Farm Tour: A Financially Feasible Horse Facility
This carefully designed dressage boarding barn is chore-efficient and tidy. The details draw clients, save time, and help protect the environment.
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How do you make a small fortune with horses? Start out with a large one! At least that’s the way the joke is told. It’s no joke that this landowner is working to make her horse property financially sustainable, something many horse businesses are not. Join in on this tour to learn how this equestrian property real estate broker has made unique adaptations to her boarding business to attract clients—and care for the environment.
Misfit Farm
Misfit Farm, in Redmond, Washington, is a 16-acre dressage training facility that neatly boards 18 horses. Owner Teri Herrera has carefully organized and put together a business plan for her place that makes the facility appealing to her client base. | Photo: Alayne Blickle
Keep Long-Term Maintenance in Mind
All modifications and improvements to new structures are done with long-term maintenance in mind. The covered dressage arena is sized correctly for the discipline and has several mirrors for riders’ use. Overhead sprinklers maintain the correct moisture for the silica sand footing. | Photo: Alayne Blickle
Arena Viewing Area
Herrera has made new additions with thought to client comfort and ease. For example, an arena viewing area is equipped with a cell phone charging station. | Photo: Alayne Blickle
Tack Room
A comfortable owners’ tack room was finished using reclaimed materials from old barns and wood products sourced off Herrera’s land – cost-effective and sustainable choices. | Photo: Alayne Blickle
Indoor Wash Rack
The indoor wash rack has additional lighting placed low so veterinarians and farriers can see horses’ legs. | Photo: Alayne Blickle
Feed Room
A well-organized feed room has exceptional lighting for reading and measuring ease, as well as chore-efficient labeling and storage. A specialized sink allows for washing out water buckets and feed tubs. | Photo: Alayne Blickle
Barn Interior and LED Lighting
The barn’s interiors are finished with lumber sourced from the property. Using a grant from her power company and at no cost to her, Herrera installed all LED lighting throughout Misfit Farm, dramatically reducing her power bill. | Photo: Alayne Blickle
Horse Paddocks
Paddocks, designed for horse health along with chore efficiency, contain crushed granolithic rock over geotextile fabric. Crushed rock provides a well-draining, puddle-free footing for horses and makes manure removal easy. | Photo: Alayne Blickle
Bedding
Herrera acquires bedding, which she uses on top of her rubber stall mats, for low cost from a nearby cabinetmaker. It is low-dust, made from nontoxic wood products, and comes in easy-to-store and -transport, weather-proof bags.| Photo: Alayne Blickle
Composting Bins
Large-scale composting bins are needed for 18 horses that each produce 50 pounds of manure per day. These roofed compost bins keep rainwater from turning the compost into a soggy mess. A concrete apron at the front of bins allows for easy tractor access and chore efficiency. | Photo: Alayne Blickle
Utilizing Finished Compost
Finished compost is used in pastures, gardens, and flowerbeds—including a pollinator hedgerow, which provides an important habitat for native pollinating insects. This is just another way that Herrera makes her place attractive while “giving back” to the environment. | Photo: Alayne Blickle
Horse Condos
Individual horse “condos” with mud-free paddocks (a miracle for horses in the wet Seattle area!) are another attractive feature that allow for horses to move freely but still have shelter. They include client storage lockers. | Photo: Alayne Blickle
Poultry
Poultry are kept on the farm for weed and slug control, as well as for eggs—and for the all-important job of desensitizing horses. | Photo: Alayne Blickle
Outdoor Wash Rack
An outdoor wash rack gives horse owners additional bathing options. | Photo: Alayne Blickle
A Chore-Efficient Horse Farm
Misfit Farm’s approach to horse-keeping is chore-efficient, horse healthy, client-friendly, environmentally sensitive, and good for business.| Photo: Alayne Blickle
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