Friday, November 7, 2008

Paddock Paradise

I thought I would share the Paddock Paradise I have set up here for my horses, ala Jaime Jackson, with a few tweaks due to my property setup.

Here is a map of the property.

Red is the property boundaries of 3.88 acres
Yellow is the horses perimeter fenceline
White is the electric cross fencing
Maroon squares are barn (lower) and run-in (upper)
Green are gates
The purple circle is the roundpen




You can also see hubby's barn which is his "good stuff" storage, and hay storage in the loft for my horses. And then in the lower left corner you can see the house. Yes, I have to walk all that way every day (barefoot in the snow, uphill both ways, doncha know). Seriously though, it really is very uphill, as you'll see in the minute.


The white cross-fence in the lower paddock has grass growing, as well as the one on the right, and the far left lower have been seeded as well. The horses have continuous access to the "center" portion, sort of a screwed up Z shape.


The upper section is their "playground", it is the flatest area of their turnout, and they rip around up there when the mood strikes. The lower area which is attached to the barn as a 24/7 run-in is the feeding area. I have ordered some NibbleNets, I can't wait to see how well they slow down motor-mouth Whinney, whose "full" button is broken, and she just never, ever stop chewing.


This is the lower paddock/feeding area, the barn is just to my left behind that rock and the electric fencing dividing this lower paddock in half is now just to the right of that rock you see in the center. So Jen (the horse in the blanket on the far right) is standing in what is now a grassy/grazing area. I set out hay in separate piles, 1/2 to 1 flake per pile.




And this is the far end looking back toward the barn. That is the back of hubby's barn there, and you can see the posts of the barn there (these pics were taken last winter before it was finished). Again, from about the center of the photo to the barn is now electric fence, with the left half being grazing. (I guess I should get updated photos).





Standing at the bottom of the paddock, looking up toward the run-in shed. There is now electric cross-fencing about where the red brush is all the way to the top of the hill, and that section on the right has been seeded for grazing and erosion control.





This is standing at the top of the hill, looking to the left. This is the "playground" where they like to race around.





This is standing with the photo above behind me, looking back down toward the yard and house. Ther eis now an electric fence right in front of me in this photo, so this steep hillside has been seeded for grazing and erosion control.



This is a shot of the terrain of the "center section" just behind the run-in. Yes, they run across this, too.





And here is some older video of them racing around on it.









1 comment:

Kim said...

Your property looks awesome Michelle! Lucky horses!! All that walking uphill a zillion times a day is what keeps ya young and skinny!! Kim G.