Not Quite Dun Farm

07/11/2024

This big boy (?) is eating well. On a related note, not seeing many beetles in the barn lately 🤔

07/02/2024

Another beautiful morning. Such a treat in July!

06/16/2024

Getting ready for the heat wave. Tilly's comb out and braids. Pepper had his done earlier. 🌞🐴🦄

05/20/2024

A picture of my horses grazing in the pasture this morning ☁️☁️👀??

05/18/2024

Beaux and Mandy helping me feed the ponies this morning 🌧

05/14/2024

Sunrise before the rain 🌄🌧

04/28/2024

It's a warm morning and the Flycatchers are ready...🪰🪰🪰🐦‍⬛

04/25/2024

Someone had an "oops" egg this morning 😳

04/16/2024

What's black and white and red all over?
Topper after a rain storm ⛈️

04/15/2024

A cute moment between Tilly and Pepper 💕
📸 by Hailea

04/06/2024

Today's ponies' breakfast and manure pick up brought to you by the number 8

03/31/2024

The way horses respond to trauma and the lasting impact of a bad experience in early life have been highlighted by experts

03/31/2024

The Equine Disease Communication Center (EDCC) has announced that a 10-year-old draft mare in Loudoun County, Virginia has been diagnosed with Equine Herpesvirus-Neurologic EHV-1.

The onset of clinical signs of ataxia, urinary incontinence, and blindness was noticed on March 16 and the diagnosis was confirmed on March 21.

The horse is currently under state quarantine.

03/26/2024

Morning zoomies

03/26/2024

Breakfast time

03/18/2024

“You do nothing with your horse.”

Sometimes the horse needs to be doing nothing.

Sometimes they need the pressure of timelines and goals taken off completely.

Sometimes they need to just be enjoyed as a pasture puff, living life just being a horse and being groomed and doted on, with no expectation,

Sometimes “doing nothing” is the ticket to getting the horse to a point mentally and physically where they are capable of doing “something.”

Sometimes horses are happiest just “doing nothing” forever and they don’t owe us labour.

It can and should be normalized to enjoy your horse simply being a horse.

So, “doing nothing” isn’t really “doing nothing,” it’s giving your horse the time and space they need to decompress.

And, contrary to how it sounds, it can actually be doing an awful lot to rehabilitate your horse and heal their mind and body

So, here’s to the equestrians who are currently “doing nothing” with their horses.

I’m sure your horse appreciates you for giving them the time they need.

03/17/2024

One fence, two fence, old fence, new fence! Two out of three paddocks re-fenced. Next year it will be three for three. Thank you Rural Restorations LLC for excellent work.

03/16/2024

Pepper and Tilly enjoying an afternoon nap. Pepper was lying down too until he heard me open the gate 🤷‍♀️

03/14/2024

Well that doesn't happen very often 😃

02/15/2024

An extremely rare Thoroughbred foal born already gray-coated stands out in the field at Shawhan Place.

01/08/2024

People dream of having their own barn of horses, of walking through the aisles in the mornings and hearing the contented sounds of munching, and looking out into their own fields and seeing horses running happily across them.

It's a great dream and one many of us have achieved.

But we wonder how many trying to get to the place where that dream can happen have actually considered or been told what all that entails?

In talking to one of our adopters the other day about all of her preparations to leave her barn for a few days of vacation, we were discussing how most people don't get this type of information.

If you have your own barn going on a vacation is a big deal. First of all you have to find someone reliable and capable enough to watch your barn and carry out the chores as close as possible to the way that you do them. Then there is all of the extra prep it takes you to get ready to turn it over into someone else's hands.

Being sick or injured is a big deal. There have been a couple of times where I have had to struggle through chores with a stomach virus and a broken arm and I didn't have any choice but to do it.

When your child has a special school activity you might find yourself doing your barn chores at 5:00 a.m. or at 11:00 p.m., in the dark, with an owl hooting over your head and a flashlight in your hand.

Feeding your horses properly is always an adjustment process. No one ever mentions that unless your horses are always in a stall, and doing the same amount of work in a routine, there are many different factors that make you have to either take your feed and hay up or down. Weather, what stage the grass is in, illness, adding a new horse to the herd, you are not able to work your horse as much as usual, the quality of the hay changed because there is so much rain...

When things break, and they will, it is on you to figure out how to fix it. Fences need constant repair and maintenance, hoses freeze cause you forgot to walk them, boards get kicked off the stall wall, the water line gets a leak, the tractor needs hydraulic fluid, the shear pin breaks on the bush hog, the mice chew through the feed trunk. So many things need fixing constantly around a horse farm. More than people would ever imagine. And the things that don't need fixing need maintenance so that they Won't need fixing.

Getting feed, getting hay, and getting sawdust takes up more time and effort than you would ever imagine. If you buy it in large quantities it may not be so time consuming, but then you have to figure out the storage.

Owning your own barn is great. You can do things your own way, and you always know for sure whether your horse is getting the alfalfa or the supplements added to their breakfast. We would never want to discourage anyone from their dreams. But no one ever mentions that the only convenient thing about owning your own barn is that you can stay at home in your pajamas to see your horses and we certainly want you to go into it with your eyes wide open.

Sunni Bell Stables put it best when talking to her lesson kids who want to own horses someday, "It's not just a hobby, it's a lifestyle."

01/08/2024

Not Quite Dun's Pepper having to "work" once a year, lol. Giving my granddaughter a good ride 💕

12/04/2023

Blue, blue, blue!!

Yes! 😂😭

11/12/2023

Accurate!

Yep!

11/10/2023

🤔

This made me giggle. www.justhorseriders.co.uk

11/10/2023

10/28/2023

Three equines in Virginia that were purchased from an auction are positive for neurologic EHV and are quarantined at the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center in Loudoun County.

10/28/2023

🎃

10/26/2023

Sunset over the farm.

10/25/2023