Horse Barn?

[CrealBilly]

Well I knew it was just a matter of time... My boys just quoted out all the timber for their first horse barn, 10 stall, 4 singles and 1 double on each side with a office and tackroom upfront. Which is all fine a dandy, but all the stalls required cherry, yes cherry. I was sure it was a mistake so I had them call the builder to be sure and yep sure enough he wants #1 or better rough sawn cherry for the stalls. But why only #1 white ash for the office and tackroom? Not being a horse guy, why cherry? anyone know?

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Sounds like a case of more money than common sense. :gar-Bi But, not being a horse guy either, I suppose there could be a reason. :dontknow:

Bill

 

[Glennbear]

The extent of my equine building so far has been limited to tack boxes but my younger daughter does have some college study in equine science and I have seen some of the upscale horse barn interiors which resemble the inside of a mansion library. My guess is the customer's wood choices are primarily due to aesthetics. Horses, like babies, will chew on dang near any surface within reach (cribbing) so the top boards on stalls are sometimes made replaceable for that reason. There are wood choices which are a definite no-no such as walnut. The selection of ash with it's inherent hardness for the tack room would seem to be logical given the likelihood of surface damage from tack hung on the walls and getting dinged by the corners of tack boxes. I would assume that the customer would know which species are equine friendly and which are not. :wsmile:

 

[Mike Davis]

I thought cherry was poison to horses too.

 

[Bill Clemmons]

I thought cherry was poison to horses too.

I know from my days working w/ the cattle industry that it is to cows, so I would assume it is to horses also. :dontknow: At the leaves from a cherry tree are poisonous: I don't know about the wood itself. Maybe he's trying to keep the horses from chewing their stall by using a toxic wood. Hmmmmm! Or, like Glenn said, maybe he's trying to build a horse mansion to impress his buddies.

Bill

 

[Mike Davis]

I would think cherry too brittle to hold up to horses.

I'd go with white oak, but what do I know? :rotflm:

 

[dstrbd488]

I dont know about the wood being posionous to horses but my aunt owns and operates a boarding stable and can say from experiance that horse people tend to either have more money than sense or at least act like they do. I know that some of the horses at her barn are labeled as being worth more dollars than my truck. There are a few of teh ones at her barn that have life insurance policies and health insurance and a price tag of 25 to 30 thousand dollars.