Prepping the Barn for it's new occupants

Finally arrived on the Farm!

The gardens were such a nice surprise. Since we bought in the winter I had no idea what was hiding under the snow, but I've got lovely perennial gardens!

The former bull-pen.

This stall is right beside the dairy portion.

Silly me, diving in with out getting pictures again, and I missed photographing the huge manger we got out of the back (really it was hubby that knocked it out, that thing was built to last!) . Mangers aren't bad but they are un-necessary for horses. You can use a hay-net if you've got a messy eater, but my girl isn't and removing it added 2' to the back of the stall. Now it's a great size of a horse!

The concrete floor underneath makes it very easy to clean but I will need to purchase some rubber mats ($$!), or because I was already planning on using straw instead of shavings, I may just try bedding deeply and see how that goes. I have a very tidy horse, but if you're got one who likes to churn up their stall, mats are a very good idea.

There were tons of nails we had to send back into the wood, you don't want anything in a stall horse can scratch themselves on. Leave one little nail & they will find it!

There was also a whole lot of very old cow manure in there, gross! I don't know how long it was sitting around but there was really no reason for it not to have already been removed when the animals where. At least it's all well rotten down & perfect for the garden compost.

We are going to re-place a few more boards before the pony goes in, and cover up the hinges, but she could go in today and there wouldn't be any problems.

Mountain Fair
FIRST PRIZE
1900 

Right on the wall beside the stall, I'm going to put something over it to protect it from any more damage. 

Far left end of the barn
(Yes apparently Madison does need to get her bum in all the photos!)

This is the far left end of the barn, where we've got two large stalls. I don't know, but since this used to be a dairy barn I believe this was where they kept the calves. There were 5 mangers still in here, again not something horses need so we're not sure what we're doing with them yet. They are all very strong & well built with minimal damage so for now they'll go in the keep pile.

before

Half-way done

Again, full of old poop, shavings & hay over here. The walls are amazingly sturdy, not just the rock-wall but the wood as well. They don't build them like this any more!

The next stall towards the middle of the barn.
Before

The Pig styes? Really I'm not sure what was supposed to be in
here but the door-gates life up & out, so I'm assuming pigs or
sheep maybe. Right now they are holding all the extra wood
out of the way of the aisle while we clean up.

Next... the dairy side!