Design your horse barn with shed designer.
Design your custom horse barn online. American or Aussie profile, breezeway, stalls, tack room. Free quotes from ShedSafe accredited dealers.
Why choose Horse Barns?
Australian BlueScope Steel
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What is a horse barn?
A horse barn is a steel-framed Australian rural building designed around the horse, not just the roof line. The shape is usually American (raised centre, two lean-tos) or Australian (flat ridge, lean-tos either side), but the inside is what counts. Box stalls, a centre breezeway wide enough for a horse and handler, a tack room, a feed room and a wash bay arranged so the daily workflow runs in one direction.
ShedDesigner's horse barn templates are built from 100% Australian-made BlueScope steel, clad in Colorbond®, and engineered to AS/NZS 1170.2 wind loading. Stall count, breezeway width and lean-to depth are all adjustable.
Choosing the right horse barn
Three decisions shape the build before anything else.
American or Australian profile
The American barn raises the centre section to give you a tall, dry breezeway with stalls either side. Standard pitch is 20° centre, 10° lean-tos. You get a working barn that suits a hay loft or mezzanine in the centre bay if you want one. The Australian barn drops the raised centre. Lower roof line, simpler engineering, lower wind exposure on coastal sites. If your council caps roof height, or your block sits in AS/NZS 1170.2 Region B and the wind uplift is real, the Aussie shape is often the right call.
Stall layout
The NSW Animal Welfare Code of Practice No. 3 sets a hard floor at 12 m² per horse and 9 m² per pony under 12 hands, with a minimum stable height of 2.5 metres (NSW Department of Primary Industries, Animal Welfare Code of Practice No. 3, Horses in Riding Centres and Boarding Stables). Most horse barn buyers build to 3.6 × 3.6 m boxes, which clears the Code with a small margin and works for thoroughbreds and stock horses. Warmblood and draft owners should plan for 4.25 × 4.25 m stalls. The standard 3.6 × 3.6 m is too tight for the breed.
Breezeway width
A horse and handler need room to pass another horse without contact. The functional minimum is 3.66 m, and 4.27 to 4.88 m is the working benchmark for cross-tying, wash-bay use and two horses passing safely. Get this number right at design time. Once the columns are cast in concrete, you do not get it back.
If you are still on the fence, see also our horse stables page (welfare-and-workflow angle, smaller footprint) and the broader equine designs category.
Climate, ventilation and Colorbond® colour
Three numbers shape this part of the design.
Air changes per hour. Industry guidance for stable ventilation sits at 4 to 8 air changes per hour, with 6 ACH treated as the working target (Penn State Extension, Horse Stable Ventilation). Australian summer is the design constraint, not winter. Plan ridge vents, gable louvres or open-bay ends from day one.
Colorbond® roof colour. BlueScope's published Solar Reflectance Index data shows Surfmist at SRI 81 (solar absorptance 0.33), Jasper at SRI 35, and Monument at SRI 27 (BlueScope, COLORBOND® steel solar reflectance properties, ASTM E 903-96, 2022). On a hot afternoon, Surfmist roofs run materially cooler internally than Monument. For horses, that is colic and heat-stress risk reduced, not a brochure detail.
Wind region. Most horse barn buyers sit in Region A (inland NSW, Victoria, SA), but coastal NSW north of Newcastle and SE Queensland trip into Region B, with Region B now split into B1 and B2 under the 2021 standard. Higher region equals heavier sections, deeper footings and tighter bay spacing. Your dealer engineers to your block's actual region, not a national average.
Before you get quotes
A horse barn is rarely a small purchase. Most builds run from $30,000 for a basic breezeway shell to $150,000+ for a fully fitted commercial barn with stalls, tack and wash bay (Action Steel Industries, 2025 horse barn pricing).
100% Australian-made BlueScope Steel. Across structural framing and Colorbond® cladding. BlueScope's COLORBOND® steel cladding for sheds and garages carries a warranty of up to 15 years against corrosion to perforation, with the exact period set by location and application (BlueScope, Garages & Sheds Warranty). Check your build on BlueScope's online warranty estimator. Coastal sites within 1 km of a marine environment are assessed separately.
ShedSafe accredited dealers, no exceptions. Every dealer on ShedDesigner is ShedSafe accredited under the Australian Steel Institute's third-party programme, which independently verifies dealer engineering complies with the National Construction Code and AS/NZS 1170.2.
One design, multiple quotes. Your barn design goes out to dealers covering your region. Every dealer prices the same shed, in the same steel, to the same engineering, so the quotes you get back are directly comparable.
Browse the broader range on our Barn Designs page.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What size should a horse stall be inside an Australian horse barn?
The NSW Animal Welfare Code of Practice No. 3 sets a minimum of 12 m² per horse and 9 m² per pony under 12 hands, with a minimum stall height of 2.5 metres. Most horse barn builds use 3.6 × 3.6 m stalls, which clears the Code and suits thoroughbreds and stock horses. Warmblood and draft owners should plan for 4.25 × 4.25 m boxes. The standard 3.6 × 3.6 m is too tight for the breed.
How much ventilation does a horse barn need?
Industry working target is 6 air changes per hour, inside a safe range of 4 to 8 ACH (Penn State Extension). In Australian conditions the summer load is the design driver. Plan ridge vents, gable louvres or open-bay ends from the start. Retrofitting ventilation into a closed barn is expensive and rarely as effective as building it in.
What's the best Colorbond® colour for a horse barn roof?
Surfmist holds the cool end of BlueScope's Colorbond® palette at SRI 81, against Monument at SRI 27. On a hot afternoon, that's a meaningful internal-temperature delta inside the barn (BlueScope SRI data, ASTM E 903-96, 2022). For horse welfare, a lighter roof is the easier call. Wall colour matters less; the roof is where the radiant load lands.
How wide should a horse barn breezeway be?
The functional minimum is 3.66 m for one horse and a handler. 4.27 to 4.88 m is the working benchmark for cross-tying, wash bay use and two horses passing safely. Once the columns are set, you cannot widen it later. Build the wider option if your budget stretches.
How tall should the breezeway and stall ceiling be?
The NSW Code sets 2.5 m as a stable minimum. For comfort, breezeways and stall ceilings should clear 3.6 m, which gives head clearance over partitions and lets a horse rear without contact. American-profile barns naturally clear this number. Aussie-profile barns may need an eave-height bump in the configurator.
How much does an American horse barn cost in Australia?
Most horse barn builds run from $30,000 for a basic breezeway shell to $150,000+ for a fully fitted commercial barn with stalls, tack room and wash bay. As a rule of thumb, allow $5,000 to $7,000 per stall once the shell, kickboards, doors and rubber matting are factored in (Action Steel Industries, 2025; Guerilla Steel Stables, 2026).
Do I need a concrete slab in a horse barn?
The breezeway and tack room should be poured concrete, broom-finished, sloping at 1:80 to a drain or to the door so wash water clears. Stalls themselves are built two ways. Concrete with rubber matting on top is the most common: easy to clean, durable, and forgiving on hoofs with the right matting. Compacted blue metal or limestone with rubber matting is a softer alternative some owners prefer. Talk to your dealer about which fits your soil and your routine.
How tall should kickboards be inside a horse barn stall?
Industry minimum is 1.2 m, ideally hardwood at 38 to 50 mm thick, lined with rubber matting (Horizon Structures; Vale Stables). Some owners run kickboards full height to the eave inside the stall, especially in stallion bays or for known kickers. The board carries the impact load, so the timber spec matters more than the finish.
Other Barn designs
American Barns
Classic raised-centre barn with twin lean-tos. Tall machinery clearance, stables-ready, fully customisable in BlueScope steel.
Australian Barns
The classic low-profile Aussie barn: flat ridge, single skillion lean-to either side. Built from 100% Australian-made BlueScope steel.
Barndominiums
A barn-style steel home built to NCC Class 1a habitable standards, with the workshop, garage and living wing under one Australian-made BlueScope roof.