My Favorite Place To Be Is At the Barn

My favorite place to be is at the horse barn. Whenever I'm depressed or lonely, walking into the barn makes me forget everything else in my life. I'm no longer alone because Flash, Zip, Gus, Cody, Misty, Folly, Bella, Lou Lou, Music, Kewpie, and Sunny are all there to make me smile.

I can spend hours at a time there. Grooming the horses is great therapy. It takes a lot of energy to work with the horses so I get plenty of exercise there too! There's always stalls to be cleaned and horses to be worked. Spending time with them is the best way to bond with them.

When you first walk into the barn, you'll see that it's not fancy. The stalls are painted a nice rich brown and there's dust everywhere. That's one thing that I've had to get used to. No matter what is in the barn, it will get coated with dust in a short amount of time. One day is enough to collect the first coat. There's plenty of spiderwebs too. They're everywhere.

My favorite thing about walking into the barn is the smell. It has a smell like no place else. To some people, the smell might be offensive but if you love horses, you can't help but love it. It just smells like... horse. After your first few visits to the barn, you learn to wear barn clothes. They will forever carry the smell of horses and you don't want to show up for a fancy dinner somewhere smelling like the barn.

I love the tack room. Each boarder has their own little tack closet with two saddle racks. If you need more, three can fit in each one. I love the smell of the leather saddles and I love the soft feel of a well used bridle.

In my tack closet, I also have saddle pads, fly spray, helmets, many different brushes, leg wraps, and horse shampoos. There's a lot more in there but these are the things that I use the most often.

Each of our tack closets holds two or three saddles depending on how many you need. I like these racks because we can hook things underneath them like helmets and bridles. I have 2 saddle racks in mine. I have one western saddle and one english saddle.

The barn has so many great smells and sweet feed is one of them! It's a grain mixture and I love picking up a handful and smelling it. It smells delicious and the horses love it. The horses all get between two and four lbs a day depending on how much they are being worked. A few of the older horses are on a senior feed which comes in pellet form but those don't smell as good.

No wonder I always say that the barn has such a wonderful horse smell in it. The hay room gets a very distinct smell. In the summer when we bring it in, it smells warm and fresh. In the spring, when we're getting down to the end of the bales, it can have a moldy smell to it but you don't usually smell it until you open up the bale. The fresh cut hay smells heavenly.

Hay is a great thing by itself. It keeps the horses alive during cold Wisconsin winters and it smells so good when it's fresh. In June and July though, I really don't like the hay. It comes in great big hay trucks loaded with 150 bales or more and we have to unload it all into the hay room. It's a horrible job. Each truckload takes between 30 and 45 minutes to unload and we usually do 2 or 3 truckloads at a time. I dread it!! The other thing about hay is that somehow, when I'm putting hay in their stalls, it gets everywhere. It's in every one of my pockets and sticking into my shirt, poking me every time I move.

Max is the ultimate barn dog. He grew up here. We were at a horse show a few years ago and a man was selling puppies out of the back of his truck. They were beautiful Black Labradors and my friend couldn't resist. Max came home that day and never leaves the farm. He loves chasing the horses. He thinks he's helping but it drives me crazy sometimes. He's just trying to be a good dog though.

I love finding the things I need in a horse theme. I'm always looking for my keys so with this cool horse key holder, I'll never lose them again!

I never used to care much for miniature horses but these three have really grown on me. They're adorable and sweet. They need a lot of work just like the regular size horses and just because they're small doesn't make their expenses much less. It costs the same to have their feet trimmed as it does to have a full grown horse's feet done. They have a lot of fur so it takes awhile to get them shedded out in the springtime. They eat one cup of grain in the morning and one cup at night. They also get a little hay morning and night too.

Just seeing the lush green pastures makes me feel at ease and close to nature. It's so peaceful so when I'm really stressed out, I can stare out in the forest for a little bit and relax. Sometimes deer even stop for a few bites to eat.

Early in the mornings, blue herons will sometimes be out in the pasture. They make the most awesome noises. It's fascinating to listen to them. They're fairly new to our area so it's a unique sound that they make.

This is what I love the most at the barn.. it's FLASH!! He's my 7 year old Tennessee Walker Paint. I've had him since he was 3 years old and he's a great horse.

He doesn't stay in the barn. He likes being outside at night. Since he's the only horse out there, he gets the whole corral to himself. There's windows in the barn so he stands by them and then he has the other horses to keep him company. The only time I'm really worried about him being out there is during storms. A lot of horses get hit by lightening each year.

If you are looking to decorate a horse themed room, you can find lots of great deals on eBay! You can also add some of these to your barn or if you have a lounge in your arena, you could add these so your boarders feel at home.

Scenes like this are so precious! The cute little miniature horse visiting with a quarter horse. Adorable!