Advice on building a small corral.

[N80]

I am building an open sided dirt floor tractor shed soon. It will be about 34' wide by 20' deep with three bays. It will have shed type roof. One bay will be probably be set up as a 'loafing' area/ stall for my daughter's horse to generate some goodwill from the female half of the family that frowns on my tractor expenditures while thinking that anything they spend on a horse is a necessity.

In any case, I'm also fencing in an area around the shed as a corral. This is at our weekend cabin and my daughter has a horse that stays on her cousin's farm. My B-I-L and his family also ride their horses over when they come over for dinner, etc. So it will be nice to finally have a place for them to put their horses and my daughter's horse can stay there over the weekend too.

So I need to know what the minimum requirements for a cheap horse fence would be. I want it to look nice since its in the 'back yard' of the cabin and it will probably be post and rail of some sort. How tall does it need to be? How many rails? Rail spacing?

Remember, the horses will only be there for a few days at a time, always with us there. And again, I'm looking for minimum requirements. This whole project is being done on the cheap.

Thanks guys.

Oh, its going to require about 250' of fencing.

 

[texasjohn]

Although doing it on the cheap, I understand, I also advise you that horses can get hurt very easily and it no longer is cheap... so, whatever you do try to make everything smooth, no splinters or sharp points... anywhere.

One horse, by itself, typically gets bored and likes to paw at things. they also like to chew on the top rails of wood fences.

putting horses together who are unfamilar with each other can be a recipe for disaster... they can fight and one run the other over the fence.. any fence.

So, those are the parameters.... now, for ideas for solutions... you will have to determine what resources you have to implement...and your ideas may vary.

what about two stalls... not one.... keeps them separated. A gate between will allow a larger area when only one horse is there.

a 12 foot by 12 foot stall would be about minimum...needs water and place to put hay and feed bin.... make sure they are reachable from outside the stall, and constructed such that they won't injure the animal.

I'm not a fan of rails.... unless they are horizontal and solid with no gaps from ground to top...which they were in on the ranch where I grew up. Don't leave gaps for a hoof to get caught.

Do you suppose you could find some used privacy fence planks... these would be about right.... solid visual barrier (very important)... height should be 6 feet, IMHO. I'm thinking about selecting the best sections from what is available and sawing into 3 feet lengths... inside of pen should be the solid planks.... so that horse pushes against the bottom/middle/top attachment boards... put posts about 4 feet apart. The idea is that when standing in the pen you see none of the posts or horizontal boards... only the vertical fence planks, a smooth interior, no place for hooves to get caught when pawing at the fence (will happen) . Craig's list is here always has people wanting somebody to come drag away their fencing material for free... often there is a lot of good material.. posts and planks...

Remember that horse will walk up and down the fence... so, need extra sand/dirt inside the pen. If pen is uncovered, it WILL become muddy in whatever low spot develops...so think about drainage... reduces hoof problems in wet weather.

Place gate where easy to get into pen to muck it out with wheelbarrow, etc. Don't forget a place to put the tack... it really builds up, along with feed and hay (hmm... you may not have any place for your tractor and equipment)

For a larger run around, it's hard to beat this tightly woven wire netting... although cost is significant. An alternative is a 1X12 board fence..horizontal boards with about 1 foot gap from 1 foot off the ground to top at about 6 foot. Height is influenced by how intimidating you want the fence to be to the horse... and how tall the animal is.

Good luck.... horses are never cheap! Watch out... you may soon be building a riding arena complete with lights and outhouses

 

[N80]

Although doing it on the cheap, I understand, I also advise you that horses can get hurt very easily and it no longer is cheap... so, whatever you do try to make everything smooth, no splinters or sharp points... anywhere.

Good point.

One horse, by itself, typically gets bored and likes to paw at things. they also like to chew on the top rails of wood fences.

Yes, I've seen that. I could run a strand of electric fence wire across the top of the fence. I've seen that work pretty well and a transformer unit (?) can be had for about $35.

putting horses together who are unfamilar with each other can be a recipe for disaster... they can fight and one run the other over the fence.. any fence.

Fortunately these horses all live together and get along fine.

what about two stalls... not one.... keeps them separated. A gate between will allow a larger area when only one horse is there.

Only one or two horses would ever stay even overnight. And all of these horses live completely outdoors year round. So this area would mostly be a place for cross ties for grooming, cleaning hooves, etc. and rain shelter if needed. It would be open into the corral area. More like a loafing shed than a stall. The 'bay' will be about 11' wide, but up to 20' deep.

I'm not a fan of rails....

Ugh. Its probably going to be a plain 2 or 3 rail fence. I've seen them on lots of horse farms, but I can see what you're saying. But remember, these horse usually just get tied to a cedar tree for hours at a time in this same area and do just fine. They currently live in pastures behind 3 strand barbed wire.

Remember that horse will walk up and down the fence... so, need extra sand/dirt inside the pen. If pen is uncovered, it WILL become muddy in whatever low spot develops...so think about drainage... reduces hoof problems in wet weather.

Had not thought of that. Drainage is okay. No puddling, but the ground here gets spongy. Fortunately I have an endless supply of nice white creek sand to patch low and worn spots with. And again, the horses won't be in there long or often. A weekend here and there. They live only about 1/2 mile down the road. So this is more like a rest area than a home.

Place gate where easy to get into pen to muck it out with wheelbarrow, etc.

I'm going to have a 12' gate with tall 6x6 posts on either side. The tractor has to get in there too.

Don't forget a place to put the tack... it really builds up, along with feed and hay

Most of it stays in my B-I-L's barn down the road. I'd like to put some saddle racks in there so they can take them off the horses. Also, I already have a 10x16 toolshed that is weather proof for more long term storage.

(hmm... you may not have any place for your tractor and equipment)

Oh believe me. I can see the gears turning in my daughters head. She has big plans that have nothing to do with my tractor and implements!

Good luck.... horses are never cheap! Watch out... you may soon be building a riding arena complete with lights and outhouses

Tell me about it. I've got two now....and I don't even like horses! The pricey one (hunter/jumper) is boarded at a pricey stable where my daughter takes lessons near our home. Its rent is more than my first apartment....but hey, its living quarters are a little nicer than my first apartment too. Fortunately the trail horse, the one that I'm trying to make a little rest area for, lives on my B-I-L's farm for free. They have 6 or 8 of their own. I can't keep track.

Thanks for the excellent advice. I'll take it to heart.

 

[donais]

my old house had a 4 foot three rail wood fence made of 2x6 rails and 4x4 posts. never had a problem. the only problem is we have a 16 2 hand wood chuck named johnny, who also does a mean stevie wonder impression (x race horse with a few issues). to fix the chewing we ran a strand of hot wire tape about 4 inches inside the top rail with a solar fence charger. jon

 

[texasjohn]

N80, one last comment..... don't know the age of your daughter... but be prepared for her to loose interest in horses about the time she finds significant interest in boys. At that time, you may be able to recover some space for your equipment.... and, maybe, your horse boarding costs will drop

Best wishes!

 

[N80]

She is 14. Of course she swears that she'll never give up horses. But I suspect by college the horse thing will be done. PTL. At least I hope so. But that's more than 3 years away!

And of course, I'd be willing to sell the tractor and buy here a couple of more horses if she would really swear off boys ay least until.....I'm dead and gone!

 

[texasjohn]

ah, yes... 14...I almost guessed 14 in my prior post.... the peak of horse crazy.... interest /time invested will wane starting half way thru 16 th year..... become extremely obvious by 18... and you will have a horse to look after while she is at college until you declare the horsiness is over.

Have seen it many times...family used to raise quarter horses and sell them to the daddys of horse crazy sweet young things Western Pleasure, barrels, cutting horse. Above is the typical/nominal experience... some stay with it until 19 or 20...after that, only those who are professionally horse crazy

 

[pitt_md]

An inexpensive quick way to make a corral is to use the electric fencing and T posts with caps. Use the wider tape kind and it looks nice to.
If your into the wooden rail look and want something thats safe check out centar or Electrobraid fencing.
Here is one link: Electrobraid - Electric Horse Fence, Safe Livestock Fencing

 

[FL4400]

George I did field fence 48" tall with a 6" board on the top, I did this just on the front side facing my house so my kids would not touch the hot wire. The 3 other sides I used 1.5" electric tape above the field fence. I have seen too many horses get hurt with nothing but rail fence or tied up in barb wire so I always put up field fence to try and keep them safe. You can see the font with the board on top in the picture below.