Keeping a horse on your own land is a very rewarding milestone. If you have never housed a horse at your home, you’ll soon find out that it entails many hours of work, and many tools! It’s important to remember that with the wrong tool a job will take so much longer than a job done with the correct tool. There are many chores involved in caring for a horse, so be sure to have the right tools to minimize your work time so you can maximize your pleasure time!
The first and foremost tool you need in your barn is a shovel! You will find so many uses for it, and as soon as you don’t have it handy, you’ll need it! A shovel is designed for digging holes, but I can guarantee you’ll find many other uses for it. Obviously you will need to shovel and scoop lots of things in your barn…including manure!
Next you will want to purchase a wide tooth pitch fork. This will come in handy when putting down straw bedding in your barn stall or horse’s lean to. With a pitch fork you can lift a heavy pile of wet straw easily, but without one, you’ll be shoveling for hours.
A special manure scoop should also be found in every horse barn. These allow you to scoop up your horse’s waste without removing all the bedding that is still clean. The small tines of the manure scoop will slide right through the bedding to pick up the manure.
A garden rack is also very handy on the farm. I like to use the rack to clean out the barn walkways and stalls. You can rake fine materials up with ease. You will also find many other uses for this tool once you begin the road to horse keeping!
There are some items you will want to have for feeding your horse. The first of these is a grain bin. You will need a container that has a locking lid so that your horses are not able to open it. A grain bin will also keep the grain safe from other animals such as cats, dogs and raccoons. Along with a grain bin, you need a grain feeding dish as well. They sell these at any farm store.
To feed your horse hay, you will need a dry spot where the horse will not walk. If you horse keeps a tidy barn, you can feed them on the ground, but some horses are very mess and will poop anywhere. For these horses you will need an elevated hay manger or a hay bag.
In the winter time it is essential to provide a source of fresh and unfrozen water. To attain this you will need a water heater. Farm stores stock these and they are fairly inexpensive. You can submerge them on the base of the water trough on a metal rack and simply plug them in. They are a lifesaver in the cold spells of winter.
There are so many other tools and equipment you can find and buy for your horse barn. This list is simply the most commonly used and needed tools among horse keepers today. If you are missing any of these tools in your horse barn, take a trip to the farm store to see what they have in stock!
