Do you find that you’re often busy and need to squeeze in time for riding? The way that you design your barn can save you time in the daily care of your horses. When you plan your barn, think about how the following elements can save you time when you take care of your horses every day.

Build Stalls That Open into the Pasture

Saving time begins with the very design and layout of your barn. If you have a choice between different locations for your barn on your property, try to opt for one which would allow for pastures to come directly off of the barn. Installing additional doors in the back of each stall allows you to simply open the door each morning to turn your horse out. This design saves you valuable time in walking horses to and from their pastures, and has the added benefit of allowing your horse to come and go freely.

Build Sheds in the Pasture for 24-Hour Turnout

Stall cleaning is one of the most time-consuming chores in your barn. The more that you can cut down on your stall cleaning duties, the better. Consider building sheds in your pastures, allowing for 24-hour turnout. You may have to clean out the sheds periodically, but chances are that your horses will spend a good amount of time grazing and moving around the pasture. Yourstalls will still be available for particularly bad weather days, but you’ll save a lot of time cleaning them.

Strategically Locate the Feed and Tack Room

When you plan the layout of your barn, locate your commonly used feed and tack rooms so that they are easily accessible and in a central part of the barn. You go into each of these rooms several times a day; if they’re centrally located, then you will save a bit of time with every trip. Over the course of a day, the time you’ve saved can really add up.

Install Automatic Waterers

Hauling water buckets and coiling and uncoiling hoses every day can quickly eat into your time. Installing automatic waterers in your horse’s stall, pasture, or both can save you lots of time. Classic Equine Equipment offers a variety of automatic waterers to suit your needs. Just be sure to clean and check them on a regular basis, and your days of hauling water will be over.

Include Swivel Hay and Grain Doors

When planning the design of your stalls, incorporating swivel hay and grain doors can save you time during feeding. When you feed your horses two to three times a day, unlatching and going into every stall slows you down. Swivel hay and grain doors mean that you can feed your horses from the barn aisle, simplifying and streamlining the process.

There are countless ways that you can design your barn to help save you time. Which of these methods do you plan to put to work in your barn?