Horses in the Backyard, That Was the Plan

When we were planning out the un-farm, the husband had firm ideas about where to put the horse paddock. He wanted it right behind the house. He wanted it to be the first thing I saw when I woke up in the morning. Don’t put the horses too far away, he said. He was worried I would get lazy to go to them and end up ignoring them. Put them in a nice, big paddock right behind the house where they can’t be missed!

Horses grazing in the backyard, that was the plan.  But the enclosed paddock area turned out to be too small for two horses. The grass inside the paddock couldn’t grow back fast enough. We considered our options. We could expand the paddock. Or figure out how to do rotational grazing. Or make more more enclosed grazing areas.  Then we figured that the simplest (and cheapest!) solution was to just keep the paddock gate open when we or the caretakers are around and let the horses roam. Now instead of horses in the backyard, we have horses all over the place! It’s not a bad thing. I find it cute when they nibble on the grass by the cottage steps. Or inspect the door mat with their teeth. Or drink from the dogs’ water bowl! Not so great when they step on the rosemary bed.

Sometimes it’s nice to hang out with the horse. Here’s Batman outside the window saying “Hi!” while I was inside the cottage sweeping.

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This post is linked to the Homestead Barn Hop # 153