Keep Calm – We’re Renovating!

One of the most popular questions we get asked on our tours is.. “How many people does it take to run WM?” … What an excellent question. Most people would say A LOT, but honestly we have a small handful of the hardest working, most wonderful employees anyone could imagine. These guys and gals put their heart and soul into caring for WM, and take great pride in creating a peaceful and pleasant working and living environment for fellow visitors, workers, and livestock. Our team members wear many hats throughout their work day, cleaning, organizing, washing, walking, dusting, moving furniture, setting up at events, hauling horses, feeding, watering, building fence, painting, crafting, fixing.. you name it, they do it! We would not be who we are today without these great people who help create the backbone of Windy Meadows. Our great team is always ready when we present them with our wild projects. Sometimes our projects are HUGE and other times they are very small.

This time our project is….. HUGE! Some of you have probably seen some of these pics on facebook, but I wanted to go into detail to explain exactly what we are doing today!

Where to start…. Where to start…

Wash Rack Renovation 

If you’ve been around WM in the past and or present and I asked you to write a review of our wash rack.. the results would be totally UGLY.

Before:

For such a large stable, our wash rack was pathetic! Close your eyes and imagine- 1 stall open front wash rack. Plywood painted walls (white), ripped up aged mats, super aged cross ties. Behind the horse lies a long drain that stretches from wall to wall. Behind that is a small cubby which houses the faucets and hose. Doesn’t sound to bad.. and honestly it wasn’t. What was terrible about this itty bitty wash rack was the drain. The drain itself stretches not only through the wash rack but all the way down the concrete pad behind the grooming racks. This was a problem because if the horse backs up and “dumps” …. it falls right into the drain. For quite some time we have had the grooming rack drains covered with wood to make sure this doesn’t happen. In the case of the wash rack drain, if any horse hair, poop, suds, or dirt falls into  the drain … it clogs! Now when I say clog… I really mean it. Water would begin to stand under the horse and it just turned into a mess. The other problem was that after washing even 1 horse.. the drain would clog.. and wouldn’t drain. I feel really bad for Juan, because he’s the one who always gets the drain cleaning responsibility, because its just so gross. He would have to pull up the drain top and the mesh which was put in place to help prevent the clogging… (it didn’t work), put gloves on and physically scoop the sludge out of the drain … by… hand. *gag* (the drain is only so wide…. pretty much wide enough for hands only.) Long Story Short… the old wash rack = thumbs down!

After: All I can start by saying is #DREAM. Our amazing team is turning our outdated, aged wash rack into a 5 star service center! The new wash rack has been expanded! We are now able to wash two horses at a time, or wash one, and wash another while his friend dries.  We have replaced all the plumbing and have added all new fixtures with warm and cool temperatures. Before.. a wet horse would either stand in the grooming racks in front of a small box fan to dry or be tied in his stall until dry. Depending on the horse and the weather, this could take a long time. We have eliminated both of these old ways by installing fans.

The days if the old plastic box fans are over, along with the mismatched metal fans hanging on the stall fronts. Today we have installed very special barn fans to help move the air more efficiently  in a very safe way. These fans are suggested for stable and farm use. Two hanging over each wash stall and one fan for each WM horse stall and story book character. #spoiled. These fans are great because they are now mounted up above the stalls, they are metal and don’t heat like the small plastic box fans. They also are designed to not collect dirt and dust. They are placed high off the ground and alleviate the dangers of being knocked over, chewed on, or even seen!

The wash rack (s) and grooming stantions have all been power washed, cleaned, and repainted, along with the barn lockers that are located behind the grooming racks.

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Included on the list of awesome renovations was our 100 x 200 outdoor arena.  The new footing has excellent drainage and is home to our new custom trail / obstacle course.

Along with all of this, All the barns have been completely repainted.

Farms of any kind are forever a work in progress and we are so excited to show off our newest renovations!

We want to thank our amazing team for all of their hard work and for putting up with our crazy ideas and plans.