We Bought the Farm! Just a happy news thread!!!

[msj]

Congratulations on your new farm. If you have half the enjoyment that I’ve had at my farm, you’ll be so very, very, very happy.

I’ve been here 26 yrs and the last 2 with no horses but I don’t want to sell as I love where I live. Right now my neighbor with 3 horses and I are trying to figure out how to put up safe but temporary fencing between her place and mine. There’s only about 12-15 ft between our 2 pastures and I suggested round pen panels between the two places. She’s got a sweet old TB mare that I think is 24 yrs old and 2 other six year old horses. One OTTB (17 hands) and a draft/QH cross (15 hands) that tend to play rough so it has to be a pretty firm structure.

I wish you and Mr. Cupcake the best with your new place.

[TackHunter]

That rules. I can’t wait to join the club. You should post pictures and updates when you move in!

[JanM]

Congratulations!

[CupcakeTough]

Thank you so much, everyone! To say that I am thrilled is an understatement! I also love that there are so many of you that have done it themselves!

It’s been a headache the last couple years paying for maintenance on a property I don’t own. I most certainly expect to repair stuff my horses damage- for example they broke a stall door, dented a garage door on the hay barn… It’s totally up to me to replace. But the property owner doesn’t want to maintain basic things, like mowing or manure dragging. He owns the equipment, but I’m not allowed to use it myself… I end up hacking down blackberries by hand, tilling my “arena” by hand (takes forever!). So, I’m looking forward to all the manual labor that will actually go towards a farm I own!

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=CupcakeTough;8869873]
Thank you so much, everyone! To say that I am thrilled is an understatement! I also love that there are so many of you that have done it themselves!

It’s been a headache the last couple years paying for maintenance on a property I don’t own. I most certainly expect to repair stuff my horses damage- for example they broke a stall door, dented a garage door on the hay barn… It’s totally up to me to replace. But the property owner doesn’t want to maintain basic things, like mowing or manure dragging. He owns the equipment, but I’m not allowed to use it myself… I end up hacking down blackberries by hand, tilling my “arena” by hand (takes forever!). So, I’m looking forward to all the manual labor that will actually go towards a farm I own![/QUOTE]

You will get to do things your way and not do them when you decide not to and it will be ok too.

[Winding_Down]

Love your joy and the farm sounds like the perfect perfect find!!!

:encouragement::encouragement::encouragement::applause::encouragement::applause::encouragement::applause::applause::applause:

[Ambitious_Kate]

Boy do I want pictures of this. Especially that barn. AND the inside, please. All the nooks and crannies.

[Ambitious_Kate]

[QUOTE=msj;8866787]
Congratulations on your new farm. If you have half the enjoyment that I’ve had at my farm, you’ll be so very, very, very happy.

I’ve been here 26 yrs and the last 2 with no horses but I don’t want to sell as I love where I live. Right now my neighbor with 3 horses and I are trying to figure out how to put up safe but temporary fencing between her place and mine. There’s only about 12-15 ft between our 2 pastures and I suggested round pen panels between the two places. She’s got a sweet old TB mare that I think is 24 yrs old and 2 other six year old horses. One OTTB (17 hands) and a draft/QH cross (15 hands) that tend to play rough so it has to be a pretty firm structure.

I wish you and Mr. Cupcake the best with your new place.[/QUOTE]

Boy do I have the design for you. I wish I could describe it. Let me try.

Suppose you have 4 metal gates, each 12 feet long. you open an area in your respective fences opposite each other, 24 feet long, plus 6 inches. You also increase the distance between your fences, and move your fences back and away from each other to make the same distance apart as the gap in them is, 24 feet, 6 inches.

Put 6x6 posts at all four corners, you now have a square, two posts at either end of the opening of her fence, and two posts at eiether end of the opening of your fence. This supports the fences where the gates will go, and when they are closed, the close facing each other.

You plant another 6 x 6 in the middle of the two openings in each of your fences across from each other (so that’s 2- 6x6s there) So the gates can latch onto the post when they are closed. There should be 12 feet on either side of the 6x6, each on your own fence line, ready for the two 12 foot gates.

You plant a 6x6 in the middle of the side between the existing fences, 90 degrees away from your other 6x6s, so if you fenced a lane between your two properties, this 6x6 would be in the middle of that side of the square, making a lane.

You install two 12 foot gates on either side of the 6x6 hinged on the outside and closing into each other, so that, closed, you each have a section of your fence comprised of two 12x12 gates. However, open up all four, and they connect on the SIDES to the OTHER 6x6s to make a lane, open between the two properties.

The gates could be opened between the two properties, making a lane for the horses to go through, or, you could close up yoru properties again.

Hope that makes sense. Hoo boy.

[Ambitious_Kate]

Because when the gates are open, the 6 x 6 posts will just be standing there waiting for a horse to kill himself on it, you might want to make a different kind of latch than the usual slide bolt which they will find a way to kill themselves on, if you have the gates open, such as some kind of loop over thing, and use a bigger post, like a telephone pole.

[CupcakeTough]

You guys crack me up! Although a part of anything I design for my farm is going to be “can they kill themselves on it.” I own 4 OTTBs. Nuff said. Actually, it should tell you something that one year I called my vet and asked to schedule dental appointments. I arrived with the 2 non-tbs I owned at the time. Her response was total confusion. Who are these? When did you get them? I’d had them for years. She’d never seen them. I said, well, they’re not TBs. They never injure themselves.

[CupcakeTough]

And I will absolutely supply pics as soon as we’ve moved in and started working on the place. The barn is SO cool. The ceilings downstairs are low enough that it may just end up being feed, tack, and bedding storage (we have a cool, historically thoughtful addition planned for stalls). The loft is AMAZING. I think I’m stuck using it for hay our first year until I can build a separate hay barn. But it’s HUGE, has gorgeous beams, and the most beautiful wood floor. I would love to have it as office/hangout/event space- it really is too pretty to be used as hay storage anymore

[mountainhorse]

How cool! Congratulations! Sounds idyllic! :yes:

[Renn_aissance]

Congratulations and best of luck! I love the name. :yes: