Barn & Tack Room Tour

Isn't our new barn just fabulous?

I kid, I kid!

Twinville over at the Laughing Orca Ranch blog spot had the fun idea to post our barn and tack rooms. There is no barn at my sister's farm, which is where I keep My Boy at. The pastures have run-in sheds for the horses. My Boy's shed was recently converted to a bigger size. He sleeps in it most nights. I have never actually seen him do this. But there is evidence. I have to clean it out frequently, and his tail is often full of shavings. I know he sneaks in there. He tries to act all cool and studly and stand in the rain under his tree instead of using his shed. But I know he appreciates a cozy soft place to lay his spotted hiney.

The mares have a huge run-in shed that was built last summer. It is approximately 12'x24'. They share it with 4 goats so this works well. Goats do not like the rain. Maybe they should consider putting in a transfer for, let's say, New Mexico? If my sister needed to contain a horse for stall rest, she could use some of her arena panels and easily throw up a 12x12 stall in one side of this shed.

The tack room is in the garage. You will see from the following pictures that we are in a state of H.E.C. That would be: Horsey Equipment Chaos. My sister has a goal to have the fishing poles removed from that back wall and put up a swing-out saddle pad holder and hang up turnout blankets.

Bridles and other horsey hanging things.

Horse halters and dog leashes and goat leads, oh my. Send out an S.O.S.! The horsey stuff is taking over the garage!

Wait, isn't that the way it's suppose to be? Horsey stuff outranks fishing poles and man tools in this universe, right?

The hay area is a converted woodshed and dog kennel. Hay on one side, grain on the other.

This shows the hay storage before my sister picked up nearly 150 bales of hay last week.

Morgan the cat is the keeper of the hay. She is the farm hunter. Always on the prowl. There is never a shortage of mice, birds, and chipmunks for her to chase around the hay shed.

We keep the grain (supplement) in metal garbage cans. That big blue tack trunk? We picked that up for free last summer. Someone in the neighborhood left it at the end of their driveway. It has yet to be repainted or used. Hint hint. But it is cracked open. It appears that there is something inside. Even I am wondering. Any guesses?

Morgan is also the grain guard. On duty.

So that is it. Nothing fancy. No gleaming brass handles or polished oak for this bunch. We're simple folk. We do what works and keep it safe and clean. Except for those grain buckets. They are getting a little grubby.

And we can still wish for that dream barn someday, right?

What a Blast

My 4th of July was great. I spent the day with my family at the Painted Creek farm. That night, we went over to their neighbor's for some Independence Day festivities.

My Boy would've been proud. I played a game of horseshoes and I got this:

A ringer! That brought my partner and I up from behind and we won the game.

There was also good food. Well, I wouldn't call oysters good food. Of oysters, I am not a fan. To each his own. But I was happy with the brownies.

And then there were these little blue drinks. It is called Hypnotiq. Some kind of passion fruit liquor. Aren't they a pretty color?

My sister took this picture. It made me chuckle when I saw it. Because I am in my element. Lounging in a chair. Messing with my camera. Taking pictures. Of what?

Of the campfire. I love campfires. Speaking of hypnotic, they can induce you into a campfire coma. Have you ever been in one?

The horses were very nervous when all of the fireworks started in the neighborhood. There were no fireworks going off anywhere near our horse pastures or even on the property. Most of them were on other properties, and luckily due to it being a heavily wooded neighborhood, out of sight. But they could hear them. The neighborhood is full of horses. We locked up the cats and dogs. I read on Horse and a Half's blog that it is best to keep horses in their familiar surroundings and routine during the 4th of July. Our horses are in pastures with run-in sheds. If we had locked them up, I think they would have been more upset about being confined. Having the space to spook and run if they felt like they needed to seemed to be better.

Regardless, I did not like seeing them so upset. We checked on them often and gave them treats and extra flakes of hay. One of my sister's mares seemed fairly at ease, but My Boy, Brandy, and the goats were more agitated. I can only imagine that is must be extremely scary and confusing for horses to hear so many loud sounds and see such strange lights.

Has anyone used a tranquilizer such as Ace to help keep their horses calm on the 4th of July? What would be the pros and cons of doing this?

Today, I felt like My Boy was a bit off. He probably did not get a good night's sleep, that's for sure. So I decided not to ride. I just longed him out and played some games with him. He settled down and seemed his old self in no time, trying to steal my granola bar from me. Then I let him graze in the meadow of dandelions and daisies.

He was happy.

I was happy. I love summer. I could spend all day BBQ'ing. And having bonfires. And watching my horse eat dandelions in the meadow.

And eating brownies.