Looking Ahead Now

So among the many resolutions/goals/plans I have for next year, there is one that I am most excited about and anxious to get back to working on.  We are actually really going to focus and start again on this wonderful project.. what is it???

It is the... BARN and ARENA!!! 

Here it is the day we moved in (the last junky car had been removed only a week prior)

This is the Barn portion.. the arena is on the Right.. The Barn doors are open in this picture and the Barn has 4 stalls and a tack room in the middle.
We are going to use it as a three stall barn with a feed room and a tack room.  It will better suit my needs that way.

Here is a partial picture of behind the stalls.. where we have put in posts for paddocks.









Here is the Arena on the Day we moved in:

As you can see, it needs much work.
That work started, and all of the garbage has been removed, the bushes trimmed back and the rotten wood taken out.  This Friday, we are finishing sorting the wood and starting to build up the walls.  I just may have a tack room with four walls by Sunday and a Feed room.  (The feed room will not have a stall front, it will have walls on three sides and eventually will have a wall on the front with a large door.)

My goal is to have Beau home by the end of January.  Macgyver thinks that is doable, since we will be using the arena for his turn out while it is icky outside and I will be building him an outside turnout with T-posts and Hot Tape for the weekends when I am home to watch over him.

We have to leave the paddocks until the weather is better.. we will probably not get those done until April/May as the ground is so wet down there still. 

Barns I think are sometimes almost more personal that some houses.  I know a fair amount of ladies with horses that care more about how their barn looks and is built than they care about their own house.  It is a funny thing.
Boarding for many years, I have had  a wish list of the perfect barn for me, and a "I am not going to do that" list going for my barn.

My wish list:

1.  Turn out Paddocks attached to the barn (Done)
2.  Large Stalls that are very well ventilated and lit (Done)
3.  Wide Aisle you can drive through (Done)
4.  Pretty Tack Room (In Progress)
5.  2X6 Tounge and Groove on the walls (In Progress)
6.  Heavy thick mats over a nice gravel base for horses comfort (In Progress)
7.  Mats inlaid into Concrete Aisle (Late this next year)
8.  Wash Rack  - (I have the horse washer, just need the drain put in)
9.  Heat lamps and Fans
10. Nice Corner Feeders
11.  Heated Water Buckets (Received for Xmas..)
12.  Paddocks gravelled 1/3 of the way and Gravelled around gates.
13.  Lush Pasture
14.  Covered Arena (Done)
15.  Sand Base with Rubber mixed in for Footing (Scheduled)
16.  Enclose the Arena 5 feet high all the way around. (Summer of 2010)
17.  A wine rack and counter in tack room
18.  Mirrors in my arena and letters
19.  an Arena Drag (In progress)
20.  a John Deere Tractor (Done.. but it is little)

My.. I am so not going to do that list:

Muddy paddock up to his knees mud
Dark small Stall
No turnout
Crappy Footing
Alfalfa  (My horse can't eat it)
icky buckets
Cobwebs everywhere
Exposed Wiring
Manure piles not dealt with
DRAMA
Wooden Stall Floors
Dirty Stalls ( I am a little fanatical about stall cleaning.. and I am learning to live with it)

Here are a couple of pictures that I look too for inspiration for the Feel of what I want to create at my house!
Some are Barns.. and there are a couple of Tack Rooms for me to look at and decide what elements I want in mine!

 

I love the fridge and microwave in this one.. I know I will have to have those things in the barn.. have to have my snacks and ability to make some Hot Chocolate in the winter and have cold drinks in the summer!
The wine rack would look great on this island!

Enjoy!