Farm things that make keeping horses easier

[annikak]

There was a thread not too long ago that had several chiming in on things that they loved or felt really helped keeping horses at home on smaller acreage. Cocomare brought up the BarAA waterers but other things were mentioned too. For the love of GOD I cannot find that thread. So- if anyone knows the “real” title of that thread, that’d be great and I will kill this one.

Or just list em. What do you think makes keeping them home a lot easier?

Essentially single woman, working full time job, 2 then eventually 2 horses, 1 pony on 5 acres. I know how to take care of them when I was NOT working and had 8+ but moving back into having them at home- and not having a partner that is involved I want it to be a bit easier. I know basic and not so basic horsemanship, and I am ALL about tidy barns. I will be rearranging the barn that is there- currently no water, and the floors are dirt.

What I would love is vicarious learning from all you folks that keep them at home.

There is a compost system that I am pretty sure I am going to invest in, and the BarAA waterers seem like the best idea- I had nelsons that I loved in my last barn, but want to try to not run electric to them. Since we never know what they are drinking in the trough outside, I am not too worried about knowing consumption- if it becomes an issue, buckets in stalls will allow for some knowledge of intake.

Thanks for any ideas!!

[atr]

Good drainage and gravel. Tons and tons of gravel, every single year. We did not do enough gravel last year. It is mud season. I am now being punished by the gravel gods for my shortcomings.

You can never have too much gravel.

[csaper58]

Love the Rubbermaid 7.5 cu.ft. wheelbarrow! Can push it with 1 hand.

[stb]

I absolutely love my Club Car Carryall 500. It’s electric (I like quiet while I’m picking poop in the mornings) and has a hydraulic lift bed. It is my mini dump truck. I use it for absolutely everything. I literally never use a wheelbarrow. Also, a zero turn mower is a Godsend.

[Bluey]

First, try to keep horses outside as much as possible.
Makes cleaning after them easier and they are happier moving around at will.
Not everyone has the space, but take advantage of it if you do.

With only two horses, I would use buckets when in the barn, big trough outside.

Automatic waterers are a labor saver when more horses, but for a couple or three, buckets give you better management, you know exactly if their water is clean and how much they drink.

Those small bowl automatic waterers just have too many drawbacks if the management slips the least bit, not enough water supply, easy to skip cleaning them, if electric may shock horse and he will colic before noticing, etc.
May be ok for you and those that may help you, may not be worth a chance something goes wrong with them.

I know some barns that have both, automatic and still provide buckets and some horses prefer one or the other.
The important note there, horses have a choice and we want them to drink as much as possible, so knowing that preference helps.

Muck dollies if you clean with much buckets.
You can roll the buckets any place to dump so easy with them, you can use them to haul feed and hay and other supplies, to clean rocks out of paddocks, to keep grooming, stable supplies in there to take where you need them.

[moving_to_dc]

I love my 2-wheeled plastic/poly 10cf wheelbarrow. I don’t have to worry about it rusting out, and it is so steady with the 2 wheels. The only drawback is that I cannot push it UP the manure pile to dump it, I can only dump it at ground level. I have solid tires on mine - no worries about a flat, and they can bear a lot more weight than “air filled” tires. Yes, they were pricey, but they have lasted 20+ years and are still in perfect shape.

I only have 1 spigot at the barn, by the door, so I have hoses strung in the rafters, and thru the barn wall (drilled a 1.5" hole with a hole saw) so that the hose ends directly above my water tank in the lean-to. No dragging hoses around to fill tanks. I have quick connects on the “rafter” hose and the hose on the reel that I use for buckets, so switching from one to another takes 1 second to pop on off and pop the other on. The hose in the rafters is “peaked” so it drains fully, I have never had it freeze up in the winter.

My tack/feed room is SUPER insulated and airtight, so I can heat it in the winter, and have somewhere in the barn to store the hoses so they don’t freeze. I also keep it air conditioned in the summer. My farrier LOVES to pop in there between horses to cool off.

Having electric run to your tank for a heater, and to stalls for fans or heated water buckets is a big time saver. No breaking ice and no worrying about frozen water in the winter.

[clanter]

Back when we were both working we put brass programmable locks on the gates. The reason was if we ever needed to allow some one onto the property while we were not there (vet/farrier or who ever) all we need to give them was the current combination of the locks, we could change combination later if we needed. Brass locks are not usually subject to rushing

Daughter found another use for the locks, she programmed her birth date (month/day) as the combination so I wouldn’t forget it

[IronwoodFarm]

Design everything you do to save time and labor. Like Bluey suggested, the horses stay out most of the time. They have access to a run-in. Everything is centralized around the barn. Gates to all fields and paddocks are close. I personally love automatic waterers having spent my childhood hauling water from a creek. The water lines and electric are run at the same time, so that shouldn’t be an issue. And get appropriate tools and equipment that makes job go faster. I consider my time and effort the most valuable asset I have, so I do what I can to work smarter.

[annikak]

These are TERRIFIC ideas! Thank you!

Re trough vs buckets- I will have buckets in the stalls- because, I sure hope to have them out a lot more than in!! The gate will be done for a lot of reasons. I am tempted to get a camera, too. But then again- am I that paranoid??

Its kind of like looking at where you live in your house and invest in that. I am having fences done this week- having about a 10’ path between new fence and existing fence- don’t have to pull the old, miserable fence that is part of several trees! Gives me a path to ride on, (albeit really short! lol!) and saved me a lot of money. Electric fence (Tape), so I can fix it easily, and the best fencer I can get with a - who knew?- a remote. I can turn it off and on with a click. And- can tell if there is a short someplace. The barn will be gutted by me and my daughter who lives about 15 min away, then will start on that- I think this may be a Merry Christmas to me barn in the end.

I Yes, common area- sacrifice paddock will lead to the two turn outs. I want them to have some area to actually run, so wanted to have it be a larger 2 areas, with the sacrifice paddock rather than better rotation (I love having three areas). I will also have a separate area for the pony attached to her stall as she will not do well on free choice spring pasture, and I won’t have the time to pull a grazing muzzle, and ( of course) will worry if I am not there about her getting caught or some horrible horse person nightmare story that keeps me up at night.

ATR- it seems like it drains well, but am thinking gravel WILL be my friend. I have lived in mud so thick it pulled my muck boots off- clay, gross clay.

[2DogsFarm]

Agree keeping them Out as much as possible makes life sooooo much easier.
Mine have access to stalls if they want & pasture as well 24/7/365.
They can be stalled for vet or farrier visits, but otherwise they are out - by their choice.
My stall-cleaning takes maybe 20min - a bit more if I add pelleted bedding - every morning & less in the evening.

I compost manure & spread the aged stuff in my veggie & flower beds.
In Fall I dump fresh-from-the-stalls stuff on the gardens to compost over the Winter.
No tractor, but I use my riding mower with a dumpcart to haul it from the pile.

Pelleted bedding over shavings.
Lasts longer & composts quicker than shavings & a 50-bag pallet takes up less space than the equivalent amount of bagged shavings. For my 2 a pallet lasts 3-4mos < longer in Summer when they sleep outside,
I add 4 bags (NOT the mfr-recommended 6) to a stripped stall, then add a bag or 2 every couple of weeks or more often if we have exceptionally wet weather.
I used to add dry pellets, but now add a bucket of water to an opened bag & let that sit for 10min before dumping.

I prefer buckets to auto-waterers - just one more mechanical thing to go bad & have to pay to fix.
I use the heated ones in stalls, plugged in as soon as temps go below 40F, unplugged as soon as they go above.
Also have a 50gal barrel in front of the barn that gets a sinking de-icer.
Saves me breaking ice & assures me they always have water - even in Polar Vortex temps w/power failure that barrel stayed liquid below a 2" lid of ice( one & only time I had to break ice).

I put my frost-free hydrant inside the barn & attach a collapsible hose to fill the barrel & buckets in stalls.
No draining a hose in Winter. Ever.

And a resounding YES! to gravel.
I added 6" gravel over geotextile to my sacrifice paddock 6yrs ago & had not had to deal with bootsucking mud since.
Don’t skip the geotex, it’s cheap enough & w/o your gravel will eventually disappear into the ground.

Pray for Good Neighbors.
My across-the-road ones are The Best.
They make my hay & mow (& bale) an L-shaped field outside my pastures.
They keep the hay they cut (mine comes from other fields), my place stays looking civilized.
We also trade horsesitting chores on occasion.
But even my non-horsey neighbors on the other road used to feed for me when I was on vacations.
Having the horses know to come in for feeding made it easy for even non-horse-savvy peeps.
I would pre-bag the feed/supplements so even that required no knowledge.
Horses sort themselves into stalls, feeder dumps a bag into the feedpan & Done.

[Altermyne]

@Crazylife

Instead of wheelbarrows, we use a dump cart from tractor supply. Absolute back saver! We haul manure, feed, hay, equipment and everything else on them. We’ve even slipped the handle over the ball of the gator to haul heavier loads long distances with no problems.

I just bought a similar one for the garden, fabulous.

[Jarpur]

Since your fencing is yet to be done, I recommend having lots of gates - even in places you don’t yet think you’ll need them – and consider having narrow gaps in the fencing through which a human can pass, such as where the fence adjoins your barn (I find it so convenient to slip through one of those slots when carrying hay or feed and not having a free hand for the gate latch).

[Color_of_Light]

@atr

Good drainage and gravel. Tons and tons of gravel, every single year. We did not do enough gravel last year. It is mud season. I am now being punished by the gravel gods for my shortcomings.

You can never have too much gravel.

The way to get around spending tons on tons of gravel every year is to put down filter fabric first. Grade the area to create drainage, put down filter fabric, put down drain rock, put down gravel on top of that. We built roads, parking areas, round pens, and paddocks this way and have never once had to add additional gravel. The oldest areas are about 15 years old. We will probably add a bit of gravel this year on the roads and parking areas. We have added more sand to paddocks here and there over the years.

[NaturalSelection]

What about the best way to feed small bales in outdoor paddock/dry lot as far as labor and hay waste?

[rideon2]

For feeding small square bales outside I love the Tarter Hay Basket, Can either throw in a few flakes at a time, or it will fit about 4 small squares if you have one you want to have access to hay constantly (and nice to only have to fill it once a week!) Drains well, not hard to maneuver (I tip it up on its side and roll it if I need to move it) and safe and easy for them to eat from. I keep mine in a run in so the hay can’t get wet, but when I’ve fed just a few flakes at time have also kept it out without cover.
http://tarterusa.com/tarter-products/equine-hay-basket/

[annikak]

@rideon2

For feeding small square bales outside I love the Tarter Hay Basket, Can either throw in a few flakes at a time, or it will fit about 4 small squares
http://tarterusa.com/tarter-products/equine-hay-basket/

that looks like a great thing!

[annikak]

@Jarpur

Since your fencing is yet to be done, I recommend having lots of gates - even in places you don’t yet think you’ll need them – and consider having narrow gaps in the fencing through which a human can pass

I have a pass thru- and I so find it helpful!

[NaturalSelection]

Great reference on Tarter hay basket, just ordered one! What about covered solutions?

[costco_muffins]

@NaturalSelection

What about the best way to feed small bales in outdoor paddock/dry lot as far as labor and hay waste?

We have whole bale nets and carabiner them to the corner posts of our run in shelter. No hay waste, VERY chore efficient, doesn’t damage their teeth, great for their health, and the biggest time saver I have found.

Additionally, the investment of hoofgrid to the muddy sections has paid for itself already in gravel savings and time savings.

The use of mats in the run in shelter and a sand pit outside for sleeping/rolling has saved money and time by not having to bed with shavings.

70 gallon troughs seem to be the right size to have three horses drink quickly enough to be able to rinse and scrub at least once a week without getting gross or having to do a full dump of 100 gallons of water.

We have paddocks connected to pastures directly. Then we use step in posts and electric tape to divide the pasture for rotational grazing. It is awesome.

[annikak]

That seems like a great idea- they will have not-so-great pasture this year, but will still put their heads down and graze on whatever is there. I always like head down feeding, which is why I usually stray from hay nets- but I think that might be a great solution. Plus, they won’t chew the barn hopefully!