Any tips or advice?
We are on the verge of moving our horses home. Our barn is not finished, but the horses will live outside year round. What are some things you wish you had or wish you had known when you moved your horses home?
I’ve always had horses, but always have had to board.
Also, any tips for maintaining footing when you don’t have an actual arena? My current plan is to ride in an area that has been a corn field for the last few years.
Can you explain your set up? I’ve always moved into finished places, and have to deal with what is there. I’ve always wished for large storage areas that were easy for trucks to unload into (hay, pallets of bagged shavings, etc) and a paved or hard packed road to the barn! I’ve always had to have trucks (blacksmith, delivery, etc) drive through my grass yard and through a paddock to get to the barn, which is really hard when the ground is soft. A covered, sheltered area for the blacksmith or yourself to work on the horses in is useful and appreciated as well, if they live outside.
The barn is already there, we are just in the process of gutting the inside. It is an old cow barn. We have a paved driveway.
My place
One of the biggest expenses for me is cleaning stalls, shavings, and manure removal. It’s more pricey then hay.
I have a six stall barn with runs, the runs are attached to the pastures. My horses can come and go as they choose so it cuts down some of barn stall mess…but on a crappy day they will hang out in the stalls. It takes up valuable time to cleaning stalls when you could be riding or cleaning tack, also it’s pretty expensive to haul manure away. Even with my horses out 24/7 I still have manure removed 1x/quarter which is $130 each time.
If I was to do it all over again. I would build a barn, but with deep sheds with sand instead of stalls.
[QUOTE=Hunterkid;8034127]
Any tips or advice?
We are on the verge of moving our horses home. Our barn is not finished, but the horses will live outside year round. What are some things you wish you had or wish you had known when you moved your horses home?
I’ve always had horses, but always have had to board.
Also, any tips for maintaining footing when you don’t have an actual arena? My current plan is to ride in an area that has been a corn field for the last few years.[/QUOTE]
Make sure all your fencing/gates are safe and secure.
If the corn field has stubble, that could cause damage to the sole or lower leg.
Probably lots of weather related tips if you have winter where you are.
Yes, unfortunately we have a terrible, long winter!
[QUOTE=Hunterkid;8034127]
Any tips or advice?
We are on the verge of moving our horses home. Our barn is not finished, but the horses will live outside year round. What are some things you wish you had or wish you had known when you moved your horses home?
I’ve always had horses, but always have had to board.
Also, any tips for maintaining footing when you don’t have an actual arena? My current plan is to ride in an area that has been a corn field for the last few years.[/QUOTE]
You realize you will go from riding to caretaking?
There are only so many hours in the day and when you are boarding, you can come, ride, do minimal maintenance if any and go and have many hours of a life for other.
Now you will spend a large/considerably larger part of your life taking care chores and maintenance get done.
Fine if that is where your life phase is now, a burden if not.
I also say, remodel with one or two stalls for emergencies, try to make where horses will live run in type sheds/barn overhangs and hope they are clean and don’t use those for a bathroom, or train them not to, to minimize that kind of several times a day upkeep of cleaning stalls or feeding areas.
Don’t be surprised if you end up care-taking and not riding much, or eventually not at all, as happen to so many that take horses home.
Then, if you have a caretaker’s soul and have or make the time in your life for that, you will love the trade-off.
Do they live outside now? Keep similar routine, buy some of same hay they eat now to transition…
[QUOTE=Hunterkid;8034127]
Any tips or advice?
We are on the verge of moving our horses home. Our barn is not finished, but the horses will live outside year round. What are some things you wish you had or wish you had known when you moved your horses home?
I’ve always had horses, but always have had to board.
Also, any tips for maintaining footing when you don’t have an actual arena? My current plan is to ride in an area that has been a corn field for the last few years.[/QUOTE]
Haha won’t be too different honestly, except no arena and more barn up keep. I already do all the feeding, paddock cleaning, etc for my horses. It will be so nice when I don’t have to drive 30 minutes to see them and then drive all the way home to shower before work!
Don’t get me wrong,I know it’s going to be a lot of work, but it already is.
We plan to use part of the barn as a run in for now while we build stalls. They stay out now and I want to keep them out.
[QUOTE=Hunterkid;8034127]
What are some things you wish you had .[/QUOTE]
at times, no horses at all as even the best will find so thing that will try your sprint at times
[QUOTE=clanter;8034940]
at times, no horses at all as even the best will find so thing that will try your sprint at times[/QUOTE]
Lol
Does anyone else have horses at home and not have stalls?
[QUOTE=Hunterkid;8037209]
Does anyone else have horses at home and not have stalls?[/QUOTE]
We have two stalls that have never been used.
Our barn today is what will eventually be the quarantine barn and is an addition to a 80’ x 40’ quonset barn.
We have made half three stalls, two completely enclosed 14’ x 14’ and matted, the other one open in the front, all with runs in front of them, that open to their pastures.
Those three stalls take 1/2 and the other 1/2 of the space is a 40’ x 28’ shed, matted half of it where we feed on the mats and made out of three stall fronts, that can be made into stalls also if we change or mind.
Our horses, up to 5 at most in that setup, live outside 24/7 and are fed twice a day, but we can put them in if needed.
We train them to go to the bathroom on a designated potty spot, one they have chosen themselves first and we keep it up, cleaning that “pile” by spreading it every so often.
They stay very clean in the rest of the pens and no one goes to the bathroom under the shed, where we feed and they loaf and lay down if it is miserable outside.
Works for us, but that would depend on your horses, if you can run them together or have to keep some separated.
We had at times one we kept by themselves, but for us it didn’t make sense, so we moved that horse on to where he was under different management, unless it was a retiree that we kept alone for his own safety, when he could not keep up with the others and he was fine across the fence from them.
There are not set rules of thumb here, we do what seems best, when it seems the best to do for everyone’s happiness and comfort.
Hope that helps.
The best advice I was given was to put my money into automatic waterers in the fields. I strongly second that – my waterers (Nelson) have meant that I haven’t had to haul water or chop ice, or really, do anything on the water front. If some disaster happened (meaning, you couldn’t get to them for a little while) you could put out a ton of hay and know they had hay, water and shelter.
Especially if you have bad winters I recommend automatic waterers.
[QUOTE=SMF11;8037279]
The best advice I was given was to put my money into automatic waterers in the fields. I strongly second that – my waterers (Nelson) have meant that I haven’t had to haul water or chop ice, or really, do anything on the water front. If some disaster happened (meaning, you couldn’t get to them for a little while) you could put out a ton of hay and know they had hay, water and shelter.
Especially if you have bad winters I recommend automatic waterers.[/QUOTE]
All our water troughs are “automatic”, they refill with a float valve and that is enclosed so horses and cattle can’t get to it.
Our water troughs are not small, so that alone keeps a water supply in front of them all the time and to us, it seems they prefer the larger troughs, as they can stick their whole faces in there and dribble water and splash it.
Even when they have other water in buckets, they prefer to drink from the troughs.
The only disadvantage, you won’t keep those as clean as a little nose sized waterer.
No stalls here. We have a run-in shelter and they have lots of varying terrain with and without trees, so they can go where they’re comfortable. There have been a few times where stalls would have been nice, but nothing unmanageable.
My big advice would be to have one more paddock or lot fenced off than you think you need. We have had a few issues in herd dynamics where it would have been a lot easier to lock someone in a different paddock for a few hours/days.
We have stalls, but rarely use them.
Buy big squares of hay if you have the equipment to move them.
I keep my three at home, but they live out 24/7. I’ve set up so I’m using slow feeding so I don’t have to feed constantly (I used to drop a flake of hay 5 times a day so they never had to go long without). Mine are also easy keepers so I only do supplements/grain/slop once a day. I don’t do anything for manure removal, though I’m contemplating starting that. I have the occasional fence upkeep, etc, but for the most part, I spend a day or weekend here and there tackling a project, vs hours every day doing something. I still ride plenty when it’s not winter… I kept both horses going last year. If you did your own work at the barn and you’re saving the 30 mins commute each way, you will still have plenty of time to ride.
My (heated) auto waterers are a godsend. I used netted round bales in the winter, but when I feed small squares I got some tough 1 hay hoops with slow feed nets so I can still slow feed square flakes easily enough. No tying and hanging hay bag, just flip open, drop in, flip up. I don’t even have to go in the paddocks and it’s idiot proof for the boyfriend. I have a small shed right by the paddocks that holds a weeks worth of hay and a frost free hydrant, and any other necessities so I don’t have to run back and forth a long ways to get things I might need right there.
You’ll figure out how to minimize the work time and maximize the riding time.
I also agree with having the extra lot/paddock just in case. Wish my extra fields were ready when somebody damages a fence or doesn’t get along. Would simplify things a lot!
we have stalls, and use them, but the plan for next year is to have youngstock, which will live out with just runs.
We’re about to move from a small farm to a larger one (new one is still ‘small’ at 17 acres). As we’re moving, we’re trying to incorporate lessons we’ve learned the hard way at our current place.
Mud/Footing: we don’t live in snow country, but it’s been a WET winter and the footing in several of our fields/paddocks is trashed. I wonder if the grass will even come back, because right now one of them looks more like a muddy swamp than a horse paddock. It’s miserable to push a wheelbarrow through, to walk out and catch horses, and I feel like I’m hosing the poor ponies’ legs every other day and washing blankets ever few uses. It’s horrible. So, I recommend ID’ing likely high traffic areas around your property (around gates, run in sheds, feeding and water areas, etc) and take pre-emptive steps. Build them up and bring in gravel or rubber matting, or even one of those mesh-things that let water in but maintain the integrity of the ground.
Workspace: Even if you don’t have a barn you’ll use regularly, you do want to have something with lights/power/water and protection from the elements, for vet and farrier work. Nothing more miserable than dealing with a vet emergency on raining winter night if you’re standing outside in the puddles and dark, trying to do stitches, tube, xray or whatever. And your farrier won’t thank you for having to trim feet in snow or mud.
Riding area: If you want to ride, take a hard look at this one. Our current farm has access to a “community ring” (it’s an equestrian community). But community ring is grass (which is VERY slippery all this winter thanks to the insane amount of rain), has no lights (not useable during the 6 DLST winter months when it’s dark by the time I get home from work), and has ridiculous rules associated with it (can’t move jumps, lunge, ride during someone’s lesson, etc). I can’t wait to move and have my own little sand ring. Bottom line is, a big grassy field looks great and is a great idea, but realistically you’re at the mercy of weather to ride in it. Even if it’s beautiful out, if it rained yesterday, your footing might be too squelchy or slippery to ride there.
Water: Something we don’t have in the new place but would like to add in the future, would be automatic waters. Both in the barn, and the in fields. A lot of the day’s barn work consists of filling waterbuckets and dragging hose out to the fields to fill tubs.
Have fun. I LOVE having our horses at home. Sure it’s more work, but saves me money over paying board. And I love the control I have over what they’re eating, how they’re dressed, etc. And nothing beats being able to look out your window and see them happily grazing behind your house. 
Lawn chairs. You are going to want to park yourself out there and watch them in the sun this spring.
Equipment to move hay, multiple bags, tons of things. Get a tractor.
I second the automatic waterers. Make sure they are frost-free.
Personally, I will never again try to pick up paddocks or clean stalls with a regular wheel barrow. I will only use the double wheeled extra large light plastic kind like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ames-True-Temper-8-Cubic-Foot-Poly-Tray-Dual-Wheel-Contractor-Wheelbarrow-BP8/251748577136?_trksid=p2054897.c100204.m3164&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140407115239%26meid%3Db3b31664687541fdaf00f05a8cdaa4ec%26pid%3D100204%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D24%26sd%3D261528674118
I got it at the end of a summer for 99.00 but its worth every freaking penny, no lie. Mostly because of the double wheels, there is practally no torque when trying to move a large load. The thing doesn’t tip to the side, and you don’t wrench your back. Even this big one is lighter and easier than a small metal one. And it never rusts - if you put your WBs inside so they don’t get rained on and don’t rust, they still rust because of the urine in the bedding, etc. But with this one, it will never rust, if you keep it out of the rain.
Depending on your water set up, buy enough hose to reach where you’re going to use it. I wouldn’t have thought I would need to say this, but I boarded at a place where the hose didn’t reach down to the horse paddocks by 50 feet. So everyone would fill buckets and trudge them down and pour them into troughs. I have no idea why the BO wouldn’t buy another 50 feet of hose. Its just hose. I have no clue why, but she wouldn’t and dang was that an annoying project several tikmes a day trying to fill buckets. Never enough water in the troughs and buckets. Very Wierd.
Enjoy! I’m envious.
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