Arenas Covered
Covered arenas are made to shelter the horse and rider from weather and strong sunlight. They can be built with 4 enclosing walls, with one side per…
Category: Farm Topics
Arenas Uncovered
Uncovered arenas are easier to build and less expensive. Their use in harsh climates is limited. The footing material and how it is constructed is t…
Assisted Riding Facilities
The efficacy of using horses as therapy for people with mental, emotional or physical challenges is unquestioned. Barns that have adapted their faci…
Fence Gates
The gates used in a fence line on horse farms range from elegant to unsafe, hand made to mass produced and maintained to barely keeping together.
Saf…
Fence Latches
From simple to complicated, I have seen a wide variety of fence gate latches. I boil them down to only two types. You either operate them with one…
Fence Safety
Horses don’t normally live behind fences. They are inherently dangerous for the horse although being born and raised behind one, the young horse l…
Fence Styles
For me, there are only two styles of fences: safe and unsafe. Most fences fall into the unsafe category and over time, a lot of the safe fences becom…
Floor Sweepers
I have one image and a video of one type of electric floor sweeper. I keep missing the opportunity to view and capture images of the others. In my b…
Pasture Flooding
Good drainage in pastures is essential but when pastures are located near rivers, the chance of flooding is seasonal and can be extensive. Here are …
Pasture Irrigation
In dry areas it helps to be able to irrigate pastures if water availability is an option. Here in FL we have an abundant water supply - usually. In …
Pasture Maintenance
There is little attention given to the health and maintenance of the pastures for our horses. Farm owners must realize two principles. The first i…
Pasture Types
Pastures are often an afterthought to horse owners. If it’s green then fence it and put the horses on it. But it’s not that simple because of …
Retaining Walls
When a structure is built into a hill then there needs to be a retaining wall. This prevents the hill that was cut into from moving down into the stru…
Storage Equipment And Trailer
A place to keep equipment and trailers from exposure to weather is necessary on any farm. This protection from the elements will extend the working …
Storage Feed And Bedding
Storing food and bedding should give protection from weather and be efficient to access for use. These things are accessed daily and have turnover o…
Systems Electrical
Almost every barn I go to has some electricity wired into the barn. Ordinances are usually observed and the wiring appears safe. Most barns today …
Systems Feeding
Systems to feed horses are developed to make life easier on the caretakers, keep the food in one place (efficiency), slow the consumption rate (slow f…
Systems Fire Prevention
Fire in a barn is unimaginable yet I have seen a few and the results afterwards. Fire scares me. The best thing is to prevent it from happening. …
Systems Heating And Cooling
Believe it or not, I have seen and have worked in some barns that are heated. Some heat with overhead force hot air systems and others with radiant …
Systems Insect And Bird Control
Vectors are flying insects like stable flies and mosquitos which not only annoy us and our horses but they also carry and distribute diseases. Birds…
Systems Lighting
The primary purpose of electricity in a barn is to have lights but unfortunately the placement of lights have been left to the discretion of architect…
Systems Security
The advent of inexpensive outdoor cameras and electronic sensors have led to this topic. The visual recording helps to prevent theft and worker abus…
Systems Shades And Wind Barriers
Blocking direct sunlight using shades is important in hot climates. The direct heat on the horse or barn areas make life uncomfortable and even dang…
Systems Solar Panels
Solar panels are improving in their ability to generate electricity and usually require a lot of roof space to become useful. Barn and arena roofs a…
Systems Ventilation
My large animal veterinary medicine professor told us a story of a visit to a dairy barn in the middle of winter filled with milking cows all with pne…
Systems Water Delivery
Water either comes from the ground or from the sky. It is then tapped into and poured into a container for our horses to drink. While simple in co…
Training Exercise Machines
Exercise machines have become very popular on farms. They come in many varieties from treadmills to walkers. How they are placed on the farm is of i…
Training Extreme Trail
Extreme trail riding has become popular, though there have been plenty of old cowboy books written where the good guy had to do some extreme riding to…
Training Jog Tracks
Jog tracks are popular for many reasons, the most important one is the cost of building one. I had a 1/2 mile oval on a figure 8 track bull dozed on …
Training Jumps
Jumps are either smoothed branches or well designed works of art. Here are some that I have captured for anyone wanting to look at some fancy jumps.
Training Round Pens
Round pens are made in many ways. Some simple panels and others engineering marvels.
Waste Cleaning
Where ever horses are, poop and urine happen. Daily. It is the most basic of horse care to clean the areas where they spend time, yet some people sk…
Waste Composting
Composting of horse waste is done on several farms I visit. This has several benefits that are discussed here with pictures of some set ups on a few…
Waste Containers
Containment of horse waste is needed where it will be hauled away in the future. Many keep it in a trailer or a manure spreader where once or twice a…
Waste Spreading
There is one rule when spreading horse waste. Avoid spreading it on a pasture where horses live. This is not sanitary and encourage the spread of pa…
Waste Vacuums
The first time I heard of a manure vacuum was when it was used in a study about parasite control. It was driven off of a PTO drive shaft from a trac…