I mean, you don’t need one. But you can have one. It’s not super necessary. But it’s useful.
We decided to build one to help with the bad weather. Unfortunately where we live in SEQ, we get awful summer storms and sometimes things fly around willy nilly.
So, we checked with the council and the structure of the building not needing a permit is 3m x 3m, or 9m2. We built it 3×3, but it might be bigger than 9m2 .
With Moose’s stable, we had the following in mind:
- needs to be something that can be washed out with a hose for cleaning
- needs to be something where debris and flood water won’t get stuck or bring things into
- needs to be tall enough not to give him claustrophobia
- needs to have ventilation from the QLD heat
- needs to be facing us so he can see he isn’t far but also needs to be facing the bush because he likes to see the bush outside
So we made something with the following parameters:
- used hardwood posts and palings
- used stirrups concreted into the ground to brace and lift the height.
- used tin on the roof
- braced the frame with pine and hardwood – whatever we had left over
- used the spare double gate
- used some excess shadecloth to provide ventilation, breeze and shade
As you can see, it’s very tall and very spacious, gives him enough ventilation and doesn’t stop the fresh breeze flow. Currently there’s an old bale of hay in there which needs to be moved out, but you can see there is heaps of room for him to lay down and even sleep in there. Once we get him to that paddock more permanetly, I’ll look to fix the watering system and move his hay nets to better positions.
We did encounter some issues at the top end, but that I feel was mostly due to my husband not having a big enough ladder. Without the stirrups, we could’ve fixed the posts into the ground a bit deeper, lowering the overall height. I still like this though – the top is covered with shade cloth which is extremely forgiving with our weather here.
At the bottom, I am still contemplating boxing it in to concrete or pave. The reason I say this is because, it was still satisfy the requirement of being easy to maintain and wash, but also if it was braced it would also be easier to fill with sawdust for extra warmth and protection. I am still doing my research on what the best options would be, but for now, this is totally suitable as is.
I also like having the roof space. It gives the option of adding a gutter to capture rain water right beside it for a watering system. Last minute touches will include some solar flood lights.
Now that you’ve seen our creation, have you made yours? What would you do differently? What challenges did you face?
to see more of Moose the Clydesdale’s adventures in SEQ, follow him on Instagram!
If you’re interested in seeing what else we do around the farm, make sure to keep reading and link in with our socials. We update regularly on the progress of our projects. You can also subscribe to our blog to make sure you get all the round-ups and updates first!
