I debated starting this thread in the AND Lifestyle forum, then realized that in fact how we shelter our horses is a Horsecare and Health issue...so here it is to be.
One of the largest building projects I've taken on in some time, though my 7ft x 220ft chainlink fence around my garden was very strenuous work and took nearly a year and a half to fully complete. I acquired most of the materials for that from found sources, and dug the posts out of the ground to bring home.
You can see in the picture of the elk on the future building site why I have such a high strong fence around my garden.
The structure, for Altea, her stall, storage, and small paddock, will be made from modular panels I obtained at auction, though I'll have to purchase outright the material to build the shelter over and around it.
Five of the panels, probably weighing about 200 to 225lb each, have sliding overhead hung gates. Very safe and strong. And slide easily. Lock closed and open both.
Each panel, including the gate panels are the same measurement: about 9'9" long by 7' high. They have 8 sockets per panel, two at each end, on both sides, that a half inch bar drops into to lock them together into a stall unit.
The is the building site, though the trees you see will be gone, from about the big tree with the wall around it, back into the woods to the North, your left as you view this.
These are my plans. The panels will be set up inside this structure, except for the panels making up the small paddock.
The storage area will be a duplicate of her stall, even to the gravel base with stall matting over it. Then if I do decide on another horse, or decide to have and raise a foal it too will have it's own home. And we can build another structure for feed and tack storage.
Her 'Turnout' will be behind electrified fencing, moved occasionally to give her fresh ground in my woodlot to play in, or graze our lawns, our mini-meadows.
The entire area around the garden will be the turnout, in rotation. In good weather I may rent larger pasturage for her, hopefully not too far away.
But for this time of year, when the grass is too lush (she is a recovered victim of founder) I can control access much better right here at home with those portable fences.
I'll add to this as we progress. This weekend, hopefully, we'll see the trees come down that we need to drop for clearing. Many are trees that needed to come down as we are on old river bed soils and the trees can blow over fairly easily.
Two years ago I lost half a dozen and a neighbor's tree fell into my shop building, though not much damage was done. Other folks nearby lost whole houses. But no lives lost, thankfully.
Some that we are taking down, if they uprooted in the wind and rain and fell toward my house, could do major damage, and toward the garden wipe out a lot of my fence and garden labor.
We'll leave enough trees for shade and creating a more parklike landscape.
And doubtless we will paint those panels, at least the metal parts. I'm not fond of that color and would rather have brown or green to go with the forest.
Because of the predator problem here I'll be devising a night time stall barrier above the panels and attaching both to them and to the shelter. It will be an electrified screen (and no, Altea will not be able to reach it) that has a ground system to increase the impact of the jolt and beat the insulating qualities of frozen and snow covered ground.
The animal trying to get through the barrier will find that they must touch two points to get through, one hot, the other grounded.
Bears in particular, which we have too many of, can handle a lot of sting, but so too can coyotes and mountain lions.
And we have too many of those. All can climb, even the coyotes to a degree.
So Altea won't be out at night very much if at all.
Donald Redux
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