The Homestead

 

 

With one group of horses introduced, it's time to move on to take a tour of The Homestead. That is what we call our Cheyenne facility. It consists of about 100 acres, two stall barns, an indoor arena, a shop, storage buildings, housing, and a variety of turnouts with loafing sheds. It was homesteaded in the early 1900s with the original barn built around 1912. It became a Hereford bull ranch and became known for the bull sales. The house came not too far behind in 1916. When we purchased it, it was run down and poorly maintained. We spent years digging bundles of fencing out of grass and trees, junk out of the fields, and renovating the barns and fences.

The other buildings were added over the years, including The Cavalry Barn, our main stall barn. That came from FE Warren Air Force Base in town, where it served as a Cavalry barn during both World Wars. It's sister barn is about ten miles away, where it was used as an indoor arena for an Arabian breeder. For us, The Cavalry Barn is the center of the facility. It's the barn that houses rehabilitation cases, stallions as needed, overflow foaling, and whatever other individual cases that need stalls.

The Sale Barn was exactly that: a sale barn. Auctions for the Hereford bulls occurred in that barn, which is why there are drop down bleachers still attached to the ceiling. Now, The Sale Barn is our foaling barn. It is well equipped with heaters for those early foals, as well as cameras. It is a spacious barn, giving us large (20'x20') foaling stalls. While it's not fancy, it has served us well for over 75 foals now.

The Clearspan arena was built in 2015. While skeptical about how those buildings might withstand the wind, it has performed well. The horses enjoy the bright, open atmosphere in the arena. They eventually get used to the loud wind sounds that cause the fabric to flap, as well as the snow sliding off in sheets.

Palpations and vet care are done in the stocks located in the shop. It works well for us, even if it is basic.

The best feature about The Homestead is the fact that the horses are happy and relaxed. The numerous turnouts means that everyone lives in small herds with their friends. Often, we have to move horses around until they figure out who their friends are, but they all eventually figure it out.

It's not a fancy facility, but it has been a labor of love by everyone involved. It's a place that was built by both our core group
and all of our volunteers. It's a community for us and for the horses.

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