Overall, I think my boy Ace is very happy in his “new” home at Dave and Tracie’s. There’s not a whole ton of land for the horses to live on, so we are incredibly efficient with what we have. There is a medium sized indoor Cover-All arena (which is amazing!) with four stalls in one end and nice sand footing. There are three pastures. There is also a small, two stall barn which was the original barn.

Dave and Tracie’s four horses live in the arena; they go in their stalls for a few hours morning and evening to eat, but otherwise are loose in the arena. When Ace came, he was in isolation in the small barn. And then Dave added some fencing and built him his own little turnout area between the driveway and the arena. The horses spend their day staring at each other through the arena windows and over the fence.

Then, the weather started to get bad. So, Dave changed the fence line so that Ace now has access to his stall and his turnout. That way, he has the option of getting in out of the weather. Not that he does. He always stands in the rain or snow if he has the option. So, he definitely like his new digs out at Dave and Tracie’s. Check it out ….

Front of Ace’s stall in the small barn. Has room for him, hay storage, and bedding. It’s Ace an my own little piece of horsey heaven.

He is surrounded by hay, which is probably a little bit tortuous to my big piggy.

We have a corner with saddle racks and hooks for our tack, a few cupboards and a plastic container for storage. It’s very cozy.

There’s a narrow run outside Ace’s stall between the small barn and the arena that gives him access to the rest of the turnout.

He has a heated water bucket in his stall, and a heated water trough in the turnout. However, he’ll stand and lick the ice on the trough before he’ll go drink the water in his stall. At the barn end of the turnout the turnout faces east, where Ace has a nice view of the house, woods and sunrises.

The far end of the turnout faces west, with great sunsets, and a big cornfield. You can see the long driveway along the side; Ace likes to chase the cars as they go up and down.

From the corner, you can see a nice view of the Cover All. It stays cooler in summer, warmer in winter, and lets in a ton of natural light. We LOVE it. It tends to be a little noisy if it’s windy or precipitating, but Ace handles the creaking and flapping very well.

The is the short side of the turnout. Ace likes to stand down here because the arena blocks the wind. This is also where he comes to poop. He eats in his stall or at the far end by the water trough. He will leave his food, walk down around the corner, do his business, and go back. He never goes by his food. Smart boy! He also has a good view of the neighbor ponies and the woods out back.

Anything to eat in my stall? (and a different view of the neighbor ponies).

My boy definitely seems happy here. He likes his people, he likes his stall and turnout, he has great views, and he has some horsey companionship.

Eventually, we need to get the boys acclimated to each other so that Ace can have some arena time with them when the weather is really bad. For now, he seems perfectly happy with the situation. And that’s all I need to keep me happy!