Run In Sheds

Orchard Equine Retirement utilizes passive solar principles to provide your horse with optimum shelters in both winter and summer weather. Our run in sheds use passive solar to warm the sheds in winter and cool the sheds in summer. The sun is lower in the winter, thus the overhang allows the sun's rays to warm the interior of the South facing shed. In summer when the sun is higher, the overhang prevents the summer sun’s rays from heating the shed as it does in winter.

​

In the thirty plus years Orchard Equine Retirement has boarded retired horses at our facility in Central Pennsylvania we have experienced heat, rain, snow, ice, and of course wind, weather that occurs throughout most of the mainland United States.

The standard run in sheds seen on many farms do not adequately protect horses from the weather due to the overhang being too small. Our free standing sheds with 8’ overhang provide the horses with the added benefit of a shaded “porch” area in summer that also keeps the interior of the shed cooler in summer. The overhang protects the interior of the shed from the direct summer sun due to the sun being higher in the sky in summer than in winter.

Location - Run in sheds must be located with proper drainage to prevent the interior from flooding due to groundwater runoff and to prevent your retired horse from having to navigate through a mud hole outside the shed’s entrance.

Orientation - In the Northern Hemisphere run in sheds must be open to the South to take advantage of the sun’s position in the winter sky. Winter storms have winds from the North and East, thus the opening to the South to Southwest to avoid winter winds blowing into the shed.

Experience -Our first run in shed had a standard two foot overhang which we quickly learned was not sufficient enough protection to keep the shed, or the horses, including my beloved Prince, protected from the elements. Thus we added an 8’ overhang to our 24’ wide and 16’ deep run in sheds.

All of our subsequent sheds had overhangs from four to six feet incorporated into the design of the sheds.A  lower entrance height, such as the sheds incorporated into the Upper Barn and the Front Barn, require less of an overhang due to the lowered entrance height. Anything less and the shed will not protect your retired horse.

At Orchard Equine Retirement it is our goal to provide your horse, many of whom have lived their entire lives in stalls, with shelter that protects them from the elements just as their stall did during their performance years,with the added benefits of plenty of fresh air (necessary for respiratory health), and freedom to exercise as they wish, necessary for the digestive and mental health of your retired horse.

Anything less and we are not doing our job.