Creating my horse barn

[ultrarunner]

That would be kind of a surprise and just think Bell spared you from being up all night... very thoughtful!

Looks like the herd is expanding... kids love the newborns... between Oscar and the your Herd of horses you park will have quite a few attractions.

Congratulations to the proud parents...

 

[ronchp]

I agree with the comments about overfeeding. The mare with new foal will probably need more feed than the others. Recommend a vet check on those 2 at least. Unless you got vet records from previous owners they should all get at least an annual vet check with shots and coggins test if you want to take them off your property. You may need to feed from buckets and tie them with their halters to prevent whoever the boss horse is from being a bully and driving the others away from their feed. Not all horses need the same amount of feed to maintain proper weight. I have used a similar trough before like the one in your pictures, but we used it for mineral salt instead of feed. Great looking barn you built! Good luck with the horses. They can be an expensive yet really enjoyable hobby.

 

[s219]

Wow Eddie, you are on an accelerated schedule! Paint is barely dry on the barn and you're already getting a foal! You all must be real excited.

 

[Buppies]

Great pictures thanks for sharing. Beautiful place you have too

 

[Beltman60]

WOW
nothing like a new family member
looks like a cutie

 

[EddieWalker]

Looks like I have to put drain holes in the trough. Last nights storm dumped an inch and a half in an hour with strong winds. I figured I might need to, but also figured it would be a simple thing to do if I had to when i needed to.

When the horses got here, they ate non stop for four days. They have slowed down a lot to the point that most of the time they are either just standing there, or interacting with each other. The grass was just getting going, but now it's all nicely mowed down. Do you guys put hay out for them to eat to give the grass a break or will it matter? Will they eat the grass down to nothing? Originally we planned on 2 horses, but that got out of control quickly and now I'm unsure how long the grass will last that's been a battle to keep mowed before having horses.

Eddie

 

[riptides]

The grass was just getting going, but now it's all nicely mowed down. Do you guys put hay out for them to eat to give the grass a break or will it matter? Will they eat the grass down to nothing?

Eddie

Better plan on splitting your pastures, and start rotations. They will turn areas to dirt/mud in no time.

Also, do you have a "throw away" pasture? This is an area where you can isolate animals, and no "care" for the grass.

Our paddock area near the barn is considered throw away. No grass, just hay feeding in that area.

 

[ultrarunner]

Cross fencing and rotation is the only way to keep limited pasture producing.

 

[EarPlug]

You will need at minimum 1 acre (2 would be better) of very good grass pasture per horse. Yes they will eat it down to unreproducible levels and turn it into mud. Supplemental feeding of hay will reduce the pressure on the pastures.

Horse are a grazing animal that are programmed to eat all day long. If you feed them hay twice per day that will fill them up to where they will only nibble on the pasture versus "eating" it.

He is a good article on small horse acreage management Graze Anatomy: Handling horses on a small acreage - Features - Horsetalk.co.nz

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Nice barn for the horses Eddie. The colt is all legs and a head

 

[WM75Guy]

Both of our horses have an acre each to graze. They get a flake of hay morning and evening along with their grain. I do have to mow their turnouts once a month or so. Both get 3 quarts of feed twice a day with their hay. The new 9 y/o performance horse is on Purina Strategy, a concentrated feed, and the 20 y/o mare is on Purina Senior.

You need to separate them at feeding time. Horses definitely have a pecking order. The leader gets to eat first and dominates the others. This can lead to the other horses, especially the one at the bottom, becoming food aggressive. The minute the food is available they eat fast and furious, regardless of where your hand is that's putting out the feed. The same goes with giving them treats. It's not that they are mean or are trying to bite, it's simply grab it and eat it now or it won't get anything.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thank you for all the great info. Seeing the way the horses eat and interact in person makes everything you are saying make perfect sense.

So we have a new plan for the herd. I've been clearing areas of the land for years. Mostly creating access through the jungle and opening up a few areas as pasture that I've been mowing to keep the jungle from taking it over. What I'm thinking is to run a hot wire along the trees to circle those areas. Probably do the biggest area first, which is about 8 acres. This might be big enough to feed them where I wont need to do it in any other areas.

I've seen the rope and the tape used for horses and temporary pastures. I'm thinking the tape would be better because it's more visible. Can I get away with just one row of it? How high should it be? Is there an ideal height? The horses do not seem to challenge the fence where they are now, and the place they where at before had one strand of barbwire on top of four strands of smooth wire that they stayed behind.

What I'm seeing is that I put them on the grass before it was ready. Too many areas that where just planted last fall and the rest hasn't really recovered from winter. If I don't get them out of there, I can see where the grass wont have a chance.

Am I thinking in the right direction?

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[ultrarunner]

Tape is also a visual... we use some that isn't powered and the horses know not to go anywhere near it.

The only wild card is predators that can spook a heard.

Up at Tahoe the trees were used a lot to string hot wire...

With a single strand the downside is that it is easier to disable in that it's all or nothing.

Eddie... how does the place compare to the vision from when you first bought it and set up those shipping containers?

 

[EddieWalker]

Eddie... how does the place compare to the vision from when you first bought it and set up those shipping containers?

Seems like every year it just gets better. Seeing it all come together is extremely satisfying and that leads to the excitement of the next project or step in making it what I've dreamed about. I'll never finish, but all those ideas and things I want to do is what gets me out of bed in the morning and makes me want to work hard to make money to be able to keep making everything nicer and fulfilling the dream.

Eddie

 

[ultrarunner]

Are you still moving towards the RV park theme?

I can see where having all the parts come together would be a great motivator... you took raw land with only a vision and made it a reality!

Love reading the posts... my best to the family!

 

[EddieWalker]

No on the RV Park. The nicer I made it here, the harder it became to want to make it into an RV Park. Also the idea of dealing with people every day, all day has become more and more objectionable. My original thought was to build the park, get it going and sell it, then find my ideal piece of land and retire there. I've sort of accidentally created that here and have lost interest in moving again.

Eddie

 

[rockinmywaypa]

Eddie, this may be a repeat. I haven't read whole thread but before we could buy fancy gadgets to measure voltage we used a long blade of grass and slide it closer and closer to the wire until we couldn't take the shock we would get or our fingers would touch the wire and we would know it was dead.

 

[ultrarunner]

Makes sense about the change of plans on the RV park...

Only thing is I planned to rent a space from you if and when I have an RV to travel in...

Amazed from your pictures the number of trees... my Texas friends only have trees they planted... you look well wooded.

If you had it to do over... anything you would have done different... keep more land... location?

 

[EarPlug]

Forgot to mention that your lactating mare will need a supplemental diet to support her new baby.

TheHorse: Your Guide to Equine Health Care | TheHorse.com

 

[Tororider]

I understand about the RV park, but maybe you could make it a TBN only RV park?