The barn routine

Shane's a regular helper now, so I figured I should document how we spend our nights in the barn.

Step 1: Pick stalls

Horses poop. It's easier to pick up the poop when it isn't squished into bedding. I normally ask Shane to turn on all the stall lights to help him see and check the stalls for poop.

Step 1b: Food prep

This is normally what I do. I have let Shane help pour and measure, but it makes the whole process take at least five times longer. It's more likely that I'll ask Shane to grab any feed bowls that are still in stalls.

Step 1c: Water buckets

If all the stalls are already clean and I need to keep Shane busy while I'm prepping supplements and grain, I may ask him to check the water levels in the stall. This step gets skipped most nights. If we do things right, the horses already have water or they'll be out quick enough they can use the waterer in the dry lot (which most of them prefer).

Step 2: Poop scooping

This is the one that takes the longest. We let the girls in first, because they take the longest to eat (Kitty). Once the girls are in, Shane starts scooping. He has a flashlight, but with all the stall lights turned on he can normally see what's going on under the lean-to. I will normally go further out in the field with a flashlight in one hand and a 'fork' in the other. 

When Shane's bin gets too heavy, I'll either dump it into mine or pour it into the spreader. He normally gets a jump start, because I stop to let the boys into their stalls and work on their side after a bit.

The reason the girls come in first is Kitty. She eats slow and she has a lot of food. She's always the last horse to finish by at least 5 minutes.

I don't bring the boys in right away, because of timing. I can bring them in, prep their area while they eat, and turn them back out in a fraction of the time. The goal is to get them in and out fast enough they don't poop in the stalls. It's easier to scoop the poop outside and once they're out I don't plan on scooping further that night!

The boys' side usually has much less poop than the girls'. Sam and Eddie prefer to wander afield to graze. However, when they do poop close to home they can leave some massive mounds.

Depending on how hard Shane works and how much poop there is, I may send him back to the house the moment we're done with scooping. It all depends.

 Step 3: Hay

I throw the hay into both feeders while Shane scoops. He's not strong enough to carry a bale and not tall enough to stuff hay where it needs to be. That will change one day, but he's exempt from hay duties until he grows!

There's not a ton of brain work to throwing the hay, but it helps to keep an eye out. Sometimes the baler will scrunch weird things into a bale. It may have been a bramble bush or even an old riding crop (I've found both). Luckily, horses aren't likely to eat anything too odd.

Step 4: Blankets

This is a me job. If the day was warm and dry enough, the horses may not have on blankets. Depending on the overnight weather, they may need them. Worst case scenario: the horses have on light blankets and I need to swap them out for heavier ones.

Horses can survive some seriously cold weather. However, they eat to stay warm. Keeping them a little warmer should mean they go through less of our hay which costs money. Wet weather compromises their ability to stay warm and if horses are wet for too long other problems can arise (like Kitty's rain rot).

If I'm lucky, the horses are already wearing whatever blankets they need for the night. Then I can skip this step entirely.

Step 5: Prep for tomorrow

If Shane's still around I'll have him pick out stalls of any fresh poop. If we're fast enough we may be able to finish before anyone (save Maddy) drops any presents. 

If Shane's not around, it's all me.

I have the added task of prepping breakfast. The goal is to try and leave everything so that whoever has morning duty can walk in and skip right to stalling and feeding. 

Special tasks

Special tasks tend to happen on the weekend. If there's poop in the arena, we launch it into the woods before dragging.

We drag the arena maybe once a week. It depends on the weather and how much use the arena gets. Carrie normally does the task, but if it's a weekend I might give Shane a short driving lesson.

It's my job to keep the barn stocked with hay. I drive it down from the pole barn. I used to park outside, but Carrie's asked me to drive all the way into the barn to prevent loose hay from falling in the gravel.

I don't have any recent pictures of dragging the fields, because Carrie's been the one to do it the past several times. She does it when she rotates the fields the horses are on (it lets the grass have time to grow and recover).

Step Always: Keep your eyes open

Now that we have all of our basic routines down, it's easier to look for anything out of the normal. Like a deer head, downed lines, or an escaped horse walking down the aisles. Mistakes happen (especially when we're rushing or working tired).

Therefore, it's always good to look around and investigate if anything seems off.

Carrie's bought a new valve to replace the leaking waterer and that will probably get replaced when she decides it's A) bad enough and B) nice enough outside to deal with!

Overall:

It takes time. It'd be nice if it brought in more income. I do get some neat pictures out of it like when this storm was starting to roll through.

And poop is eternal.

When I say I prefer to start my day with something steaming and dark I mean my coffee. Unfortunately, horse poop on a cold morning also fits that description.

At least it gets me outside!