How to Build a Barn (Horse Stable) in Minecraft

Guide Java Bedrock

Quick answer: Classic barn: a 11x15 red-and-white building (red concrete or red wool walls, white trim), a steep gambrel roof from spruce stairs, stall dividers of fences inside, hay bales, and a fenced paddock beside it for the horses.

What you need

Red concrete or red wool (about 12 stacks) + white concrete trim
Spruce/oak stairs and planks for roof and stalls
Fences and gates, hay bales
Lanterns, a cauldron or water trough

Step by step

Footprint: 11x15 fits 4 stalls plus a walkway. Stone or log foundation, one block high.
Walls in red with white corner trim and white X-braces on the gables - the American barn look.
Gambrel roof: spruce stairs with a bend - steep lower slope, shallow upper slope. Two angles, not one.
Big doors: a 3-wide entrance with fence gates or sliding piston doors, plus a hayloft opening in the gable with a trapdoor.
Stalls inside: fence dividers every 3 blocks with a gate each - one horse per stall, hay bales in the corners.
Water trough: a cauldron or a 1-block water channel along the back wall.
Hayloft upstairs: plank floor halfway up, ladder, and hay bale storage - drop hay through a hole to the stalls.
Paddock: a fenced field beside the barn with a gate, grass, and a water block. Horses wander happily inside.
Light the yard with lanterns on fence posts - farms are mob magnets at night.

Java vs Bedrock

Identical on Java and Bedrock.

Versions: Hay bales and all blocks here work in every current version.

Frequently asked questions

Can horses escape stalls?

Horses cannot open gates, but they jump - keep stall walls at least 2 blocks high or use a roof. A fence-and-a-half (fence + carpet) lets you in but keeps them inside.

Red concrete or red wool?

Concrete has the flat saturated barn-red; wool is cheaper early game. Both work - wool burns, so mind the lightning and lava.