The Homestead Barn - Part One

This is the lean-to which is connected to the barn. The horses can hang out in the lean-to or go in the barn on their own. It is their choice. The logs on the front of the barn my husband cut and used his draw knife to take the bark off. In the beginning all they had was the lean-to. All three could fit in there nicely. All together like that in cold weather, they generate heat on one another. Cozy! The problem is that the area in front of the lean-to fills up with water and mud when it rains. Then no one, especially Georgie Girl likes to walk through mud. She hates it! So prissy......

This is the inside downstairs of the barn. Eventually, I want to have three box stalls. Right now the horses are all together in the end of the barn. They stay inside all summer during the day, and go out at night. They hate hot weather and bugs. You can see how it can be easily converted for other livestock, such as goats, chickens, sheep or even a cow. Once you go inside you see it has plenty of room for whatever you need.

This is Georgie Girl and Dark Shadow in the stall. There is plenty of room in here for three horses. But Dark Shadow is so mean to Tawny, that I need to have a separate stall for her for those times. When the weather is bad I can put her inside and not worry about her.

This is the barn from the outside. The door you see is open. But most of the time we keep it closed. Up above is the door we throw the hay in from the truck. It doesn't have a door yet, but will sometime in the future. We had planned on closing the stairs in and putting our feed cans under the stairs. That way they would be secure. Horses will make a big mess if they get into your supplies. Or if they get into the feed they have been known to eat themselves to death. My brother's horse did that due to carelessness on the part of a friend who didn't know better.

This is the foundation for the porch on the barn. We hope to be able to sit here in the summer and hang out with the horses. It will have a roof that will actually be a platform, so we can clean off the solar panels in the winter. Tomorrow I will show you the upstairs of the barn. Be sure to come back!

Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2011  Kathleen G. Lupole