Tour the Stables

In November of 2021 I posted about the beginning construction of a horse barn being built on my family’s property. It was one of the 3 buildings built last year for Pine Meadows Venue, my family’s wedding & events venue in Southern Missouri. Other than the exciting announcement that I was getting a horse barn, and a couple of sneak peak photos throughout my other blog posts, I haven’t written much about my horses’ recently built home. So, would you like a tour? I would also like to share some tips & tricks for my fellow equestrians with stables. 

First off I would like to answer the question I have been asked so many times. “Are you actually going to keep horses in the stalls? Is that good for them?” The pasture vs stall debate is not one I want to get into in this post, but you can check out my post Keeping Horses on Full Time Pasture- the Pro’s & Con’s. In that post I touch on my belief that stalls are more for human convenience than they are for the horse. That being said I have discovered that stalls can be a big time saver and can be used in a healthy and safe way for the horse. 

When I first got access to the Stables and was able to use it for my horses, I had a rough time developing a schedule that was right for both me and my equines. It really helped me to explore the schedules of other equestrians, so I would like to share mine in hopes that it can help my fellow equestrians. I have four geldings, one pony, one young Haflinger, and my cousin’s horse whom I am boarding right now that stay on pasture full time. That leaves me with Coconut, a Missouri Fox Trotter gelding, and my two Haflingers Rosemary & Jasmine. These three are worked with the most so having them near the barn is essential; because they are in work it is also important to have them in good condition weight wise. Furthermore Rosemary founded last spring so keeping her on full time pasture is not the best option for her health. I find that for Jasmine and Coconut 12 hours in the stall and 12 hours on pasture works the best. Coconut spends the night out in the pasture and then switches places with Jasmine who spends her days in the pasture. Jasmine is sometimes joined in the pasture by her mother Rosemary. As the grass continues to grow and get lush, Rosemary will spend more time in her stall so that she doesn’t fonder again. I found that rotating two horses between one stall makes the clean up much easier, and the transition smooth because I can simply open the gate to allow the stalled horse out and then the horse on pasture willing goes into the stall. 

The barn aisle is 14 ft wide so there’s plenty of space there. The side of the barn with the tack room also has an open, concrete floored grooming area, a stall used to store hay, bedding, and mucking tools, and a space used to store our carriage and buggy & driving harnesses. The opposite side of the barn has five 12’ by 12’ stalls. These have a limestone floor, automatic waterer, hay feeder, and grain bucket. The horses are able to stick their heads out of the stalls greeting me when I enter the barn. It’s always a joy to hear their nickers and see their cute heads poking out of the stalls when I enter the barn. The stalls have Dutch doors in the back that lead out into individual paddocks. These paddocks open into a larger pasture. I am very blessed to have lots of pasture for my horses.

Having a horse barn makes horse care centralized and convenient, but it is a lot of work. The aisle always seems to be so dusty and dirty, and sweeping takes a lot of time & energy. So here’s a trick I discovered: use a leaf blower. I open the barn doors and use the hand-held blower to blow out all the dust and hay. This method is much faster & easier and has worked very well for me, although it can be a pretty dusty job. Pro tip I found out the hard way, it helps to blow out the dust and hay the way the wind is blowing not against it?

I hope if nothing else you have enjoyed this written tour and found some inspiration for your own horse care routine. I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences with horse routines & stables, comment below!

Tails & trails,

Reese