TheFarmOfDreams- a long awaited adventure

[Thefarmofdreams]

Well we're still cooking along. Hoping for fence 2.0 to be ready this weekend. I had to be at the old house for the last 2 days, so my sister was holding down the fort. Back at the homestead to get to work.


It appears that the horse and his posse are going to destroy the fence-stall much faster than hoped, so I'm seriously considering just building permanent stalls in the barn. The plan was to build approximately a 10' extension, with the aisle continued and a stall on either side with proper ceiling height for the 2 full size horses. But the budget is struggling hard... And Luke is handling the 8ish foot ceiling surprisingly well. So I'm tempted to just plan to keep him in the existing barn for the time being. I'm very torn. It is a risk, but I can't decide how much of one. Attaching potential barn layout if we did go ahead and build stalls... Hmmmm

 

[Alaskan]

Good question....

And I have no idea as to how high a risk it is.

I am no help... except fantastic barn space! Even with the short roof.

That reminds me... barns used to be short... the areas for livestock tended to have low ceilings... even for horses.

So.... the risk must be low... at a guess.

And probably your really low ceiling of only 8 feet-ish means the horse should always be aware of it... verses a ceiling that is taller.

For example... in my house i have non-standard doorways.. the ones where the top door frame is right at forehead height.. you smack your head... until you memorize that you have to duck.

Doorways where the top door frame is at eye level, you always duck.

 

[Thefarmofdreams]

Those are good points. And he definitely is aware of it. He's a very... Pushy gelding w people and needs put in his place on occasion. He's very careful about raising his head, even when being chastised.

It's an old dairy barn, so definitely not originally intended for horses... But for the moment the only full sized horses will be my 15.2 gelding, who's 24 and mostly chill, and a ... 27?30? Yo Morab mare who's under 15h. Also pretty chill. So I'm leaning towards using the existing barn at least temporarily.

 

[Alaskan]

Sounds like a good plan.

 

[farmerjan]

8 ft high is plenty of height for all but the tallest horses. Think about how high the horse trailers are.....

 

[Thefarmofdreams]

8 ft high is plenty of height for all but the tallest horses. Think about how high the horse trailers are.....

I know it's higher than the horse trailer, but I also know if he freaks out over something, he's gonna bang his head. It's not an ideal permanent solution. But I think we've decided to go with it for now. It's the only solution our budget allows. So now for bargain hunting for lumber

 

[Bruce]

But I think we've decided to go with it for now. It's the only solution our budget allows.

And that is how we all roll!!! If you had Jeff Bezos's money, you would build a palace of a barn for the animals
Hopefully the horse will figure out not to bang his head on the ceiling.

 

[Thefarmofdreams]

It's been SO BUSY. I go literally from waking till bed. I'm tired. But I love working on the farm things. Building stalls is underway. I had the wrong driver for drilling holes in our cement floor (or just didn't realize the settings were wrong. Stronger tool borrowed. Holes are going well now) and cut the wrong 4x4s (buying more tomorrow and saving these for the other stall we're building in the spring)... But now all my help, other than the 2yr old (who is admittedly quite dedicated) is gone for the week... Still hoping I can get at least one done alone tomorrow. In the meantime the dandelions (child friendly substitute for any of the d#*! Things you call naughty equines) have the whole barn to roam every night. They are not displeased.

Nights like tonight make it worthwhile though!
It's so gorgeous I didn't even mind a second trip of water thanks to poorly aimed donkey poop...

The moon is bright and Orion is over the barn. It's so cold the snow is sparkling and the air cuts like a knife. May be my favorite kind of (winter) night.

 

[Baymule]

That’s a good kind of tired. Hard work, but so satisfying!

 

[Bruce]

other than the 2yr old (who is admittedly quite dedicated)

I hope that dedication holds when the now 2 Y/O is old enough to be a real help

One step at a time, you are getting it done.