Equine Kingdom Riding Academy Progress
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On May 13, 2010, Sally A. Nolte purchased a 7.5 acre piece of property located at
. This farm will be come their dream farm, given lots of
time, TLC, and money!
SCROLL DOWN FOR PICTURES AND
PROGRESS REPORTS!!!!
8/3/2011 - Wednesday
Moved all the larger scraps of wood behind the hay barn and got it nice
and organized. Cut up all the small pieces into firewood sized pieces and put it
up by the house for burning this winter.
Cut up all the "stickers" - the
long, square strips of wood used to seperate layers of wood so it could dry -
into kindling for the winter.
Moved all the plywood pieces back behind
the hay barn.
Put all the electric fence pieces into the shed in storage.
Took the door off Hector the bull's stall so we can put gravel in the stall
to level everything out.
Put two wheelbarrow loads of gravel in the low
place by the corner of the barn so it won't flood so badly next time.
Cleaned up all the scrap wood from by the tree at the front of the barn!!
It's finally nice and clean!!
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8/2/2011 - Tuesday
Finished putting stall mats in the corner stall and put shavings and
Zelda into it (she's on stall rest)
Cleaned out the geldings' pasture.
Put a wheelbarrow load of gravel in one of the pastures where the horses
stand, pawing at the gate. |
8/1/2011 - Monday
Got a new horse, Fable, delivered for our newest boarder, Daniel!
Had a dumptruck load of gravel delivered to work on fixing some of the
stalls and fill in a few holes around the place.
Picked up stall mats to
put in the rest of the horse's stalls in the new barn.
Put gravel in the
corner stall and a bunch of stall mats, not quite finished though. |
DAYS 346 through 353 OF WORK -
7/9/2011-7/16/2011 - Saturday through Saturday
Lots of spraying weeds in the pasture, chopping weeds down in the
driveway area, weedwhacking, and mowing for maintenance. |
Day 345 OF WORK - 7/8/2011 -
Friday
Created & strung up a "bucking bull" in
one of the empty stalls - a barrel attached to four ropes that can be pulled
around. There is a handle and a saddle blanket attached, and kids sit on it to
be "bucked off".
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DAY 344 OF WORK - 7/7/2011 -
Thursday
Oiled more fence boards.
Picked up all the sticks in the barnyard, around the riding arena, and in one of
the long pastures.
Sprayed brush killer on a bunch of thorns & small
trees, and Pasture Pro on a bunch of weeds growing in the pasture.
Sorted
boards from the wood pile and stacked them up neatly at the back of the hay
barn.
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DAY 343 OF WORK - 7/2/2011 -
Saturday
Picked up sticks.
Mowed front
and barnyards, weedwhacked around the landscaping.
Cleaned the barn for
an interview with a prospective boarder. |
DAY 342 OF WORK - 6/30/2011 -
Thursday
Finished painting the last gate
silver.
Cut tops off of barrels to put in pastures.
Cleaned out
all the water barrels, scrubbed them, refilled.
Picked up sticks from the
storm. |
DAY 341 OF WORK - 6/29/201 -
Wednesday
Put up an entire section of electric
fence, 6 strands, and charged it. This section of fencing separates the new
grass we planted around the arena from the established grass that was here in
the first place.
Finished painting one gate silver and worked on another.
Got stalls cleaned out from the torrential downpour last night, replaced
shavings.
Picked up sticks from the storm & put them in the burn barrel
for later. |
DAY 340 OF Work - 6/28/2011 -
Tuesday
Painted most of one gate silver.
Cleaned all the excess dirt and rocks/bricks off the wash pad so now it's
nice and clean. |
DAY 339 OF WORK - 6/27/2011 -
Monday
Picked up sticks and stuff from around
the paddocks. Piled up a whole bunch of rocks collected from paddocks and around
the farm.
Picked a quart of blackberries from the bushes growing wild
back in the woods.
Cleaned out/scrubbed/refilled all the water buckets. |
DAY 338 OF WORK - 6/26/2011 -
Sunday
Our wonderful neighbors gave us a burn
barrel so that we can burn sticks and junk that falls out of the trees, since we
no longer have a pool to burn it in.
Got the last paddock done being
oiled! |
DAY 337 OF WORK - 6/25/2011 -
Saturday
Oiled almost all the rest of the
newest paddock. |
DAY 336 OF WORK - 6/24/2011 -
Friday
Concreted all the posts in the ground
for the paddock, and got it completely fenced in with boards.
Oiled
almost all of the inside of the boards and one side of the outside.
Picked up a huge pile of rocks from the paddocks & around the barns where they
get unearthed.
Took all the wire down from the paddock we fenced in -
coiled it up neatly, took everything apart, threw a whole bunch of trash from
the paddocks away.
Cleaned up manure from the riding arena.
Rode
Merlin, Mystique, and Hawkeye. Merlin round penned very nicely and framed up,
Hawkeye is finally starting to figure out how to do his left lead canter under
saddle, and Mystique is cantering pretty nicely under saddle again. |
DAY 335 OF WORK - 6/23/2011 -
Thursday
Finished oiling the new paddock.
Finished digging the rest of the holes for fencing in the paddock on the
other side of the new barn.
Picked up a whole bunch of rocks, cleaned up
around the farm.
Refilled grain bins, raked barn aisle. |
DAY 334 OF WORK - 6/22/2011 -
Wednesday
Oiled the inside back section of the
new paddock, both sides of the boards from the gate to the other side of Merlin
& Sebastian's paddock. Oiled more fence boards on the inside of the paddock.
Replaced all the fly strips in the new barn.
Dug three more holes for
fence posts - dug through all kinds of rocks, bricks, trash, and other junk.
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DAY 333 OF WORK - 6/21/2011 -
Tuesday
Put all the remaining fence boards up
on the new paddock, getting it completely fenced in.
Removed and replaced
two large fly traps.
Installed the gate & chain on the new paddock.
Oiled two sides of the new paddock fence.
Dug three holes for the
other small paddock.
Cleaned all the debris and boards/stickers/posts out
of the new paddock.
Cleaned up the barnyard - sticks, trash, wire, etc
and filled an entire trash can with stuff.
Cleaned all the manure out of
the riding arena.
Replaced shavings in 7 stalls. |
DAY 332 OF WORK - 6/20/2011 -
Monday
Finished digging holes & concreting
fence posts in for the new paddock.
Put one short side and 3/4 of the
long side fence boards up in the new paddock.
Marked out post spots for
the other paddock, to replace the electric fence wire, and carried fence posts
over for ease of use.
Moved the whole pile of poles and the whole pile of
fence boards outside the new paddock to the other side of the fence so they're
not in the pasture.
Cut all the wire from the immediate electric fence
area, cleaned it all up, rolled everything up.
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DAY 331 OF WORK - 6/19/2011 -
Sunday
Saturday, Cricket, our mini dachshund,
had 5 puppies so we were on puppy watch all day.
Got 4 more fence post
holes dug & posts concreted in.
Prepared for camp on Monday!
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DAY 330 OF WORK - 6/17/2011 -
Friday
Put in 6 fence posts for the new
paddock, on the other side of Merlin & Sebastian's.
Put up new shelves in
the tack room/feed room to put supplements and feed buckets on. Two rows of
shelves! They look fantastic and it's so nice having all that extra space!
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DAY 329 OF WORK - 6/16/2011 -
Thursday
Got Merlin & Sebastian's paddock
completely fenced in with boards, and installed a new gate.
Picked up
grain , flybayte and three gates at Southern States.
Refilled grain bins,
cleaned up tack room, spread out flybayte.
Oiled all the new boards (both
sides of the boards, three rows of fencing, two sides of the paddock).
Took down all the electric fence wire from Merlin & Sebastian's paddock. It
looks so much better! And we no longer have to worry about Merlin sticking his
feet over the wire just for the fun of it. :) |
DAY 328 OF WORK - 6/15/2011 -
Wednesday
Lots of un-updated work done between
last post and now. It's mostly been small stuff, not worthy of putting on here,
but suffice it to say we've done a lot of work, including hosting our first
in-house horse show on Saturday, June 11, 2011. It was a huge hit - 41 students
rode and did exceptionally well!
Dug holes and concreted in 5 posts today
to fence in Merlin & Sebastian's dry lot.
Picked up 10 bags of concrete
from Lowes.
Started levelling out the last un-level stall in the new
barn.
Dug both corner posts for the new dry lot that will go in next to
Merlin & Sebastian's dry lot. Started the other 5 holes along one side.
Went and paid for/picked up Hawkeye, our newest addition to the Equine Kingdom
Riding Academy. He will be our new (adorable) lesson horse.
Picked up
junk and twine from around the farm/barn. |
DAY 311 OF WORK - 5/28/2011 -
Saturday
Painted the fence with oil - finished
one long side of one pasture, and the entire section of boards that had to be
replaced because someone painted them silver.
Planted the cherry tree
next to the hay barn.
Watered all the plants.
2 loads of manure
picked up.
Put 11 fly ribbons in the newest barn.
Hosed out the
water storage containers. Going to let them sit overnight, then work on them
again tomorrow to make sure they are completely clean. |
DAY 310 OF WORK - 5/27/2011 -
Friday
Went to visit Mystique at her training
barn.
Picked up the truck from the mechanic.
Picked horse pasture
grass seed mix, brush killer, pasture pro, and 2,4 D at Southern States. |
DAY 309 OF WORK - 5/26/2011 -
Thursday
Put shavings in Prissy, River, Zelda,
and Jitterbug's stalls.
Painted the last two 14' gates silver.
FINISHED
painting the round pen silver. Thanks SO MUCH to Lexie and Emeli and Caroline!
Planted the
blueberry plant, a nectarine tree, a peach tree, two boxwoods, two Japanese
Pencil Trees, and four white azalea bushes. Put down landscaping fabric, lined
with bricks, and put mulch in around everything. It looks so very pretty now!!
Landscaping is almost complete!
Got the entire long stretch of barnyard fence
landscaped, and also the stretch in front of the main barn.
Put a LOT of
dirt in the stall at the end of the new barn where it floods every time it
rains. Got it all tamped down and packed in, so hopefully it won't get wet and
flood anymore. Used the rest of the dirt we had to make a sort of "ramp" from
the wash pad down to the dirt, where it was more of a drop-off before.
Sprayed weed & grass killer on the areas we put the landscaping fabric, and
sprayed the grass growing in the driveway so it will die.
Took the truck
to the mechanic to get the radiator replaced so the truck will stop overheating.
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DAY 308 OF WORK - 5/25/2011 -
Wednesday
Picked up, stacked, brought home,
unloaded, and restacked 260 bales of hay. We now have 600 bales of hay for the
horses!
Replaced
shavings in Aislinn, Sebastian, Merlin, Enoch, and Zelda's stalls.
Turned
horses out on 20 minutes each, just Sebastian and Merlin this time though.
Picked up two 275 gallon containers to store water in, just in case our well
ever runs dry, or the pump breaks, or whatnot - just in case. :)
Finished
cleaning/organizing the tack room! Got everything labeled, put up nicely in the
lockers and all.
Got the feed
bins moved around/rearranged and swept behind.
Put up a special
shelf to hold the supplement containers, and organized all the supplement
containers.
Moved saddles
and stuff around to look nice!
Labeled sprays, put bottles up on shelves
nicely.
Labelled more bins of stuff, organized, and stored neatly!
Raked the barn
aisle, refilled water in buckets and pastures.
Hung the polo wrap holder
up on the wall, and swept the tack room and feed room.
Cleaned off the
bookshelves, rearranged, and cleaned everything on the desk nicely!
Cleaned out all
the horse brushes - what a pile of hair I ended up with!!
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DAY 307 OF WORK - 5/24/2011 -
Tuesday
Picked up out of the field, stacked,
brought home, unloaded, and re-stacked 215 bales of fescue/bermuda mix hay.
Watered the
garden and trees.
Turned horses out on spring grass for 20 minutes each.
Did more organizing in the tack room - labeled/filled about 4 more bins on
the storage rack, hung some more stuff up. Put a small shelf up for supplement
containers.
Labeled the feed bins.
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DAY 306 OF WORK - 5/23/2011 -
Monday
Nailed in boards on one long side, one
short side, and 1/4 of the other long side of the largest dry lot pasture.
Turned horses out on spring grass for 20 minutes each.
Carried landscaping timbers out to the riding arena and placed them on the
outside of the fence along the rail, so that sand won't continue to wash out of
the arena when it rains really hard.
Sprayed for weeds - got the entire
round pen, all three of the remaining boarded in pastures, and a large section
of the big main pasture. Also spot-sprayed where buttercups and other weeds are
popping up where I've already sprayed. Weeds that were sprayed late last week
are already nearly completely wilted/gone! Buttercups have completely died where
they were sprayed.
Planted 1 Japanese pencil tree, 2 peach trees, 1
nectarine tree, and 7 boxwood shrubs, got them fertilized and got berms built
around them for water retention.
Watered the garden.
Did a lot of
organizing in the tack room - pulled everything down off the walls and out of
the lockers.
Hung halters and lead ropes high up on the wall out of the way.
Labelled all the training stuff.
Sorted stuff in all the bins, labeled
everything, hung nails up on the wall above the bridles to store extra bits,
flag carrier, water bottle holder, etc.
Threw a bunch of trash away. Hung up
sweat scrapers and scissors. Rearranged bridles in order of most used, and
cleaned tack.
Replaced fly strips in new barn.
Hung up arena aisle
guards for use later in the summer.
Put all the arena equipment back
inside the fence from when we had to take it out to get new sand.
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DAY 305 OF WORK - 5/22/2011 -
Sunday
Picked up, brought home, unloaded, and
stacked 130 bales of orchard grass hay for the horses.
Should be able to
fit ~500 bales in the hay barn, and may consider loading more into empty stalls
in the other barn just in case we don't have hay later this year.
Sprayed
one 2-gallon container of pasture pro on the pastures.
Planted 4 more
varieties of beans around the teepee trellis. |
DAY 304 OF WORK - 5/21/2011 -
Saturday
Mowed the front & side yards and
weedwhacked everything around the garden, etc. It looks fantastic!
Watered all the new plants.
Dug holes for all the remaining trees and
shrubs with the auger.
Went to the farmer's market and bought a cherry
tree ($35), and to Walmart to purchase straps for hauling hay home.
Painted the new board next to Enoch's stall gray to match everything else.
Put up a fence around the new garden to protect it from bunnies and other
such things.
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DAY 303 OF WORK - 5/20/2011 -
Friday
Put another wheelbarrow of dirt into
the flooded stall.
Made two more pallets for the hay barn.
Sprayed
another 2 gallons of Pasture Pro on the weeds - the stuff I sprayed yesterday is
already very wilted and nearly dead! Today I got the entire back stretch of the
pasture path sprayed, finished spraying the end pasture, and sprayed a bunch of
weeds and buttercups along side the edge pasture. Those should be dead soon.
Made a teepee trellis for the beans we're planting in the garden!
Got another 2
loads of manure picked up and trucked away, plus shovelled out another two
wheelbarrows full of manure compost.
Planted all of the string beans,
zucchini, and tomatoes that we bought the other day for the garden.
Picked up garden
fence and posts to put a short fence around the little garden to keep bunnies
out, plus got some plastic fencing to put around the tree trunks in the pasture
to keep the horses from eating the bark.
Almost finished painting the
entire round pen! It looks so much better!
Mowed the grass in the
backyard.
Watered all the new trees and shrubs and plants.
Picked
up 4 more azaleas to plant, to make things more uniform.
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