Creating my horse barn

[ustmd]

It's been a couple days now and they have calmed down a lot. They have started to spread out while feeding, but still follow the biggest one around. Today they finally came to the barn to eat out of the trough. Karen filled it with something called Ranch Pro Performance.




The tack room is 12x12 on the outside. It's just big enough to put everything in it and not be too crowded or cluttered. I'm guessing that we can store 40 square bales in there easily.


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Eddie

Looks great.

If you have the space, I would recommend some metal trash cans for the feed. It will deter any rodent issues. Also, if the horses were ever to get into the tack room, it will keep them from gorging on the feed and foundering.

Also, that is a lot of feed on hand for four horses. I know that his will light up comments, but we try to avoid keeping more than 2 weeks of food on hand--especially in an unconditioned space. Less chance of it becoming damaged or being affected by humidity changes that will result in mold or fungus in the feed. AT least, I would recommend putting it on a pallet to ensure good air circulation underneath.

 

[Xfaxman]

It's been a couple days now and they have calmed down a lot. They have started to spread out while feeding, but still follow the biggest one around. Today they finally came to the barn to eat out of the trough. Karen filled it with something called Ranch Pro Performance.

Eddie

Looks great.

If you have the space, I would recommend some metal trash cans for the feed. It will deter any rodent issues. Also, if the horses were ever to get into the tack room, it will keep them from gorging on the feed and foundering.
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Karen needs to do some research on feeding horses and colic.

There is enough feed in that trough to kill a horse!

 

[jimmyj]

Very beautiful! Love it.

 

[ultrarunner]

I'm far from a horse expert... years of helping my brother with his and crewing the Endurance Circuit is the sum total of my experience plus the Boy Scout Horsemanship Merritt Badge ;-)

The healthy horses tend to be lean and forage... the horses with all the problems seem to be barn kept and fed all kinds of special supplements... even feeding from feeders can contribute because in nature horses spend a lot of time foraging with there head down which tends to minimize sinus problems...

I think your new herd has an ideal setting with plenty of room and wide open space...

Looking forward to foaling time...

 

[ultrarunner]

Fence is just standard white vinyl three rail fencing from Gardner Fencing. Since it's not very strong, we ran three rows of hot wire around it. One at the top for the horses, one down low for Oscar and one between the bottom and second railing for the coyotes and raccoon's. We have ducks in the pond and we loose one from time to time to predators. We are hoping the hot wire will keep them out. It took ten minutes for one of the horses to touch the wire. She jumped straight up, all four feet off the ground, then spun around and rain away from the fence!! Later on in the day, another one did something similar. Those are the two that we saw get zapped. Hopefully that will be enough and they wont challenge it again. The charger is rated for 2 juels and my fence reading voltage meter tool maxes out at 7,000 volts when testing it. If you stand close enough to the fence, it will arc over to you. I got hit that way, it went right through my sweatshirt and it felt like a static electricity shop. Strong and to the point. While setting up the fence I got zapped real good by touching the wire while trying to adjust it and that was much worse then anything I've felt while working on a house. Right down to the bone!!!

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Eddie

I'm on the Gardner Fence mailing list and Triton Barns too.

When I was doing my research the hot wire was essential for livestock containment with the Gardner type fences...

I've got fence charges here in the city otherwise the garden would be picked clean... well worth the time and investment... a ranch around here that raises goats say a bobcat encounter with his electric fence and credits it with keeping predators at bay.

I'm very interested in how it holds up through the years...

Thanks Eddie

 

[arrow]

Hi Eddie

We kept horses on the property for 20 years as all of my 3 girls were into competitive riding (3 phase). At any rate, you have built a beautiful barn for the beasts. I would recommend one thing however that will save you lots of work and material.
As I am understanding from what i have skimmed off of 11 pages of posts, you are keeping the floors dirt? I would hesitate with this move if I am anywhere correct with my reading. Horses are creatures of habit. If they get "used" to it, they'll spend a lot of time in the stalls especially when Texas gets hot. I would recommend stall mats for 1. cleanliness, 2. ease of cleaning and 3. economy of bedding. Not to put anything would eventually create such a stink to the dirt of dried urine, you couldn't go near it after a while. Your feet will smell like dead skunk and you would not want to walk in the house with the same shoes you just mucked the barn with and I mean even if you took them off and put them in the foyer.

I would get the mats, bed them up with straw, shavings or saw dust (my favorite) and the barn will be much easier to keep in the long run. Plus if you're foaling anything, you'll want the extra cleanliness it will provide.

If cribbing starts, apply a substance called "bitter apple". Some horses hate the stuff, some it has no effect on but I've had a couple that thought it was the ketchup on the fries delicious. It's cheap enough stuff to at least try it out if it comes to that.

 

[riptides]

A horse is stupid when it comes to eating. It will eat until it dies if left unattended.

One of mine developed a taste for "onion" grass one season. Was down in the field, had to call vet. Gas colic. Horse was burping, onion grass. Disgusting! And they don't burp.

Watch them for the next few days, fields, feeding, supplements, even weather changes. Moderation of all things is the way to go.

 

[ustmd]

Karen needs to do some research on feeding horses and colic.

There is enough feed in that trough to kill a horse!

I didn't even catch all of the food in the food trough. That all needs to go. :thumbdown::thumbdown::thumbdown::thumbdown::thumbdown::thumbdown:

Not to pile on or to pile on for a different subject...what are you doing for water? I see the pond in the background. Many "farm" raised horses will not drink or drink enough out of a pond--they are finicky animals . I see the green buckets hanging on the troughs...those are way too small.

If you do not have one, you need to get at least 1 (maybe 2) 100 gallon water trough from TSC (or similar). Come summer, with 4 horses, they will easily go through 75 gallons (or more) of water. Just as too much food will cause colic, so will too little fresh water.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thank you, we went and read the recommendations on the bags and realized we had too much out there. It says half a pound of feed for every 100 pounds of body weight. Hopefully we didn't do any real damage, but for now on, it's going to be a lot less food for sure!!!!


Eddie

 

[ddbackhoe]

FWIW, that's more than I would give. Ours are Tennessee Walkers and weigh ~900 lbs. and they get ~2.5-3 lbs. each, twice a day. Hay twice a day (amount varies by season) and forage. This routine has been keeping them in their ideal weight range and (knock on wood), no serious health issues in at least the last 5 years.