Before you start building your new barn from the ground up, start with the ground and below. There are three parts to the underside – the foundation, the footings and the flooring.  Foundation and footings are what hold your barn up, keep it from shifting in cold and heat, and provide the stability to keep it from moving in high winds.  Those decisions are best left to the professionals.  An Extension Service engineer can take a look at your proposed building, the site and the soils and advise you on the proper footing depth and wall sizes.  You may want to hire a professional to pour the concrete walls or floors, especially when working with floors with drains or plumbing.

A barn is built by just two people – you and your barn builder. He may have many other people on the job, but the success of your barn is going to depend on your relationship with your barn builder.

You've made the decision - THIS is the year you're building your dream barn! You've got the ideas, you've got the money, you've got the permits.  Are you ready to go?  Not quite.

Most likely during winter, your frequency and length of ride time decreased quite a bit.  Now you want to start enjoying longer trail rides or maybe competing in an upcoming show.  This information can help to condition your horse after a lay off.

Braided, bundled, banged or natural.

A viewing room often acts as the hub of a barn – it’s a place for riders and others to gather and relax while watching friends or family ride. Your viewing room may also double as a lounge or meeting place. Whatever its purpose, these tips for creating an ideal viewing room can ensure that the room is welcoming and functional.

Now that winter is over (hopefully), you swore that you are not riding in a muddy arena next year.  Whether you want an indoor or an outdoor arena, it's the footing that will make or break how good your arena is for you and your horse.  Good footing is important in reducing the risk of lameness as well as optimizing performance.  Constant wear and tear of the joints from bad footing is a leading cause of soft tissue injuries of muscles, ligaments, and tendons.  In addition, a horse that does not feel secure and safe on footing will not feel comfortable jumping or otherwise performing to the best of his ability.   Below are five things you should consider for the best arena footing for your horse.

For many years, straw was the preferred bedding for most horse owners.   It was dust free, comfortable and easy to compost.  According to Brett Scott, PhD, extension horse specialist at Texas A&M University, straw also made a good bed because it dried well and stayed fairly clean if manure is picked out often, but it was not as absorbent as some other types of bedding.  And was definitely more labor intensive to maintain.  "It can be difficult to clean; you typically have to remove a large amount to clean out the manure and, thus, end up using more total bedding," says Scott. Over the years, several other types of stall bedding have been developed, included shavings and, one of the newest, wood pellet bedding.

The controversy with how to deworm, when to deworm and even IF you should deworm has been loud and heated.  The solutions seem to be either overmedicate (and your horse develops a resistance to dewormers) or don’t deworm at all (and take a chance your horse gets infested).  But there IS happy medium.  Here’s how.

If you are lucky enough to be getting a tax return from the government this year, consider investing at least some of that money into upgrading your barn.  As we've said before, you don't have to do a major overhaul all at one time to get  your dream barn.  Start with something small that can make a big impact on your barn's look and/or functionality.