I got my shipment from State Line Tack on Wednesday afternoon. UPS and FedEx are slowly figuring out how to navigate my long ass driveway and turn around. Since I am home all the time I can’t really hide from them but so far no one has been pissed at the shit ton of stuff I have been buying. HA! But woohoo, Tate now has a stall guard. More airflow yes please. He loves his air conditioning (the stall door kept a lot of cool air out and hot air in at night)!
I also got my cross ties (yes no more feral horses ha I just had to rig them up with baling twine due to the limitations of how damn wide my aisle is), and a new pitchfork that is perfect for my pellets, and a few other things so yay! I have a shipment coming by tomorrow from Smartpak for Tate (his fly mask and sheet) and I am a bit pissed that the UPS tracking for my order yesterday says that everything was delivered but the box that came did not have my better bucket in it. GRHHHH so back to State Line again to complain and see what happened to that (they tried to ship my order to my old address twice so I am treading with caution with them for sure)!
The Tractor Supply pellets are dusty as I knew they would be and I am not sure they are the best material for the pig who is known as Remus but it works great for Tate and his tiny little poops and his tendency to churn his stall like a Nutribullet.
But the heavy metal pitchfork I bought at first didn’t do the job very well (that is more for shavings) and the small little plastic one I had for my trailer, worked well but it was tiny. SO I started looking and found this! And I think I am in love. AND IT IS PURPLE! And it was cheap. I love it, it really separates the poop from the pellets. I already started breaking it in and it really does work well with separating. I recommend anyone looking for a new pitchfork to get one and it has a one year warranty for the pitchfork part, so win win!
OH and that sprayer to the right of the new pitchfork? Five bucks at Walmart for spraying the barn where the fly spray system doesn’t reach. Flies have gotten insane. The horse flies are horrible. I know August is a horrible month for a lot of things but ugh. BUGS begone. I thought for five dollars I couldn’t lose so made up a toxic concoction to spray in the stalls when the horses are out in the field. DIE FLIES DIE.
One funny thing happened when I was in the barn on Wednesday night. I was futzing around with all the new things and waiting for Mark to come out to put the stall guard up and had taken the rope down from Tate’s stall when they came flying up to see what was going on (and if there was food naturally). Remus went in his stall and started eating and Tate went into his. And about ten minutes later I looked up to see a pony standing in his stall. With no rope or stall guard. Open door. OOPS. IF that had been Remus, he would have been in the next state.
This proper pony just stood there right at the threshold like the good pony he is. Learn, Remus, learn good manners! HA.
And these two continue their love affair each morning. They crack me up daily…..
Can’t wait for the first time I pull out of the driveway with Remus and leave Tate behind. Much tears and screaming will commence I am sure. Poor deprived creatures!
Do you have any tools of the trade you swear by if you have your horses at home with you. Inquiring minds wanna know! Work smarter not harder is my motto so am open to any suggestions on barn care! Do people at your local feed store recognize you now like they do me (how embarrassing). 🙂
Fat Buckskin in a Little Suit 
You’re definitely gonna need a donkey or a mini before you can separate those guys. LOL
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Depending on his behavior, I’ll fedex you Jiminy… Otherwise I’ll find you a really cute pony at New Holland…. Or somewhere else. But I can find a cute mini for you. And send him or Jiminy to you…
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Those metal ones are good, but I actually prefer wood-handled muck rakes. The wood isn’t so cold in the winter. My hands died with those metal ones even with gloves haha! We have a bedding pellet here in Vegas that breaks down as you wet it or the horses break them up. I like mixing them with shavings since they actually tend to help the shavings stay down when it’s windy here (all my bedding goes outside btw where the pony sleeps so nothing inside). Amber knows no bounds, so stall guards are a no unless they’re electrified LOL. Our hay guys certainly know us, and it’s been different getting used to what exactly we want to feed and how much to feed. We’ve recently figured out that 8 bales of alfalfa and 18-20 bales of Bermuda lasts us about 7-8 weeks. I WISH we had misters/fly system but no. We do actually use the fly predators, but it might not be doable for you yet. They are susceptible to ants and birds. I’ve found the fly predators work great for a small operation, and they’ve been doing an okay job so far (they were PERFECT last year, but this year we had horrid ants and birds, so we’ve FINALLY found all the ant hills and those are gone, and are in the process of killing the pigeons that keep eating them lol).
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Remus leans on his. A Lot. Which is why he has a stall chain AND a stall guard. Tate is a good boy so he is fine with just a stall guard. Bad Remus bad 🙂 HA HA HA…..
I thought about the fly predators maybe next Spring! The horse flies are the worst right now. Today is cool in the 70s and Remus has his fly sheet on just to help with the horse flies.
And i think i am going to have to try the shoo fly leggings. UGH the flies on their legs are horrible. no matter how often i spray them with fly spray!
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OMG the QHs haha! And the shoo fly leggings look promising! I have the Schneider’s fly boots and really like them. We haven’t had too many horse flies, but the little ones are tenacious little bastards lol.
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I might get that purple pitchfork… for my trailer… My current barn uses pelleted bedding and I’ve never used it before – its fantastic!!!
I LOLed at the nutribullet comment.
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you NEEd that pitchfork. I thought of you when I got it 🙂 HA and 13 bucks. Why dont you have it already?? and I am serious…it is a smoothie of poop and pellets when Tate gets done 😉
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You just need one more four legged animal, preferably a mini because they’re the cutest. Then you’ll be all set! I don’t do the pellets. I can’t with the dust. Old fashioned shavings for me. I like your new sprayer, I need something like that to go after the weeds that have started taking over my dormant riding arena… So thanks for sharing that!
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it was five bucks I bought two one for Mark for the house and weeds and one for me for the barn. 🙂
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Want a giant orange pain in the ass? I can ship one to you overnight 😉 I love the pellets, but mine aren’t inside but for 10 minutes twice a day and I pick them out if they happen to go in it. Actually stripping the stall happen maybe once every 2 months, but come winter I am sure I’ll go back to doing it more often
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I would take that pain but he would eat my doors and splash water everywhere. 🙂 HA HA HA The pellets are nice just pricey and a lot of upkeep with the two messes I have in the stalls. The fact that they both go up for a midday siesta doesn’t help but I am way too nice to them. I can’t lock them out lOL once the weather is nicer watch it though 🙂 HOW is the orange pain in the ass?? 🙂
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That he would. He isn’t even allowed a water bucket anymore. He is ok I guess. I’m ignoring his existence minus the daily gastroguard and twice weekly hoof treatment. He is hilarious to syringe meds too. The first time he thought it was a fun game, but quickly learned it tastes bad. Now when I go to give it, I can see the wheels turning in his head. “Oh look! Something fun to put in my mouth…no wait…thats the icky tasting stuff…maybe I should hide..” Then he turns his head away but gives me insane side eye. “But maybe this time it wont be so bad. i have to try it. Give me that syringe!” As he then rips it from me and tries to eat the entire thing. The boy is insane.
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So, the trick with the tractor supply pellets? Water them! It doesn’t take much, but just a TINY bit of water cuts the dust basically to zero. Set your hose to mister setting, do a quick once over and they’ll settle the hell down.
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i do actually water them in the bag for them to expand and they spray water on them in the stall. I must not be using enough water is all…..to be fair it has been very dry here so everything is dusty! Thanks!
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We don’t own our own property (yet) but we do a lot of our own work. I like the pellets for ease of cleaning. I would get sawdust if I could, but that’s not a thing around here. Last year our barn started all the horses on Solitude IGR. It has seriously been a game changer. It doesn’t do anything to keep the flies off your horse, but it disrupts the fly life cycle buy not letting the eggs grow in manure. It doesn’t do anything for the midges or the deer flies, but our regular barn fly population went from extremely annoying to barely noticeable/almost nonexistant.
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“…like a nutribullet…” OMG. I’m dead.
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A barn I used to keep my horse at had a sprayer like you got and the BO made everyone spray down the stalls where the horses ate with disinfectant (I think she used pine sol?) so the food dribbles wouldn’t attract flies. It seemed to work! So those things are pretty handy and easy to use 🙂
I also agree with one of the above comments about wooden handled pitchforks in the winter, but your winters might be mild enough that metal handles don’t matter?
Sounds like your barn is coming together!!! It’s always frustrating and yet a lot of fun figuring out the best routine for your new barn!!!
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Awesome gifs! 🙂 The sprayer for bugs is a very good idea. I have 2 horses with hives due to all the damn bugs here. *sigh* I don’t want to wish the summer away, but I’m looking forward to a few hard frosts!
And you totally need a mini! I have 2 and they are so damn cute.
The feed store guy recognizes me – lol – when I first moved in, I had to repair all my electric fencing. He basically gave me a fencing 101 class each time I went in! That was 5 years ago and he still asks me if my fence is working ok! hahaha
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There was a “shavingsgate” incident ( Crazy BO: “T, or someone, is stealing my shavings!!!1!”) recently at our barn, so I’m sticking with pellets for now to keep it obvious my stalls are bedded with my own supplies. I do think that they’re slightly more economical, but even watered, they’re more dusty. I like the fluffiness of shavings better too. Maybe I should just steal some shavings and hide them in my super secret location? (just kidding, oh god I sound bitter, don’t I?!)
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OMG this sounds like a good story 🙂 HA HA
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Oh man, light weight pitch forks are definitely where it’s at!! And Tate is so cute I can’t stand it lol
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I like those Wave pitchforks from Noble Outfitters. They’re strange, but work really well for me!
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