SUNDAY STILLS CHALLENGE - BARNS

This was the barn directly across the street from our farm.  It is now on the ground waiting to be taken away...board by board.

The rest of these photos (I know, I got carried away) are all of our own barns.  The red barn is an indoor riding arena and was built in 1992, but the other two barns are over 100 years old.

When you look at the interior of the horse barn you can see that the beams are trees with the bark still on them.

Both barns have been red and grey...now both colors have faded.

We added a 60' shed roof to the horse barn to provide extra shelter when the weather is bad.

This is a basement barn and is built into a hill.  The other three sides are made of stone, and you have to go up a hill in the back to get to the second floor.  There is also a third level.  In total, we could probably store 3000 bales of hay.  At one time it was a cow barn and when we moved in it was full of stanchions and dismantled car parts.  There were no stalls and no fences.

We are surrounded by about 100 acres of planted fields (we only have 5 acres).

The ceilings in the aisle of the horse barn are quite low, but the stalls are considerably higher.

Our horses seem to manage nicely, regardless of their size.  Very simple, but well bedded and kept clean everyday.

This is a view from one of the pastures.

The indoor enabled us to ride year round, and there have been many clinics held here.

Here, you can see the hill that goes up to the 2nd floor...that's where we put the hay when it gets delivered.

The second barn (to the left) is called the Skoog Shop.  My husband has it filled with woodworking equipment, tools and more things than you would want me to list.  We only store things on the second floor and the East end is my grooming/tack room.  There are two stalls that are not occupied, but they come in handy when the vet and farrier are here.

We have had to add mortar to the stone walls.  One short side took dozens and dozens of bags and it still could use more work.

The way our three barns are placed is quite European in style.  They form a U in the front where there is a paddock (with a backboard for basketball that was left here by the previous owners).

This is how the barns looked at 8:30 Friday night.

View more Sunday Stills by going to:  http://sundaystills.wordpress.com