Tour a Beautiful 4-Stall Barn in Montana

Step inside a modern and thoughtfully designed horse barn.

Located in Missoula, Montana, Sabine Bauer’s four-stall barn is carefully situated on a gently sloping lot. The native Midwesterner moved to Montana in 2012 with her family. When the couple found a house they loved, the intention was to build a barn as well. However, the rolling hills provided a challenge when it came to planning out the horse property which is just over five acres.

The solution was to build the new barn in the same location as an existing structure previously used as a shop by the former owner. The existing barn was 36′ x 43′. The new barn was built on the south side of the existing shop which already had electric, but not plumbing. The new build is 30′ x 43′, making the total barn dimensions 66′ x 43′.

The barn is beautifully outfitted with RAMM Oxford stalls, interlocking stall mats, steel dutch doors, hinge operable window grills and mounted stall fans. Sabine also purchased a watering post and RAMM’S Flex Fence. It was a Google search that led Sabine to find RAMM. Ultimately she was thrilled to be able to purchase so many barn components from one place.

She was initially attracted to the company’s Flex Fence which requires little maintenance. It doesn’t need to be painted and just needs to be tightened annually. Learn more about Flex Fence® in this blog post.

Sabine drew up the plans for the barn herself. She has a degree in interior architecture and previously worked on commercial corporate interior design projects with an emphasis on sustainable building. Sabine’s knowledge and skills gave her the tools to design her dream barn. She connected with a high-end custom home builder to do the construction of her barn. With the help of a great excavator (Grant Creek Excavating, Steve Schardt) and general contractor (Jeremy Moran & Company), everything fell into place. Sabine submitted the barn for an agricultural exemption, so she did not need to get a building permit.

Three of the stalls are 12′ x 12′ and one is 12′ x 18′.

Sabine grew up with horses and rode dressage in her early years along with her mom. After a hiatus from horses, she is thrilled to have them at home and be able to ride once again, sharing her equestrian passion with her girls. The current equine residents include a Paint, Quarter Horse and two Oldenburgs.

The spacious barn aisle is 19′ wide.

Beautiful stone details.

It was the Oxford stalls that influenced the barn’s overall interior look. The pretty slate tile was sourced from the Home Depot, it’s Rustic Gold Ledger, Natural Slate. It brings in cooler tones, breaking up the warmth of the wood.

The tack room is currently being designed in the the existing barn/shed structure (behind the double doors). Tractors, shavings and hay are stored in there as well.

This is the large 12′ x 18′ stall.

Barn Exterior

The west side of the barn sits up against a hill so there are two 12′ x 15′ outdoor runs on the east side, one of them connects to a larger paddock area.

There are also 33 solar panels mounted to the barn roof.

This is the view of the 70′ x 140′ arena from the south side of house, which uses Flex Fence. It used all of the excavated soil from barn expansion to level ground where arena was, which was very convenient- no off property hauling. A pasture and a couple of paddocks are located on the west and north side of house.