and Stable Company

This is it! You’re going to build your dream barn. You’ve been on the Internet, clicking through Pinterest, admiring the equestrian palaces that the world’s luckiest equines call home, and picturing it all on your own plot of land. You know what you need: a center aisle with four stalls, perhaps, or a nice breezeway style barn with lots of fresh air and three bright stalls. Or maybe it’s time for a professional showplace stable, with plenty of room for all your clients’ horses, elegant fittings, and roomy tack rooms.

So how do you get from […]

Swimming for Horses

Recently on our Facebook page (facebook.com/equine.architecture) we’ve shared some photos of horses swimming that have been very popular. Swimming, along with hydrotherapy and water treadmills, is rising in use for horses recovering from a variety of ailments and lamenesses. So what is swimming for horses all about?

Essentially, swimming allows a horse to regain (or maintain) condition without causing undue impact or pressure on the hooves, legs, or abdomen. This makes it an ideal exercise tool for horses who have undergone leg surgery, abdominal surgery, or who are recovering from laminitis. It’s also a useful […]

Three Ways Equestrians Can Go Green in 2015

It’s not too late for a New Year’s Resolution! 2015 is young, and there is always time to start on a new goal or kick some habits to the curb for the year. Here’s a suggestion: this year, look at ways to go green in 2015. From your bedding to your grooming tools to your whole stable, there are plenty of new ways to add an eco-friendly focus to your daily equestrian routine.
Green Level: Easy — All-Natural Fly Spray. We’ll be the first to admit that sometimes, it takes chemicals to knock […]

Composting Horse Manure

One constant dilemma facing horse owners, no matter what your discipline, is manure disposal. Horses create manure continuously, and it has to go somewhere. The ubiquitous manure pile that so many barns have used over the years is, unfortunately, a less attractive and useful option as farm properties grow smaller and closer to their neighbors, and as municipalities and water management boards seek to discourage run-off into streams, rivers, and aquifers. What to do with all that manure just piling up?

Try composting!

Compost can create useful, nutritious soil amendment out of manure — truly turning a problem into a […]