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ELEMENTS OF AN EQUESTRIAN CENTER
Today I have a treat for you. I will be bringing on a guest to discuss the ins and outs of todays modern horse stable and equestrian center. This will be my first interview I have done with the Whitewash Studio Podcast. I am excited to bring her on but first want to give you a little background before I do.
Suzanne Bruce is an elementary school teacher in South Alabama. She has been working with children of all ages develop and grow for many years. Along with her passion for educating our youth, she is an avid rider and horse trainer. She has won several state championships and riding competitions.
Suzanne has experience with a variety of equestrian centers, and has been a part of Genesis, Sholecreek equestrian center, and Dreamweaver Stables in Birmingham, Alabama and is currently the barn manager of indigo creek farms in Pinkard, Alabama.
And with that, Suzanne, Welcome to the whitewash studio podcast.
Suzanne-Thank you for having me. Its going to be a lot of fun to be on the show.
Marc-Well I am really glad to have you join me to discuss the topic of the perfect horse stable. Before we get into that. I would love to hear about how you got to where you are today. What lead you to horses?
Suzanne-I have always had a love of horses. I thought they were beautiful animals. My mother heard about riding lessons and knew that I would be thrilled. I began riding at age 11. I rode English and got my first horse a year later and began jumping and showing local open shows. I eventually grew out of my Appaloosa gelding and purchased an AQHA gelding where I showed AQHA shows with him for several years around Alabama, Florida and Georgia. In 1998, I won Alabama’s State Championship Show for the All Around Youth Division. It was a ton of fun!
Marc-Where are you currently working with your horses?
Suzanne-I currently have a small family owned and operated barn in Pinckard, Alabama.
Marc-How many horses do you have or need to accommodate?
Suzanne-We currently have 5 horses. We can accommodate up to 10 horses at our barn.
Marc-What are the various elements that go into a stable? And the property in general. I assume that you need to have pretty heavy duty fencing for your horses.
Suzanne-The rule of thumb is to have 1 acre of land per horse. Horses need grass, water, feed, and hay to stay healthy. The perimeter of our barn is fenced in with a metal fence toped with a metal electrical wire to keep wild animals out. We had a Mare and we were concerned our neighbors Stallion might try to get into our pasture. This electric wire at the top of the fence did a great job keeping him out. One of the first things we did was planted trees around the perimeter of the land which helped to make the barn feel more private.
Marc-If you were to describe an equestrian center from the gate in how would you describe it?
Suzanne-When you pull into the barn there is an automatic remote controlled gate to let you in. The barn is in the middle of the 20 acre property. There is a main 6 stall barn with one bathroom, tack room and hay room, About 200 feet off of that barn is another larger storage barn currently used to hold our tractors, farm equipment, and extra hay. We also have a Pole barn located at the back of the property that holds horses as well. We currently use this for pasture rotation. The pole barn is divided into 3 different stalls for the horses to come and eat under and get out of the rain if needed. The stalls under that pole barn are made from metal panels that can be fastened together and made larger or smaller if needed. The pastures are divided by electric fence, which I have grown to love because we can make a pasture larger or smaller or move things around easily with this type of fencing.
Marc-Since you have a background in showing can you walk us through preparing for a horse show and all that might be involved?
Suzanne-When you have a show horse you will need a barn with electricity. Lights are a must because you will be working late getting ready for the show. Show horses have to be blanketed during winter, bathed often, and trimmed. You will need a nice wash rack with cross ties and a water faucet close by. I love having both hot and cold water. After the horse is nice and clean it will need to be dried off and trimmed up before the show. I trim around my horse’s hooves and around its muzzle and ears. It is nice to have a plug in the barn by the grooming area to allow you to plug in your electric grooming equipment. Cross-ties in this area are also very important. Cross-ties allow you to easily walk around the horse and get to its face. We have a sink in our barn near the grooming area, which is extremely beneficial for keeping water close by without having to get it from a hose. I use this sink at least once everyday to easily wash my hands or wash a brush or get a wet paper towel to wipe my horses nose.
Marc-Are there some special needs that show horses have that might be different than trail horses, and how can the design of the stable help to accommodate those needs?
Suzanne-Show horses will need an arena (A covered arena with lights would be ideal) The standard size of a Dressage Arena is 20 meters by 60 meters. Show horses need stalls our stalls are 12X12, in a barn with electricity for things like heat lamps, fans, grooming tools, and lights. Show horses will need a wash rack and a grooming area. The wash rack and grooming area need to be separate because hair can tend get into the drain of the wash rack and clog it up. It is good to have the grooming area close to the tack room.
Marc-What about equipment and stuff. Do you have to have tractors to cut and bail all your hay. Sometimes you see those huge bales of hay in the fields, do you use those?
Suzanne-We do not bail our own hay because we have horses that eat the grass in the pasture and poop in the pasture. I wish we could. If we had more acreage we could probably to this!
Marc-What is the best material for the floors?
Suzanne-The barn has concrete flooring but the stalls are not concrete. They have rubber mats on top of clay. The rubber mats keep the stall clean and comfortable for the horses. The bedding in the stall is Kiln Dried Pine Pellets. These are awesome. They come in bags from the local feed store. When you open the bag of pine pellets you can spread them all around the stall and then water them down and they pop open like popcorn. They have the fresh smell of wood chips but are easy to clean around when mucking the stall. After watered down they become very soft. We usually use about 8 bags per stall.
Marc-Are they generally heated?
Suzanne-We use red heat lamps in our barn during the winter. We have a set of plugs by every stall.
Marc-How would you position a barn on a piece of property. Should it be aligned with a road? Do you often have to drive into the stable?
Suzanne-Our barn is positioned East to West. It has to large sliding doors that can be opened to allow air to flow freely through the barn. This also allows trucks in drive straight through the barn. We sometimes drive our Kubota ATV through our barn when mucking out the stalls and the hay truck drives through our barn to unload the hay into the hay room. This also helps when cleaning the barn. We plug in the blower and start and one end and blow all the dirt and hay out the back making for a quick easy quick clean up.
Marc-Are there any considerations with the sun that you need to account for. How do you keep water from freezing during the winter?
Suzanne-The way the barn is positioned east to west is perfect for the sun. It rises in the front of the barn and sets in the back of the barn. I wish there was a better solution to the waterers freezing in the winter. We just deal with this issue and dreadfully in the winter take a sledgehammer and bust up the ice in the mornings. Putting water buckets in the heated barn under the heat lamps is probably ideal for freezing conditions.
Marc-Suzanne this has been tons of fun and I am sure very educational for the listeners. I know that I learned a lot about stables, horses and how to design a more efficient stable. So I really appreciate that. Can you tell our listeners how they can get in touch with you or follow what you are doing?
Suzanne-The best way to follow me is on Instagram @bruce402 Or if you have a question about what we discussed today you can leave comments under todays show.
Marc-Thank you so much for coming on and have a great rest of your day!
Below is an Aerial Photo of the property.
