Checking in on Our 2025 Reservations

So... in an interesting turn of Process Goals trumping Outcome Goals, our 2025 Reservations have changed... but our Weekly Reservations have, for the most part, been kept. 

Let's see... 

• January: New dressage trainer. While we now have a new, deeply loved dressage trainer, the dressage trainer we tried out in January didn't end up being the one for us. But JV geographically close as well and is absolutely amazing. 
• February
• Three Lakes at novice did end up being a thing, and also our first time winning a recognized event.
• But a few weeks later at the Majestic schooling show, the wheels started to fall off the bus in a way that kinda ended up being the catalyst for a lot of changes for us. 
• March: Carolina International AND Terranova were no-gos as we worked through residual hind foot soreness.
• April: We did go to Rocking Horse, but things continued to unravel a bit as we had an unattractive but clear stadium round and a stop on XC. This prompted me to add in Ocala Eventing Festival where we had a stop in stadium but a clear XC round. 
• May: Given the way April's reservations panned out, a training move up was clearly not in the cards for May. I did volunteer at the May Majestic, so I was there in a way. Then we buckled down on lessons with a jumper trainer to try to help us create the canter that was missing and causing us problems. We did go to Ocala Summer HT as Area III Champs and competed at Novice. Our jump rounds made it clear that we had started to put the pieces back together again. 

Versus our weekly reservations: 

• Weekly jump lesson ✅
• 1 hour bareback walk hack with terrain questions 🗸
• We have less terrain questions back at the GY's (and by terrain I mean ditches, it is Florida), so this isn't a thing anymore
• But we still walk hack AT LEAST once a week
• Fitness day 🗸
• We've done fitness days once every three weeks or so...
• Part of my reason for slacking was the discovery, that in spite of not being a thoroughbred, he doesn't actually need weekly canter sets to bop around novice just fine.
• This fall though, I'll be more dedicated to this because of our fall reservations... 
• Weekly or every other week dressage lesson ✅
• Dressage school at home  ✅
• Lunge in Equiband 🗸
• This gets a partial check mark because once a week we walk hack in the equiband
• Lunging just... isn't great for us. Even in the equiband, he wants to trail his hind legs out behind and be lazy and I am not skilled enough to correct it. 

Looking ahead to the fall, those weekly reservations still apply, but let's take a look at my fall reservations... 

• August: Bouckaert International - so far this is still my plan. We'll be headed out at novice, but it still is an adventure I want to have 
• September: Stable View Oktoberfest - ditto 
• October: Seizing the day, I plan to go up to Hagyard for the N3D up there. Hence our renewed dedication to conditioning this late summer/fall. My husband agreed to go up with me and I'm excited for this!! Then pony pants gets a break for a few weeks. It will also be a great time of year for trail riding in Florida, so after a couple of weeks OFF, we'll spend a couple of weeks trail riding some fun new places. 

Honestly as I look back over these plans, I am just overjoyed to be doing the things with the BestPonyintheWorld(TM). He is such a cool partner and as long as I feel like he's happy, and I'm a solid partner for him, we could be doing any number of things. And this feeling is what made not moving up to training this spring 1000% the right thing. I am in a looser program than I was in January, basically not a program at all, really, which has its plusses and minuses. But being out of that program has helped with any competitive feelings I was having to move on up. Don't get me wrong, I would love to jog Butterball at a 1* some day. But when that day is or even if it happens at all is less important now. The snackamore hacks; the bouncy, amazing trot we're finding in our dressage lessons; the all day adventures; those are the things that I treasure the most. 

I think, for us at this stage, having loose competition goals is still a good thing. But having the flexibility to adapt and let go of or rework those goals is also a good thing. Overall this spring and summer are definitely the best I've had re horses in a long time. 

Feeding Dollar Bills? Or Maintaining Long-Term Soundness?

Now that Butterball is back at the GY's, I took the move as a time to re-evaluate his current supplements. His base is Purina Enrich Plus, a ration balancer. On top of that, and the topic of this post, he is currently receiving: 

• Purina Outlast: 1 cup twice a day; additional servings given before and after trailering
• He had been on the Relyne GI for a while, but there was a difference when I added in the outlast
• Ingredients: Alfalfa, wheat middlings, seaweed derived calcium, cane molasses, magnesium oxide, citric acid 
• Goal: maintain a happy stomach 
• Cost ~ $1.15/day, depending on how many middle of the day servings he gets
• Relyne GI: 1 pump (30mL) twice a day  
• Ingredients (active): 120mg TBG-136TM Schizophyllan Beta Glucan, 120mg hyaluronic acid
• Goal: maintain a happy stomach 
• Cost: $2.99/day
• Platinum Refresh: 1 scoop twice a day
• Goal: not tempt fate to see if he truly needs a sweating supplement
• Cost: $2.70/day
• Purina Free Balance: 1 tablespoon twice a day
• Vitamin and mineral supplement to balance a forage/pasture based diet
• Goal: maintain electrolyte levels during the never ending summer 
• Cost: $0.17/day 
• Adequan series q6 months 

Our goals with all that: 

• Happy gut
• Happy joints
• Sweating pony 

Happiest pony napping flat in the sand 

He inherited the Relyne. I had Goggles on it and still had two jugs of it when he left, so Butterball has been getting it ever since then. It kept Goggles happy, but given the change I noticed when I put Butterball on the Outlast, I'm not sure it was keeping him totally happy. So once that runs out I likely won't replace it. 

We're probably doing the two most important things for joint and gut health already though - he lives out 20 hours a day and has two friends that he goes out with in the big (8 acre) pasture. So they mosey and graze the majority of the time. 

But now that he is an only child, I want to do all I can to support his overall soundness and longevity. 

What I would like him to be receiving: 

• Collagen - 480-640mg per day 
• A 2009 study in horses compared undenatured type II collagen to glucosamine and chondroitin supplementation in horses with moderate arthritis (visibly lame with joint effusion, decreased range of motion, crepitus within the joint, and increased lameness after flexion). Horses receiving 480 or 640 mg of collagen per day showed a reduction in overall pain and pain on joint manipulation. This reduction was larger than the horses receiving glucosamine and chondroitin (although this also showed a statistically significant benefit over placebo). 
• Application to Butterball: he is not visibly lame and does not have any of the other criteria used to diagnosis OA in the horses in this study. However, there are additional studies like this meta-analysis focused on people that concluded that "hydrolyzed collagen has a positive therapeutic effect on osteoporosis and osteoarthritis with a potential increase in bone mineral density, a protective effect on articular cartilage, and especially in the symptomatic relief of pain." 
• MSM - 10g/day
• Omega-3 fatty acids - 5-10g/day
• Specifically long chain poly unsaturated fatty acids have been shown to decrease the severity of gastric ulcers. 
• There are likely anti-inflammatory benefits for joint health as well 
• Omega-3s are now one of the major things I recommend for dogs with OA, so it makes sense to me that this would translate over to horses 
• Application to Butterball: it seems he needs some gut support based on his response to the Outlast. And as stated several times now, I want to do everything I can to support joint health. 
• Acid buffering similar to Purina Outlast

MadBarn has an article that does a pretty darn good job summarizing the current state of knowledge of joint supplements. 

What I ended up ordering: SmartCombo Ulitmate Pellets. I had launched into an extensive internet search, somewhat aided by Perplexity, about where to get bulk glucosamine, collagen, and acid buffering ingredients. I ran into two problems there - making sure I was getting quality ingredients (alibaba bulk glucosamine seemed slightly sketch) - and shipping costs from various suppliers were starting to add up. Ultimately (haha) because of the DVM discount that SmartPak offers, they ended up being the winner here, both in cost and in other ingredients that maaayyyy be helpful.

 

The supplement doesn't contain green lipped mussel nor does it contain enough omega-3s, but it checked every other box. On my quest I discovered that to get the levels of green lipped mussel that have been studied - 25mg/kg of body weight- it is quite expensive, $2.10/day from a reputable source. The studies look pretty good for effects on lame horses, so if that ever became an issue, it would probably be worthwhile, but until then... 

Once the Relyne runs out, I'm going to start supplementing omega-3s in the form of KER EO-3 Oil. I can only ask Ms. GY to top dress so many things on the feed each day though, so that will be a few months. 

What do you all feed your horses? Or are you of the of the opinion that management and training practices are the most important and supplements are an unnecessary expense? 

Property Planning - The Fun Part - Layout

So I alternate between so excited about the idea of having the pony at home and then horrified at the costs of things. But planning the layout is proving to be pretty fun. We're waiting to make final decisions on layout until hurricane season is over. While I know you can bring in dirt, raise things, etc. in my experience it is easier to not fight with the natural low spots on the property. Plus it pisses off the neighbors less... Which we seem to be doing left and right with one making a nasty face and grumbling about "scaring all the game away" when I said "clear a bit to build" was in our plans. And another eyeing my husband, but fortunately missing the deer stand behind us to ask "YOU'RE not hunters, are you?" 

Anyways, old timer neighbors aside (which I get their feelings and we had plenty of nice conversation with those two as well, just a few interesting moments). The property is 9.6 acres, two approximately 4.8 acre parcels together. I'm not sure on the logistics of combining the two lots vs. leaving them separate. If we sold down the road then separate would probably get more money, but combining them would allow us to homestead both and lower taxes. I'm not even sure the county would let us combine them. The nice part of not having money is I have plenty of time to answer these questions. 

Anyways... You can't build buildings within 25' of the property boundaries since it is zoned A1. Right now there is a neighbor to the south with a house. Their house is pretty much in the middle west of their property. The lots to the east are unoccupied, but might not always stay that way. I would like to have as much privacy as possible for the house. 

Equine residents would be one to two horses and one mini-donkey or mini for a companion.

My plan would be to put a two-sided lean to spanning the pasture fences to provide shade. Ideally this would have electric so that an outdoor rated fan could run during the hot afternoons. And potentially this would be set up to be able to be closed so I could confine if needed. Water trough that spans both pastures would also be ideal. I'm going to ride in the pastures for a very long time to come, but eventually a space to put an arena would be great. 

There are no super special trees on the property other than one live oak to the west of the pond. That will certainly stay, but otherwise I'll probably leave trees along the property lines and perhaps a clump in the center of the larger pasture for some shade as well. 

Picture is oriented with north to the top. The blue fingers are the county demarcated possible flood zones. There is an actual "pond" (dry during dry seasons, muddy to holding water during rainy season) in the northwest of the property, the dark area on the picture in the possible flood zone. Ignore the large red border, I can't seem to get that to go away in the picture. 

The small blue area on the right hand side (east) is where we noticed signs of water running during heavy rains; house is dark green square; barn (for equipment, feed, tack, and hay) is light grey border; garden is lime green; red dot is current well (TBD if that is functional still); thick black line is future driveway. You can kind of see the current driveway and mobile home. Mobile home maaaayyyyy be leaving this week with the kindness of strangers. 

Layout 1: 

Layout 2:

Layout 3: 

My vision for the pole barn is something like this....

With truck/trailer parking along the left in the "lean-to". The truck/trailer parking would be closest to the driveway in all of the above sketches. Then tractor/other tool storage under the main part of the building. Eventually part of the building would be enclosed, probably 10x14' area, with window AC unit, to be feed, tack, and tools that need climate control storage. While we are living in a 5th wheel the building would also house an outdoor, detached catio. So that my husband and the cats all live through the experience. 

Anyways, stream of consciousness. It will (hopefully) be fun to document all the planning and building stages here, so I'm content doing just that. But also this is an open invite for suggestions, thoughts, pros/cons, and even "are you an idiot, obviously _______". The amount of $$ this is going to be, I'd rather have people point out every possible consideration before we start putting sweat and $ into this. 

Photo by Victoria DeMore Photography - since it was the first day of June I'm posting it again

 

	Butterball
Training rides	0
Lessons	5- 2 DRESSAGE(!!!) And 3 jump
Hacks	5- including our lake adventure
Ground work, lunge, long line	1 hand walk around the GY’s neighborhood
Flat rides	8
Conditioning rides	0
XC school	1- Magnolia Sands
Shows	0

 Butterball worked 19 times this month. Between two weekends of 7a-4p shifts and a trip out of town at the end of the month, he had it slightly easier than May. 

North Georgia was absolutely lovely

The big news this month was starting lessons with our new dressage trainer. In the first lesson we focused on reaction. The second lesson we worked on balance and a few down transitions. The third lesson we worked on turn on the haunches, left lead canter, leg yields, and a bit of shoulder in and extension. 

How perfect is this pony? 

We also got his saddles checked. The jump saddle needed a bit of flocking added in the front, but the dressage saddle was still great. 

Butterball moved to the GY's this month. 

Enjoying the shady barn for sure

He had a brief run in with Ms. GY's thoroughbred who, noting that Butterball was willing to be submissive, then tried to kill him. It was horrifying. Fortunately other than a few bites, that ended okay. Butterball actually now goes out with her other two horses who both bit Goggles and Ben incessantly. But Butterball is very willing to be under them in the pecking order and stay out of their way, in a way that is smarter than both TBs were. So he actually hasn't gotten bit at all. 

Back on these beautiful trails 

The other big news was that we bought property. And while I initially planned on a five year plan to getting there, that quickly changed... I would love to have him at home much sooner. So now we're plotting fifth wheel options until we could afford to build. Which has meant some fun playing with possible property layouts. And also some sobering moments asking the internet to approximate costs of things. Realistically, I think a 1-2 year time frame would be reasonable... 

We did get off property for one trail ride/pond splash with plans to go again (or to a different location) at some point in July with Ms. GY. 

Overall a super productive, albeit warm, June. I'll be out of town for a bit again this month, but we'll keep working at our dressage and jump lessons. I think August will be our return to competing with a trip up to Bouckaert Farms (formerly Chatt) for another Novice run. 

"The most important thing is to not stop questioning" -Albert Einstein

Disclaimer: I realize the above quote may not be applied below exactly in the context intended by the speaker. However it very directly applies to my dressage lessons, as described and then heard below. 

"How did that go?" 

"Okay, considering we've never done a turn on the haunches before." 

"Hmmm not quite, you did turn around. What is a turn on the haunches?" 

At this point I stopped because I 1000% knew I was not going to be able to both ride correctly and process what we were talking about.

Funny enough, we stopped without wiggling into it. And we were almost square. Hmmm weird the way that works. 

More patient silence

"The hind legs stay stepping in place and the front legs move around them?" 

"Yesss... and what about their body?" 

50/50 shot and I guessed wrong... I had bent Butterball to the left to execute our right turn on the haunches. Which it seems is incorrect. 

Da fuk are you doing mom? I haven't done this before either, but I think you're wrong. -Butterball

Then we moved on to a similarly elucidating and embarrassing set of questions about the aids for turn on the haunches. 

"Well how do you ask your horse to turn?" 

After several *wrong* guesses - "With the reins?" 

"Exactly!" 

Turns out (hardee har har) you start with an inside bend, then half halt with both reins, then, ask for a turn with the rein aids. The outside leg is used to control whatever it needs to. If the shoulders aren't moving enough with the reins then the outside leg is used forward to ask for the shoulders to move more. If the haunches are swinging wide, the outside leg is used to keep them in place. 

Although our attempts were not anywhere near show ring quality, we did get better

Our progress backslide on the last one. I used my right leg but he continued to push through it and swing the haunches. Which went back to cardinal rule number one. When an aid is used it should get a reaction. If it doesn't then there is a correction (increasing aid) then the aid is reapplied lightly to test if the correction worked. When laid out that way it all seems so straightforward. 

The ToH work was a brief respite from a lot of trot and canter work. It also came with the direction to not walk too long during warm up. If the walk is no longer getting better, go ahead and trot and canter to increase the suppleness, then come back to the walk. But don't do too much of it. To increase the suppleness in the trot, we did a lot of leg yields. He started out the ride kind of braced and stiff. But I have been directed NOT to pull him into roundness. So I sat chilly and just worked on forward. Then the leg yields magically created the roundness and acceptance of contact we had been lacking. 

We spent a WHILE in the left lead canter. Turns out we're never actually straight on that lead. Which we set to work fixing by thinking shoulder-in. When that didn't so much work, we did some counter bend. Once he was straight, Butterball had a hard time holding the canter. But there were some lovely moments in between falling apart. 

We also played a tiny bit with extended trot. Which was really fun.

Hillary was kind enough to come and watch and take tons of video. I REALLY need to get my shoulders back. He looks so lovely and I don't hate the rest of my position, but my shoulders are round all the time. Rgh. Where is my inner dressage queen? 

I am continuing to absolutely LOVE these dressage lessons. The effect on Butterball is dramatic too. He is happier when he is working this hard, actually. It is weird, but he loses the sticky resistance and chomping that I call his pony side and just swings forward from the lightest aids with a quiet mouth. It is delightful. 

Next day, absolutely exhausted, just went on a walk hack around the neighborhood. I was sore, so I figured he was too. 

Foto Friday: Pony Pics

October 2024 - wish I had some set up from this time period

January 2025 - photo mirrored for better comparison to the other photos

 

June 2025

I think that Butterball is currently looking the best that he has since I've had him. But I realize that I may not be an objective measure of that. He did get too thin this winter; I was so worried about having him on grass I didn't take into account that we were losing most of the grass as we upped his workload. We've gained that back and built on the topline as well. I want to continue developing his hindquarters, but I think we're on the right track.  

Do ya'll track changes over time with photos? How about body condition scoring? I honestly think I need to implement a monthly objective BCS score to make sure we're not headed to too fat or too thin. I guess this could be included in the monthly wrap up post as well... 

One Long Day --> One Long Post

Butterball and I spent the WHOLE day together Monday. It started out with me bathing him to get him nice and clean to do his second clip of the summer. I could really live without the hair growing feature of his pony self, but I love every other part so deeply that it is worth it... I knew I didn't have time to do all of him so I did the usual diagonal line from flank to withers clip with the addition of complete front legs. 

The dapples are the only perk of this summer clipping BS

There wasn't near as much hair to come off this time (compared to the end of April) which was nice. But it's horrendously hot and humid right now, so every little bit counts. 

Then we headed down to PW's for a jump lesson. We started off our lesson with a single vertical and then a single oxer. And it was rather unimpressive. 

So much so that eventually PW asked if he could get on. Then Butterball tattled on me about how little I ask of him a lot of the time. He bulged his right shoulder through a left turn and got MOST offended when PW told him he couldn't do that. He tried it once more and then gave it up. That's the thing, he's a pretty darn agreeable creature. He will rise to meet expectations, but he'll also sink to the level of little expectation pretty easily. He tried dropping his sternum and lengthening his stride to a fence and got a HALF-HALT and then gave that one up as well. 

I got back on after that and we did some course work. 

And overall it went much better. We sort of slogged through the one stride the first time, but got it right the second go and then incorporated it into a course. When I focus on the basics, things come together. Do I have the canter I want? Is he bending to the inside and not staring outside the arena? Am I keeping my outside rein through the turn and consequently is he straight to the fence? Is my eye on THE SAME SPOT on the fence?  

PW got after me to be better organized at one point. "You're a vet, aren't you organized?" Dear sir, I am not sure why you would assume the second from the first. LOL. You should see the sticky notes around my desk on a busy day. But anyways. Plan the round. Pick up the canter with a GOOD transition. Get the canter I want. Then execute the plan. Once done, come to trot and then walk before dropping the reins. Deliberate every step of the way. 

The last run through of the first four fences of our course I got the BEST canter to the first fence. And he jumped that fence GREAT. It was a bit of a different feeling over the fence, but PW says that is the feel we're going for. I could tell the canter felt great, but wasn't as committed to the way the fence felt. 

The canter

The jump

I am frustrated to see in these pictures that my release seems to have gone right out the window again though. I'll consult with PW at the start of the next lesson. 

From our jump lesson, I headed down to 75 to get some diesel. And ended up at the world's slowest pump. C'est la vie. Fortunately ever since my BIL coated the roof of the trailer, it stays MUCH cooler in there. I know insulating it would be best, but baby steps with this trailer. Then we headed to Majestic Oaks and pulled up under a shady tree to hang out. Monday was the only day PW could do a lesson this week and Monday at 5 was also the only time I could meet up with the saddle fitter to check our jump saddle and dressage saddle. Rather than driving all the way north to essentially turn right around and head back south, we camped out at Majestic for two hours. I cleaned all my tack in the trailer and then pulled his mane while he fell asleep (I truly don't believe this horse cares about having his mane pulled, so I do it). Then he sampled some of my lunch - apricots were okay, peach was a no go. He grazed some and then I put him back on the trailer and he napped. He's such a lovely dude, I'm sure he might have been sort of sick of me at this point, but it wasn't a hardship on me just hanging out for a few hours. 

Mane looking very cute except that chunk that I ripped out with the seam ripper after the last show... 

Eventually we loaded back up and then headed down a series of smaller and increasingly less paved roads to get to someone's farm to meet the fitter. Our appointment lasted all of 30 minutes, but was well worth it. The jump saddle was brand new in March, so I suspected it would need some flocking adjusted. This was the case and she added a tiny bit to the front where it had compressed. She asked if I wanted to sit in it. I almost lazed out of it and said no. But she's based in Wellington, and I decided it would be too tricky to fix if for some reason we didn't like it. Ever the good sport, I got back on Butterball and he agreeably walk/trot/cantered around a new arena at a new farm for 5 minutes. The balance did change slightly, but not in a bad way. When we pulled out the dressage saddle, she asked if I had any issues. NOPE! It continues to fit both of us like a glove, thanks Jen. She agreed and didn't need to adjust anything in it. Perfect. 

Then the poor pony put up his first protest of the entire day and stopped at the ramp to the trailer and said "Do I gotta??" A circle and reapproach and he walked on, but I couldn't blame him. We'd gone to two different locations post jump lesson, neither of which was home. And it sounded like everyone was getting tossed dinner at that barn, so he probably would've just as soon stayed there. 

Procrastination level: PRO. "I gotta pee... And eat... But really gotta pee..."

The next morning we loaded back up for a dressage lesson. It was the day I could go back to back with my friend in hopes of hearing and retaining the checklist that JV had gone over in my first lesson while I was cantering around. Unfortunately that didn't end up happening since they worked almost entirely on squares at the trot and canter to get him honest to the aids and steering. But it was educational nonetheless and she did snag some video for me. 

This time we became a bit more demanding about leg meaning not just forward but forward and UP. A lack of UP didn't mean that I had to escalate through the 1-2-3 series of leg/dressage whip aids, but it did mean that the aid was repeated at the same magnitude. We also added in some leg yields and shoulder-in. The leg yields were to help straighten him when I felt like I was losing his shoulders to the left. The shoulder-in was to help bring the balance up. Shockingly the same soft aid then escalating if there was an inappropriate response got us pretty excellent leg yields (for us). I've been doing "baby" leg yields the whole time I've had this horse and never upped the ante. We did during this lesson and he responded stunningly. Good boy. 

At the end we played with down transitions from trot to walk. He explained that there is a balance between promptness and relaxation. The first one Butterball completely died and "came off my aids", so we repeated the transition with a sharper half-halt to start. That one was more prompt, but to me it felt abrupt and like his back dropped. JV confirmed that we had "lost the relaxation and swing". So the next ask was more gentle. He continued swinging through that one, so I called it better. JV said in a way it was, but that it was less prompt. So the next one (we quit at that point though) should be more prompt even if it sacrificed some of the relaxation. And so on. Interesting. 

We were back home by 11 AM and he got turned out with his friends without me pestering him for the rest of the day. 

Popped the camera back up - this is how he travels. Makes me think he's not too stressed by all this travel. He looks out the window at stops, but mostly eats hay or naps with his head about at the level of the chest bars. 

Butterball Gets His Own Farm

We closed on 9.6 acres outside of Williston a few days ago. It is essentially vacant - there is a dilapidated mobile home that we will have removed. And there are a bunch of trusses that we will also have removed. 

Trusses do make a nice vantage point to sit on and contemplate life 

But other than that, it is vacant. It is moderately heavily treed- none of the trees are that impressive, I'm guessing it was clear cut 50-60 years ago when the neighborhood was established. It is on a COUNTY MAINTAINED dirt road that dead ends with a loop around several properties, including our new one. I am so excited to be somewhere quiet. The farms where I've boarded the ponies have all been quiet, but I live off a main road and it is NOT quiet and is only going to get more and more trafficky as the area continues to grow and expand. So a county maintained dirt road is PERFECT. We will take so many hacks. There are also several groomed arenas within hacking distance... I'm definitely going to try to befriend those folks and ask about bartering or paying to come school in their arenas sometimes... 

The plan is to get to know the property over the next year or two. 

Hello friend! 

Then we will start clearing small parts to build an enclosed outbuilding to store equipment and various other stuffs, maybe including feed/hay and tack; then fence 2-3 pastures; then build a house. My thought is to do 2 x 2-3 acre pastures and then maybe a 1 acre sacrifice type area. I think I want to just do lean-tos spanning the pasture fences that could have gates closed if need be to stall. I don't want to clean stalls. And my lovely husband certainly won't be cleaning stalls when I go out of town. But being able to close in if need be would be nice. 

So those of you with horses at home or horses that you take care of 24/7, what are your tips/tricks to make things as low maintenance as possible? I'm thinking electric for the interior fence lines and some carefully planned lime rock in the high traffic areas around feed tubs and gates. Also, definitely planning to acquire a hay hut or something similar for supplementing hay from a round bale in the winter months. Then having some sort of fans in the shelter area would be perfect. I would like to minimize hoses, so carefully planning plumbing and electric is also on the agenda. 

Someone asked if I had looked at house plans. No, but I've definitely been sketching out pasture layouts...