The Horses Finally Moved In...Temporarily

So the horses were supposed to have their temporary stalls in the barn in fall when the nasty weather began to hit, but thanks to some a-hole county inspector, more unforseen additions to the barn and property, and two inspections, we finally were cleared for the barn's first inspection which meant the horses could now be housed in it.

The whole idea behind getting the round pen panels were not only temporary housing for Moose, but to serve as the temporary stalls (Im getting tired of writing the word "temporary" haha) for the horses in the barn, and to be able to use down the road for paddock fencing, etc.

So now that the barn passed first inspection, and I had slowly began accumulating stall mats, it was time to set up for the horses! So last Saturday was busy. First it started with getting a ton of orchard grass hay, which we ended up waiting at the hay dealer's for an hour while their one-day-late hay delivery truck unloaded alfalfa, timothy, and finally the orchard grass. So we were a little behind schedule, but arrived home, promptly got a friend to come over and help, and carried (with great effort and difficulty) Milo's assembled carport canopy down to the barn were it would house our new hay. And this was the second temporary use of the craigslist carport (first for Milo's shelter, second for temp hay storage, third...trashed by then?).

Once the hay was put up on pallets and done, we set up what would be Moose's pen with the other panels we hadnt used yet. So we set those up, carried the HEAVY FRIGGEN stall mats down from Milo's old stall and the two from Moose's pen and put them in his new stall. Then Moose got to check out his new digs while we dismantled his temporary tarp shelter and moved (in ONE PIECE - dont ask Husbands idea) those six panels for Milo's pen. We had some extras hence making Milo's pen into a half circle so he has a little more space when confined. Then we repeated the stall mat task, only this time these mats are 4' by 8' so heavier and thicker at 3/4" versus 1/2".

We were finally done! And the part we were all waiting for! Horses moved in, and photos taken (actually these pics were taken the next day...in daylight).

Milo's stall measures about 22' wide by 24' long (roughly as its hard to tell with the half moon shape).

Moose's stall is the same as before at 12' by 24'

A better view of the shape of Milo's stall. Lots of room for the baby when the weather doesnt permit turnout. 

 The boys have a sheet of plywood separating their stalls so they can have a little privacy (lol) and safe from kicks but plenty of face playing. The plywood on the posts are so Milo cant chew on the very important and very expensive posts (as we all know he would do).

What I'm doing right now is using the slow feed hay net for Milo during the day tied to the arena gate and turning Milo out in the morning when I feed and leave for work, and bring him in for dinner when I get home. I'll have to pay attention to the weather forecasts as there's no shelter up there now for him, but that was part of the reasoning behind the large stalls for when we have the crummy weather. :)