Our horses on our homestead

I have had horses for half of my life, my first horse came into my care at a very hectic time of my life and had one of the biggest roles in who I am today. Our two horses today are my 18-year-old quarter horse Clyde, and my kids 23-year-old miniature mare Honey.

-Clyde after a bath this past summer-

-Our daughter brushing her pony Honey-

Having horses as a flatlander was a breeze compared to here in the mountains, it certainly has come with its own challenges and learning curves. Things like fencing for instance are much more difficult due to all the granite in the ground, so placing post is very difficult to do by hand. You measure out 6 feet for your post and there is a massive rock in the way, so you have two choices really, either dig out the hole rock and place your post or move to six and a half feet or 5 and a half feet. Luckily my two horses are saints we are still using rope fencing for them, as they don’t push their limits too much.

-Honey and Clyde-

This was their temporary shelters and paddocks.

We will finally be taking the time this spring/summer to finally put up our electric fencing and split up their area to have rotational grazing. Our stall situation has changed a few times sense being here, we started with shelter logic tents. They worked out great as temporary stalls, and if you need something for a temporary stall, hay feeder coverage, or hay storage I recommend them, they hold up well. If you live in the north with snow you need to keep up on snow removal on the roofs, it will prolong the life of your tent. After that we bult another set of temporary stalls knowing that where we put them would not be the final place for the barn, but we needed something more secure for them. We are currently almost done with the horse’s new stalls in their final place, and I am so excited to get them finished and get the horses in their new rooms!!

-My babies and my wonderful husband helping on our new barn-

There are a few things we have left to complete on the stalls. We have to plywood the front of the stalls, and put stall doors on, I have the stall doors from my first barn so it’s a nice sentimental touch the new barn. I also have to install bucket hangers, grade the ground in the stalls and put down stall mats. We have a 60ft round pen, it’s a tarter brand round pen we got it a few years ago. We are going to move the round pen up for fencing for the new stalls so we can take down all the old fencing and put up our new fencing for the entire area and our rotational paddocks. The snow load has been a very big learning curve sense we got here, it makes a mess! We have had heavy snow load (or so we thought) where we moved from, but it would melt fast, the season was much shorter and the fact that we are now on a mountain means the snow melt season cause wash outs on the property, and tons of water that runs down for about a month give or take. So, the ice, constant running water, then mud are all difficult challenges we had to adapt to moving here with the horses. The longer winters also means more icy buckets. Naturally in a cold climate water freezes, and if you have livestock of any kind you have delt with frozen water at some point. So, if you are not from a colder climate and considering moving north something to consider is having to change water buckets out or break ice a few times a day. Another thing that we have had to learn is that getting hay for the winter up to the property has been a challenge. We have had one winter that we got enough round bales up to the house for the winter, and every other year we are stuck buying square bales every week. We do not have a machine yet, so working around our property takes much longer to do but when we do finally get one I am going to feel so spoiled!! But I also love the reward of looking at task or project that we completed and think we did that!! It is one of the best feelings there is, even if sometimes in the moment I find myself thinking I wish I had a side by side, or I wish I had a tractor.

-Some pictures of our kids on the homestead doing what kids do best-

I will always have horses till the end of my days, and that is something that my husband accepted from the beginning. Learning how to adapt and change to new surroundings for something I love so much has never been a burden, a frustration sometimes yes but never a burden. And the fact that our horses are rate outside our door every day, and our kids can enjoy them and learn the responsibility of everything that comes along with them is only going to make them better human beings. If they choose not to have horses later in life or choose to have a farm of their own one day I know we have set them up for success, not only with animals but every aspect in life. They will understand hard work and dedication will get you where you want to be, and that new things in life can be scary, difficult and seem impossible but to never give up. The goal should be to raise our children with strength, compassion, humility, determination, patience, and love. Animals are amazing for children and have so much to teach them, and I am so glad we have the opportunity to step back and raise our children in such ways.  

-Two of our babies feeding and enjoying our ducks-