Big Things

When we first saw this farm this is what the back pasture and arena looked like, all over grown with black berries and you couldn't see the ground for the grass & weeds.

 

We tried using the stalls but they kept flooding every time it rained, like, a foot deep.

 

 

So we built temporary stalls inside the arena and have been using them for 1.5 years.

You can see on the right side of this photo where it still leaks in.

 

 

This lean-too has been dismantled and now all that remains is one wall along the arena and the roof.

 

This is the arena side, all rotten from rain water that comes off the arena and goes right down the front of the stalls.

 

Here it is, mostly dismantled. We had to bring in more footing, it still flooded up until a month ago. It will again if we don't keep up on it continuously.

 

But we are now getting the new barn built and I can't wait to start.

I'd like a 12 ft aisle and five 12x12stalls with attached runs, one of the stalls being a wash rack.

We shall see.

I might just get 3 stall floors cemented, add dividers and outside walls and call it good. That would save me thousands of dollars.

 

Julia told me today that they are planning on having Roses go home by springtime so pretty soon I won't have their help with feeding and cleaning but also won't have her here fighting with Wifi. They go at it like teenage sisters. I'll give them some stuff to make their transition easier, maybe a corner feeder and a hay rack, They've got buckets and stuff.

 

I am really hoping I can get an aisle-way that has the brick look to it, it would be better traction but also look nicer and someday in the future it would have a better resale value. I don't plan on living here forever.

 

 

I'm sure this is much closer to the barn I'll end up with than the one featured above. But I WILL NOT have spaces between the stalls dividers like this, you're just asking for injury and broken boards doing that. I'm going to find some stall mirrors and the horses will be happy thinking they can see another horse. I want the stall fronts to have openings for them to put their heads out but I also want to be able to close those. I do not want them bending the bars like happened in the old barn.

 

Shit, looking at these stalls, they are only 8 feet across in front since the doors are 4 feet wide. Not big enough for horses, maybe this is a mini barn.