Shelter positioning

Jessey

Well-Known Member
Dec 20, 2004
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Suffolk, UK
I'm trying to plan the layout on the new paddocks still and can't decide on where is best to put shelters, and I need to decide so I can start ordering the fencing and supplies that I need and that depends on shelter location.

The paddocks; The blue line is the creek and the grey line up the middle the driveway
lopham 5.png
I'll be making a way through the hedge/tree lines so the 2 paddocks on either side of the road are connected.

The creek paddock will be tracked and used in summer and I think the tree's give enough shelter for summer so I was planning a solid 3 sided shelter in the east paddock for winter use, but where is it best sited? our prevailing wind is west, but the nasty storms tend to come from the south and the cold winds from the north (though the indoor arena runs east/west 500m north of my paddock so perhaps that won't be such an issue).
 
Thoughts
- will the hedges/trees still give some shelter in the winter?
- are there any dips in the ground that provide shelter?
- how do you use the shelter?

If you put bedding or hay in the shelter I'd want it near the road for easier access.

If they just want respite from the wind they can also stand outside & use the walls as a windbreak, I'd be more concerned about giving them shelter from the storms.
 
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Thoughts
- will the hedges/trees still give some shelter in the winter?
- are there any dips in the ground that provide shelter?
- how do you use the shelter?

If you put bedding or hay in the shelter I'd want it near the road for easier access.

If they just want respite from the wind they can also stand outside & use the walls as a windbreak, I'd be more concerned about giving them shelter from the storms.
I think they'll give a little shelter in winter but not totally.
Paddocks are flat as a pancake.
The shelter will be free access when they are in that paddock, the boys like to get in when it's grotty out.
There won't be bedding but I do put hay in when it's really miserable out, but I'll put a hay store in next to it anyway and with the sandy ground here we rarely have enough mud to worry about getting a vehicle in once a month.

I would watch them to see if they have a preferred place to stand in bad weather and put the shelter there.
We're not there yet and they won't go on there until November/December time, ideally I want to get a shelter up while the weather is half decent.
 
I'd buy one on skids if it's just for horse shelter rather than your kit. That way you could tow it to a different location if needed as the ground looks flat. Think also about the sun going round during the day. So they can use the shelter or behind it to shade from sun.

I agree about access to shelter if you are storing hay etc you do not want to be driving across the field in winter with hay and feed so near sight near to road as possible. Maybe even a way to unload and put hay away in back of shelter so you dont have to get in with horses. If your building your own.
Looking at pic is that sort of two triangle areas seperated by trees and then a rectangle on the right.
Shelters are a catch 22. Sight away from trees coming down and landing potentially on shelter but on the other hand, if there out in the open they can take more of a battering from the elements. So the trees would protect.
 
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I'd buy one on skids if it's just for horse shelter rather than your kit. That way you could tow it to a different location if needed as the ground looks flat. Think also about the sun going round during the day. So they can use the shelter or behind it to shade from sun.

I agree about access to shelter if you are storing hay etc you do not want to be driving across the field in winter with hay and feed so near sight near to road as possible. Maybe even a way to unload and put hay away in back of shelter so you dont have to get in with horses. If your building your own.
Looking at pic is that sort of two triangle areas seperated by trees and then a rectangle on the right.
Shelters are a catch 22. Sight away from trees coming down and landing potentially on shelter but on the other hand, if there out in the open they can take more of a battering from the elements. So the trees would protect.
One on skids might be a good option :)
I have had hay delivered into my fields for the last 5 years with no bother, we are lucky with the ground here, but I do like the idea of delivering in the back for ease.
The 2 triangles will be the tracked summer field, the rectangular one and the little strip to the right of the driveway will be for winter.
 
One on skids might be a good option :)
I have had hay delivered into my fields for the last 5 years with no bother, we are lucky with the ground here, but I do like the idea of delivering in the back for ease.
The 2 triangles will be the tracked summer field, the rectangular one and the little strip to the right of the driveway will be for winter.

My first shelters ever were on skids. Just be aware that until they bed in they really do skid - doesn't take much wind either as it gathers momentum! so you might wake up one day to them at the other end of your paddock!
 
My first shelters ever were on skids. Just be aware that until they bed in they really do skid - doesn't take much wind either as it gathers momentum! so you might wake up one day to them at the other end of your paddock!
That is the 1 thing that puts me off, them becoming a missile in a storm, the main time you want them to be a safe place. I would definitely be putting ground anchors in if I went that route.
 
That is the 1 thing that puts me off, them becoming a missile in a storm, the main time you want them to be a safe place. I would definitely be putting ground anchors in if I went that route.

Yes I had chains and a post concreted in. That worked well for a few years. Before that, we woke a few times to them being over the other side. I always worried that the horses would be scared when they took off as well. Once they got bedded in however, when we finally did want to move them I had to ask my neighbour farmer to get them pulled with the tractor - and even that took some doing until they pulled free.
Do you get particularly bad wind there? We came from the North West of England so it was always quite bad in winter and exposed.
 
Yes I had chains and a post concreted in. That worked well for a few years. Before that, we woke a few times to them being over the other side. I always worried that the horses would be scared when they took off as well. Once they got bedded in however, when we finally did want to move them I had to ask my neighbour farmer to get them pulled with the tractor - and even that took some doing until they pulled free.
Do you get particularly bad wind there? We came from the North West of England so it was always quite bad in winter and exposed.
Not generally but 70-80mph storms happen a couple of times a year. I remember 1 local yard had about a dozen 2 stable blocks (each in their own paddock) and about a year later almost all of them went in 1 night, some recoverable but a couple were completely destroyed.
 
I’d put so the back of it is facing south west, that way the prevailing wind and any storms won’t blow inside and lift it or the roof off. I used ground anchors on mine, expensive but worth every penny.
Belle used stand outside it in the lee of the wind and I only ever saw her in it in the heat of a summer day or if I put hay in it over winter.
 
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I’d put so the back of it is facing south west, that way the prevailing wind and any storms won’t blow inside and lift it or the roof off. I used ground anchors on mine, expensive but worth every penny.
Belle used stand outside it in the lee of the wind and I only ever saw her in it in the heat of a summer day or if I put hay in it over winter.
Do you mean facing/openings to the north east (so back to the south west)? Mine use shelters more in the summer too, so that would be good as would only get early morning sun.
 
Do you mean facing/openings to the north east (so back to the south west)? Mine use shelters more in the summer too, so that would be good as would only get early morning sun.
Yes that’s it, back to the wind, we had to do that at the old yard as it was very exposed and copped the full brunt of and heavy winds.
 
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