Is your heart in it,Vera??

 Haha I love the title of this post. 

So.. I had previously bought a heart rate monitor for Sherwood, but found that I didn't use it as often as I should because.. let's face it, she was always fit. It was more about watching my heart rate skyrocket when she was having an exuberant moment. Then the company went out of business and... I just never used it again. 

I had bought it at SP in the bargain attic because it was there and I'd kicked around the idea, but.. it was a pain to make work, the GPS was lousy, and.. I really couldn't justify putting in the effort because there wasn't a dire need. 

I'm on the hunt for a new one because Vera is... not fit for what I would like to do, so here we go again!

Now, here's my question- how do YOU shop? I mean, how do you go about figuring out which product to buy, sorting through the options, what you need vs what would be nice, comparing prices, then actually pulling the trigger? Logan laughs when he tries to explain my methods to anyone because to just about everyone except a few, it looks like I go off on a whim and make huge radicaly decisions with no input. When in fact.. typically... it only looks like that because I've percolated things super close to my vest for.. weeks to months, to years, occasionally looking into it some more, refreshing my memory, reviewing the costs, until... I do it. Bam. Done.

Where does one start the process? Me? I like to ask friends who have them, look on Google, watch some YouTubes... then weigh how much I want/need it. 

And.. GO snow, GO!!!

The weather hit 55+ yesterday and everyone was feeling it! LoL 

 It was supposed to rain all day, so I got up bright and early and took Vera ground driving up to the big field- I had been planning on doing it anyway, but Jessie gave me the final push. And look how awesome it went! I took the two mutts with us and everyone had a great walk. Even Logan got in on the action when I realized I'd forgotten my phone and had to run in to get it. 

Then, I finished up some stuff around the house that's been bothering me- although I CANNOT FIGURE OUT HOW 3-WAY SWITCHES WORK!!! AHHHHH!! Those hallways switches are going to be the death of me. Or my house. Or all of us when my wiring skillz burn it down in the night. eeh. Got a little morbid there. Nvm! Overall, the house is looking.. new. Like a brand new home that is just so snazzy, I stand in my mudroom and just.. sigh a little about how nice it is. So nice. so so nice. Then I put boxes on my dogs' heads and take pictures of them looking at me like I don't pay for their food and just ask for mild entertainment in exchange!! Seriously. What gives with the ingrates at my house?!

But thennnn... the sun came out, it was 60 degrees and I was like, Why am I still in the house?! So.. I got the girly out for a walk down the road and we found a sidetrail I've always wanted to explore- so we did!! Vera is officially awesome. I heart her very much. I also let Logan and Hank figure out the mystery of why the drainage line isn't draining... and leaving us with a 3' deep pond in my paddocks. *Face plant* And the tractor is just for funsies. :) 

 

Barns. Ohhhh barns!!!

 Barns.

No one tells you how much easier an actual barn makes horse life when you say you can just "deal with a run-in... for now." No one. They're all like, "Yeah, that'll be totally fine! You got this!" 

I turned Luna's stall into a tack stall this week- and I won't lie, I kind of had a moment of sheer terror thinking that the mats were going to be slippery and Vera would slip and die. Then I walked in, pounced all over the place looking like a gazelle on crack jumping forward and landing to see if I would skid or lose my footing, and concluded that the mats were not slippery. Luna just.. fell. It was an accident, and although a tragic one, a freak one. And that if Vera is slipping and falling while on cross ties, I have seriously fucked up. So.. I stopped jumping around like a gazelle on crack and screwed in the purple crossties from 1312- yay! They're back up!!

With that said, I am so done with run-in life and ready for my beautiful barn with an aisle and cross ties and a drain and... cement floors. It's going to be awesome. 

But before any of that can happen, I have to figure out what I want. And this, my friends, this is a HUGE problem. Or, as they say in NY, a YOOJ problem. YOOJ. 

(On another note, I just figured out I can play Amazon Music from the work computer and.. this is awesome. Sugar Ray? Hell yes.)

So, back to designing a barn. I have gone back and forth over how many stalls, set up, etc. Looked into a center aisle, enclosed shedrow, loft, no loft, goddddd. 

Basically, I have 2 horses who COULD show up- Kimber and Sher's baby (because Logan and I made the very difficult but also strangely peaceful decision, that Sherwood is not allowed back home- for our safety and sanity), and Vera is home. We also have the possibility of a nice older horse for Logan, so potentially 4. I need a tack room. I need a 10' aisle so I can get the tractor or truck down it. I need turn out sacrifice paddocks. I need... less mud. So much less mud. 

With that said, I have a perfectly good system right now with my 2-stall run in with Vera and my NEW TACK STALLLL!!! And my newly stone dusted sacrifice areas. Especially with the craziness of the world making me wonder if WW3 is around the corner. WTF Russia. Do I need to move to the middle of nowhere, like, yesterday???

Things already considered:

1. We need to have hay storage somewhere for the total number of stalls on the property. Whether that is in the trailer, the loft, or we build a hay storage area, I don't care. But.. we need enough for 150 bales/horse per year. Especially the way hay has been the last few years. So, if we have 4 stalls in the new barn, and one in the runin, we need storage for 750 bales of hay. that's a lot of hay. The trailer itself stores about 500 bales. 
2. No wash stall- drain in the furthest section of aisle in front of tack room if need to hose in winter- heated water. 
3. Stall fronts- open front with stall gates
1. https://www.bigdweb.com/product/stall+gate+large+no+yoke+52w++x++62h.do?sortby=ourPicksAscend&refType=&from=fn&ecList=7&ecCategory=100673

Pertinent questions: 

1. How many staaaaallllsssss???? Because I have proven myself to be a huge hoarder who WILL fill up the stalls I have. With absolutely NO self control at all. 
1. Of course, we could leave an open area without stalls set up to save money up front.. But I know my loverly husband. I just know him. 
2. Do we need a hayloft? And if yes, do we plan to store hay up there? How much more expensive are higher walls? You still need a roof.. But if I'm not storing hay, then... Hmm..
3. How much cement flooring do we need? Aisle? Stalls? Just the tack room?
1. Tar and chip aisle??
2. Drain at the end- angle entire thing so water runs out the back