I’ve been failing at life a bit lately. It’s been hectic to say the least. I’m finding myself with very little energy to put into this story and it is one I want to do well. So, until I can find that energy once again and do the story justice I’m going to do a big media dump of the new farm. Although I’ve failed at that too since it took until our 5th time out there to take pictures and even then I only snagged shots of half the property. Someday I’ll find time to breathe again.
Also note that I’m on my cell in the app and it’s very hard to use so sorry for any weird formatting.
One of my favorite parts is the 1/4 mile long, double wide paved driveway. This place was a western show barn and boarding facility for many years and due to that it has a lot of features we wouldn’t have thought of. The drive was built for ease of use with trailers.
It ends in a circle around the windmill and well house. With a carport off to the right and parking spots to the left which allow the circle to be empty of cars.
There is a super cute metal windmill with the well house and the barn is behind it.
As you walk down the drive towards the barn there are pastures that run all the way from the drive entrance to the very back of the property along this side. Currently it is separated into three pastures, but the first thing we plan to do is make this into one large pasture. It appears to be a mix of Bermuda and fescue. I didn’t get a shot of all the pastures because we were out there for another reason and I didn’t have time, but they look like grass.
This side of the property has a hill that runs away from the camera onto the tree line that is decently steep enough. It also has a decline from the front to the back.
The barn itself is really two barns in one. The original wood barn has an old judges tower that overlooks the arena and houses the majority of the stalls and amenities. The newer Morton’s style barn added five stalls and an office.
This is a view from one entrance of the arena looking at the side of the barn. The arena opens into a smaller fenced in grass area at the front which I’m assuming was used for holding before a barrel or pole run. We plan on taking down the one fence line and adding this section into the other three main pastures on this side of the property. There is a back entrance to the arena which is more useful.
Speaking of the arena. It’s massive. Like no way could I ever have afforded to put one in this size massive. At one time it had nice river sand footing and has been professionally graded. Unfortunately grass has taken over in the six years since it was last used. I’m hoping a lot of weed killer to kill the grass and then a few days of turning it over will bring it back to life. Reclaiming an unused arena can be hard so fingers crossed this isn’t going to turn into a major project. The size will limit me being able to put anything fancy down for footing as I won’t be able to afford it so that sand better be nice. There are lights as well which means I can ride during the week after work once again.
I grabbed some shots from ground level and a few from the judges tower.
On our final walk through I saw some jump standards in the pile to go off to the dump and quickly claimed them.
The barn houses sixteen stalls and parallels the arena
There is an office complete with window. No clue what we will do with this room
Sixteen wood stalls. They aren’t my favorite design but all are functional especially since we don’t stall our horses much. I do plan to start feeding in the stalls for numerous reasons.
There is a small feed room
Looking down into the row of stalls in the old wooden portion of the barn
A roomy tack room begging to have organization added. I think this may be the thing I’m most excited about. I haven’t had access to a tack room since moving here in 2013. My stuff has lived in my trailer which makes packing a breeze but I’d rather have a nice safe spot. This is not climate controlled which is a project for down the road.
Another neat feature is a fully functional bathroom with laundry machines.
And a hot and cold wash rack
This is toward the back of the barn. Leaving through the back takes you straight into the arena
The barn also demarcates the two sides of the property nicely. Looking at the barn this direction has the arena to the right with the pastures I got pictures of. To the left is a pathway leading down to the pond and then five more pastures running from the pond to the front entrance to the property.
This side is going to take more work to connect everything. There are two pastures that will be easy to remove fences from, but then there is a small section of woods with a deep creek ravine between sections two and three. From there three could easily connect to four by removing a big open space previously used for a burn pile but we run into a similar problem connecting to five. All in all I think this side of the property has more acreage. Of the 30 acres, 26 are in pasture, two are with the house and two are in the pond.
Let’s see. What am I missing?
Out by the house there is a tree house for Wyatt. Beyond this are pastures 3 and 4 then a big open area that was used as a place for a big burn pile then pasture five.
Oh and there is a house but who cares about that?
Hopefully once we are all moved in this weekend I’ll remember to grab shots of the other side of the property but honestly it looks a lot like a bunch of grass.
Here are some aerial shots from the original ad. Everything you see is our property and it runs along the winding drive out to the road with pastures lining both sides that aren’t fully shown.
The Roaming Rider 
I have been WAITING ON THE EDGE OF MY CHAIR FOR YOU TO POST. SO glad you at least did this! đŸ™‚ What a lovely property. SO BIG. and the house is cute. OMG I am so so so jealous (BUT In a good way LOLLOL). CONGRATS AGAIN it will be a work in progress but i love the driveway too and all the turnaround space and the layout and omg i love it all đŸ™‚ That arena will come back with TLC i bet!
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Sorry! I’ve got something else up my sleeves that’s been sucking my energy but can’t post about yet. I am in love with this place. Not sure what we will do with all the space but I’m glad we have it. I can’t wait until we move and I get my first ride in the arena. It’s overgrown but still functional in its grassy state
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don’t apologize i just need to live vicariously through you getting a farm đŸ™‚ HA HA HA! So excited for you!!
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I’ve been eagerly waiting for the pics, but I figured what with getting ready to move and the holidays coming up and end-of-year work craziness, you were just swamped! Glad to get a peek!
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Yeah I’m drowning a little bit but mostly I just keep forgetting to take any pictures
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Congrats!!! The property is gorgeous! Super excited for you!
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Thank you!
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weeeeeeee! Fun! This looks great! So excited for y’all. It all, even the house, looks amazing.
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Thank you so much!
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Woohoo! Cant wait to come visit!
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Come any time!
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You have hit the JACKPOT of properties!! That is simply GORGEOUS!!! I’m also jealous (but ALSO in a good way!) and I cannot wait to see what the TLC you and Dusty give it will change and improve it into!!
Congratulations again on your new home!!!!
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Thank you so much. We were beginning to think we’d never find it. Come summer it should hopefully look a little better
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It’s so cute! What a dream come true.
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It was a dream a lifetime in the making.
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Everything looks awesome!!! Having the heartbreak of the first farm let you guys be available to have this one đŸ˜€ Congratulations again, with a little work it will have your own personal touch to it.
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At the time it was hard to see that but now I am so happy the first one didn’t pan out
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Oh my god that place is perfect! Will you be able to use some of the field to grow your own hay? I want to throw my horses in the trailer and move down there – refusing to leave. Wow.
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We could grow our own hay. Would need to find someone to come bale it for us. Come down for the winter and get out of the cold!
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What a clever setup! It looks really functional and well thought out (or at least from the pictures) I love all the stalls bc those can easily be turned into hay storage! So much grass too… very jealous of all the grass! And new jumps! You really did find the coolest farm đŸ™‚ can’t wait to see more pictures!
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It’s way better than we would have done it had we built it. That’s the benefit of it being a boarding barn I suppose.
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That is a huge property! Why do you want to combine all the pastures? With 16 stalls, have you thought about boarding or leasing out to someone? That arena is gonna be a lot of work, but it looks like you can save the inside if nothing else. I’ve been reading Horsekeeping on a Small Acreage by Cherry Hill and it’s kind of terrifying me with how much work it all is. But I still envy you. Congrats again.
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I’d like to have rotational grazing to allow grass regrowth, ability to fertilize and reseed however with only two horses we’d have to move them every few weeks to use all the smaller spaces. Two large pastures would mean less moving, less fences to care for, less weed whacking around fence posts and give the horses more room to run and play. I’m a big fan of the more space the better and wouldn’t like seeing them in a small pasture and then all that land empty.
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With larger pastures there is less rotating but horses tend to graze down on area and leave others in larger fields. I use a series of gates to control where mine go. It took some logistics but makes life so much easier.
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I love it, especially the intelligent layout and relative flatness. Can you put the horses in the arena a while and let them take care of the grass? Work them in the grassy spots until the grass is mostly gone? I’d keep the cross fencing. Like Teresa said, even two horses will trash their favorite parts of the pasture and leave the rest to grow wild. I only have 5 acres but I divide it up so they are forced to eat the parts they would avoid. 5 acres is a ton of work, and I am unemployed, but constantly mowing, weeding, and moving manure. It would be nice to have the option of having more animals, but that means even more work. We have some small fish ponds and I wish we didn’t – they are also a ton of work. We keep leasing them out to fish people, and they do worse than we did in maintaining the ponds. Hopefully your pond won’t require so much maintenance (and you can eat fish!). Hopefully you don’t need a crane to replace your arena lights *lol*
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Grazing them in the arena is a good idea! We are for sure opening up the fence line between the two left hand pastures. One thing we are trying to figure out is barn access. I want to start feeding in stalls instead of in the pasture and it would be nice to have it opened up enough that they could walk into the barn through a single gate on each side. If we keep all the smaller pastures that wouldn’t be possible and we would have to go catch them and bring them in each morning. Not a super big deal but does eat up time and with us doubling our commute, eating up time isn’t something we care to do.
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Holy jeepers look at this place!!!
Congratulations again it will look spectacular with a small amount of TLC.
But 16 stalls – you know what that means right? You need some more horses
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That is so awesome and so exciting!!! I can’t wait to see how you make it your own. đŸ™‚ Congratulations!!
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Finally pics, yay! Wow, thats a lot. Hoe old is the original barn? Im sure Wyatt will LOVE the treehouse. My hubby would say add a disc golf course through the tree/ravine pasture lol.
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Omg, I’m seriously drooling. You guys found a complete gem. đŸ˜‰ But seriously, that place looks amazing. Even if the arena is hard to recover, it has a better base than just riding in the pasture. You could also add sand to parts, like a corner at a time if it ends up needing it. But wow… Amazing. Congrats so much! I’m looking forward to seeing what you guys do to make it yours!
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Congrats on finally purchasing a farm!
Just curious…are you planning to board other horses on your property? Having 5+ pastures and 16 stalls in a big barn seems like a LOT of property for your 3(?) horses.
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No boarding. I have zero interest in dealing with that headache. I’ve always wanted to do a retirement facility and hope to someday. For now though it will be private for my 2 Horses and hopefully a pony for the kiddo.
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Daaaamnn!! What a property! Looks like you’ve got plenty of space to make your own hay. That arena is to die for!
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I’m hoping we can breathe life back into the arena easily enough. You need to come down sometime!
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wow what an incredible property! it looks fantastic! i love that big wide driveway and the turnaround circle too – how convenient! and the barn and arena are HUGE!!! congrats again, i can’t wait to see how it all works out as you move in and make it your own! are you gonna just absolutely fill it with ponies?!?!?!!
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Thanks!! It is way bigger, building wise, than we had wanted but everything else was spot on. I think we actually plan on tearing the entire thing down someday and building a new, much smaller barn in its place. For now the horses can live in their mansion for two.
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Oh wow. It looks amazing. I will now be living vicariously through you. WOW!
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