Final Preparations of the Horse Farm

The long term unwanted tenants were finally evicted from the horse property (at least I hoped they were).  It was time to tackle the next project on hand: the run-in shed.

Before I go any further, let me explain to you what this run-in shed looked like.  It was three sided with two closed sides and two open sides.  The open long side had what looked like a feeding trough.  This building was not put together very well.  It seemed like it was slapped together quickly.  My horses needed shelter to before coming home and there was not enough time to build a new barn or run-in shed.  Time was ticking away.  We had to figure out what to do.  We decided to give some TLC to this run-in shed and add an extension to store some hay.  

We started out by cleaning out the shed.  It was amazing as to what we found: glass bottles from back in the 40's, old horse shoes, parts of leather from old bridles and harnesses, etc.  There was so much junk there that I couldn't believe the previous owner's horses lived here.

The next step was to tear out the feed trough (which was located on the long side of the shed).  This opened that side completely, and we closed in the open short side.  We then put in a wall and a gate at the one end of the shed for a feed storage area.  In the back of the shed, we added an extension large enough to store 10-15 bales of hay.  The shed didn't look so bad after completion of our work.

We now needed electricity and water in the barn area.  There was electric already on the property on a pole by the paddock area.  The electric just had to be run to the shed and the water spigot, which we were installing along with a stock tank.  We hired an electrician to do the electrical work.  The water we took care of ourselves.  

It was starting to look like a farm.  It was now time to bring the horses home.