Day 08- A little about the barn/stable you ride at

Day 08- A little about the barn/stable you ride at

I am one of the lucky ones who keeps their horses boarded at home. I get to look out my back windows and see my horses and for that I am so very, very thankful.

Details of my barn. It is a crappy old white barn, not much character to it. Probably built in the 1920’s or 1930’s its original purpose was a dairy barn. The sanctions were on the north side and have since been removed. On the south side the previous owner of the farm had installed three stalls which are currently not used as stalls. One is my feed room, one is my tack room, and the last one has a cat house that the cats refuse to sleep in. The barn has a hay loft and a lean. The barn needs a new roof, and the lean is missing half of the roof, but still offers the horses some protection to get out of the elements. The loft has been inhabited by pigeons that we have evicted more than once. THEY KEEP GETTING BACK IN!! The floor of the loft needs to be replaced as well, and is currently covered in pigeon crap. I’ve only ever been up there once. I don’t trust the floor.  The barn could really use a good coat of paint, but to be honest, it looks fantastic as a photography backdrop!

The barn is patrolled by three, big, fat, grey cats. They leave offerings if dead mice for me on a weekly basis to let me know they are in fact working to earn their keep. The barn is also doubling as storage for all kinds of things, the Harley is living in the barn this winter since our garage doesn’t have a cement floor. We also have a ton of building supplies stored in there. We went to a lumber auction last spring and bought some big fancy doors for when we get my real tack room built. Let’s just say the doors in the barn will be nicer than the doors in my house. A tack ho needs a fancy tack room am-I-right?!

My pasture is 3 acres, we have room to expand the pasture and hope to do that this summer when time allows. It has an automatic Richie waterer that THANKFULL worked when we bought the place. It’s really nice having a heated water supply for the horses, and not having to fuss with frozen hoses or hauling water out. I also have a smaller paddock up by the house with a tiny little lean, perfect sized for a pony. I also hope to have my riding arena installed this summer. It won’t be anything big or fancy, but I just want something where I feel like I am in a controlled environment. Call me crazy, but I prefer riding in an arena to riding the trails..

In the center of our yard is a big old grain bin which now serves the purpose of storing supplies. I have my jumps in there and we often store our square bales when we get them.

My barn isn’t as big or fancy as some of the places I’ve ridden at. In fact it needs a ton of work, but my horses are happy and my tack is kept dry. I get to look outside and see them every time I look out the window and that is all that really matters.