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Our ranch sits in a valley in the Loess Hills of Iowa. We are extremely
lucky to have fertile soil and running water, a creek, on our property. About eighteen acres of our land is pasture
or crop land. The other two acres contain a barn, indoor and outdoor riding arenas, pole barn, dry lots, run pens, and
tool shed.
Our four stall barn is small, but cozy. The aisle is concrete, and there are two tack rooms, along with an area for cross tying. The hay loft above the stalls can hold around 600 bales of hay, and the chute from upstairs to downstairs does a great job of delivering hay when it is needed. We do have a washing area; it is concrete with several areas to tie. The wash rack is located directly out back of the barn. Each stall has an automatic waterer and Dutch doors that open out onto a lot and paddock - to maximize the amount of time each horse spends outside. Our outdoor arena is 90 x 300 and is next to the barn. There is a fifty foot round pen on one end and access to our south pasture for riding on the other. We added outdoor lighting last year, so those cool, fall nights that get dark so early don't restrict riders to the indoor arena. Our indoor arena is about 55 x 85. It is well-lit and ventilated by several vents and a motorized fan in the summer. It is a sawdust, dirt mixture, but we are thinking of upgrading to sand to keep dust down. It is watered regularly by a sprinkler system James put in for me two years ago to keep airborne dust to a minimum. We also have two large dry lots with large 14 x 24 shelters that can house 2-3 horses each. We added six 13 x 36 run pens two years ago, for those horses who love to be outside, but just don't seem to get along well with others or whose owners just want them a little more protected than running with several other horses. All our pens and lots have underground water systems that support automatic waterers that are thermostatically controlled in the winter. We also have a large pole barn, 24 x 60, that houses most of our equipment and our shavings and a tool shed that desperately needs to be organized, but if you have the time, most any tool can be found inside it! Our house sits on about an acre of park like land with hundred year old maple trees, pear trees, linden trees, and such. It is a very tranquil place with several perennial gardens that take a lot of work to weed and maintain during the spring and summer months. Thank God for my mother and sister who help me immensely with this job. I seem to be the only one in the family who wasn't born with a green thumb. We would like to add a gazebo sometime soon, so there is a sheltered place to relax, eat, and watch the horses frolic.
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"From what we get, we make a living; what we give, however, makes a
life." -- Arthur Ashe