Building or renovating a barn for horses involves carefully considering their standing surface, both from an aesthetic and leg health perspective. Indoor-based horses must stand still on whatever is in their stall floor for extended periods, potentially taxing on their legs and requiring carefully considered flooring choices that provide cushioned support and don’t cause discomfort to their legs1. Flooring options must therefore be selected wisely in order to achieve the best results for both interior horses and those kept out in pasture or outside paddock settings1.
Maintenance is another factor. Certain types of flooring are easier to keep up than others; perhaps one type should be reserved for aisles while another for stalls. Your decision on the perfect flooring for your new barn will depend on existing natural soil conditions, materials available to you and budget considerations; here is a glimpse at some types of horse stable floorings: