Brighter View Farm TN

01/08/2025

Here in TN we don’t have a need for all the winter necessities of much colder climates, so when we do get the unusually cold weather we improvise. Soaking feed in my bathtub so the horses can have a warm mash this morning is just one of the crazy things I’ve found myself doing lately.

01/06/2025

Max is feeling better and he and Neo are up to their usual silly antics…

Check out heather blair’s video.

01/05/2025

Hay. Hay. More hay. Lots of hay to get through the colder days and nights. Hay in manes. Hay in hair. Hay in troughs. Hay in boots. Hay hay everywhere! Hay after the sun sets. We’ve had some longer days at the barn to keep the horses comfy in the colder temps and they warm our hearts and hands in return ❤️

12/31/2024

Wrapping up 2024 with sunshine greeting us ☀️ #ʜᴀᴘᴘʏ2024

12/30/2024

🌧️Rain 🌧️ Mud 🌧️Rain 🌧️ 🐴 🌧️ Weird moments. Muddy horses. Warm mash with 🍎 and 🥕. Random 💩 places. 🌬️ 🌬️ 🌬️ Wind. Curly coats. Mud and more mud.

12/25/2024

Merry Christmas from Santa and the Elves at Brighter View ❤️🎄❤️

12/22/2024

Hope your Sunday is as good as these guys soaking up the sunshine with a good Sunday nap ❤️

12/20/2024

We’ve had a good stretch of rain, and most uneventful, but on one stormy afternoon the temporary run-in shelter of corral panels + cattle panels covered with a tarp somehow ended up a heap in the pasture. The three bay geldings clued me in as they were uneasy and moving in a united trio. I went to explore and quickly found it. Although we can’t rule out some antics by the boys, we suspect the quick storm with high winds caught it and twisted it around. We initially put it up and secured it with T-posts, but moved it and covered it with a tarp instead of just the shade cloths for a winter/rain cover option and hadn’t secured it with the T-posts yet 🥴 The bay geldings eventually got brave and curious and came to check it out after Max made sure the course was clear. Curious crowd. Thankfully we were able to get it back up without too much fanfare and secured it with T-posts so that it won’t happen again. Update on Max: he’s now had 3 days of ulcer treatment with medication and supplement. Still not eating great, but a bit more like himself this evening. Hoping the next couple of days of continued treatment will see a big improvement 🤞🏼 Thanks to all who have sent well wishes and thoughts and prayers. ❤️

12/18/2024

We’ve had a decent amount of rain so we have a lot of mud. We’ve also got a lot of horses who have been rolling in the mud like it is their job. Wowsers they are gross, but they seem to be enjoying themselves in it. Been getting two more run-in shelters set-up for the winter. The geldings are creating some sort of sculpture out of their most recent hay bale. 🤣 They had a good group nap in the pasture yesterday. Nudge and Jelly Bean seemed to be ready to help us get the hay ring over there most recent delivery of hay. Getting in some snuggles and some later night visits. And muddy horses…

12/17/2024

If you know Max (formerly Westin) you know he’s a big nosy clown of a horse who is usually mischievous, affectionate and energetic. Lately that has not been the case. He has not been himself and after a visit by the vet + several follow-ups we think he might be suffering from ulcers. While omeprazole for humans is cheap, it is not for horses. For horses it is about $42 per dose. Treatment is typically 30 days, which is obviously quite costly, but if it works it will be worth it. He was on some natural things to help (soaked alfalfa pellets, aloe vera juice, etc) but it wasn’t enough. Yesterday he started the medication for treatment. Please send up good vibes, prayers, wishes for health…whatever you can…that he will get to feeling better super fast ❤️ We miss the energetic silly boy he typically is!

12/09/2024

Oh my 🎅🏿 look how cute Gideon and Shine were today! Gideon’s visit included a new elfish Christmas outfit and he was down for it! Enjoyed getting all groomed up and his stretching with his person and then was a super star letting us dress him up. What a dapper elf he was! Shine was more interested in eating than dressing up, but he even paused long enough to get a cute Santa hat picture. Can you stand the cuteness here!?!?

12/06/2024

Brrr! 🥶 This is NOT our normal TN temps and us humans are not a fan. Our very fuzzy herd with their thick winter coats don’t seem near as bothered. We’ve had some solo sleeps and some group standing naps that are pretty sweet to observe. The sun during the day isn’t bad, but when the sun goes down and the wind kicks up…brrrr!! We’ve made sure they’ve had warm mash meals and plenty of hay (and maybe a few extra treats 🤭). Since this stretch of well below freezing temps is longer than the last few days of cold, a majority of the night was spent moving the trough heater to make sure troughs weren’t frozen over. Since electricity is only available to the pastures via an extension cord, we don’t leave those out when no one is there. The stalled few have been supplied with warmed water in their buckets so they are taken care of too. 🥶 If anybody wants to recall their winter weather that has vacationed in the Tennessee Valley, feel free to take it back 😉 I’m pretty sure the south has a low tolerance for this 🥶

12/04/2024

It’s a good season for reflection and gratitude. We are grateful for all those who love and care for our horses along side us. Two of those folks are Jeff and Annette, who recently showed up with at least one bag of every kind of treat our local feed store (The Barn Owl, if you don’t know it check it out!!) carries. The horses been happy to try all the varieties of flavors ❤️ They also let us borrow their tractor, seen here helping us move round rolls and they show up to help with so many projects, including the recent dissembling of the roof that came off the run-in shelter in the geldings pasture. We also recently had a young visitor in one of my nephews, who braved the cold to spend the day at the barn. So grateful for our helpers and our visitors who help us lavish love on this amazing creations. 🐴 🐎

12/03/2024

Our horses are so curious. Or nosy? I guess it could be debated, but I’m going with curious. I love how they are interested in so many things. Check out these curious moments with the herd…

11/29/2024

Happy Thanksgiving! We are thankful for all the horses who call Brighter View home and the owners who entrust us with their care. We are also very thankful for those who help us make their lives as good as they are at the barn. Thanksgiving day was started with a warm breakfast, a day of grazing, snuggles, some naps and rolls in the mud. Everyone got an extra treat or two, too. Hope you and yours have had a good day too.

11/28/2024

Temperatures are falling but it doesn’t stop nature from showing off with some gorgeous skies. We’ve had light and bright blue skies, a pretty palette of colors as the sun retires for the night, fall colors hanging on a bit longer, and lovely light highlights from time to time. Just sets off these amazing creatures that much more 💜

11/24/2024

Mostly just pictures of us navigating cooler days and the horses doing their things, interrupted by the results of high winds taking the entire roof off of the geldings run-in shelter. No one was hurt, most of the geldings were in the back pasture at the time, but it startled us humans. We got the shelter secured back down and plans to rebuild the roof. Never a dull moment it seems…but we are thankful this is all that happened.