When we first walked the property and quickly realized that with a lot of hard work, our dreams to build a horse farm could become a reality.	62+ acres of gently rolling pasture land bordered by hardwood trees and creeks made this a perfect setting for a future horse breeding and training farm.
Before the tractor, we had to use the "Lil John Deere" to cut along what seemed to be miles of fence lines. Lee was a major help in running up and down existing and future fence lines in order to start laying posts and fencing.	Once Lee cut the paths, Don started with the weed eater... and he continued with the weed eater... and continued with the weed eater... until the weed eater quit...  then he had to get another weed eater so he could continue with the weed eating!
On rainy days, the work on the barn started. The existing barn had no stalls, 1/2 the floor was concrete, 1/2 was dirt. and there was a shop that was a NIGHTMARE to remove!	Inside the barn was a shop that had to be removed...  Unfortunately, the previous owner went nuts with a nail gun and glue!  The demolition of this shop was a major ordeal that took much longer than expected to complete...

Once the walls, ceiling, and framing was removed, then we had to deal with the "darn" floor!  Nailed and glued into place, we had to first cut the floor out before removing it.	Parker lent a hand with a sledge hammer that weighed almost as much as he did!  Dynamite comes in small packages!
Finally, the "darn" shop was down!	The grading of the two riding rings began in the spring... The landscape was "adorned" with Caterpillar earth-movers. Tons of earth were moved and reshaped to provide the two riding rings.
While the building of the barn interior took place, the grading of the two riding rings began.  We called on our friend Terry who owns a grading company to do that work...  moving tons of earth and clearing out part of the tree line required massive bulldozers like this one Parker is in...  When Terry went home, Parker "tooled" around the farm on the "big mutha"...  Hahhahha!	The lower ring is a 90 x 180 that is adjacent to the barn...  Sitting up a hill, the ring has a beautiful view of the main pastures and always has a nice breeze blowing across it.

The upper ring is adjacent to the house and drive leading to the property.  This 100 x 200 ring is graded perfectly and holds 17 truck loads of stone dust for a perfect footing.  Even after a hard rain, this ring shows no sign of water...  excellent drainage!	Parker (you can see him, he's the little speck to the left), enjoyed slopping around in the mud of the lower ring after a rain shower.  Prior to the final grading and stone dust, the ring provided the boys with an excellent way to get muddy!
Without a doubt, the biggest pain was picking up the rock after the riding rings were graded...  this was a chore that Don tried every possible way to get out of doing!! Donna, on the other hand, literally worked under the light of the moon to complete this horrific aspect of getting the farm ready.	Never underestimate the power of a woman! Donna even used a jackhammer to cut holes in the concrete floor so that the 6x6 posts could be sunk two feet into the ground.  Unfortunately, we didn't have the luxury of pouring the floor around the posts as we would have preferred!
The time had come for the first two horses to arrive...  The fences were finally secure and the pastures were full of lush green grass...  Lucy and Bay B Bonanza were the first two to arrive!	To live on this beautiful property was wonderful! To look out the living room window and see horses grazing was a dream come true...

With bulldozer tracks still in the riding ring after leveling the stone dust and only the ring fence posts in place, Donna had to try it out.  Here she is with Bay B Bonanza working in the upper ring for the very first time!	Don obviously had more patience than Donna as you can see, he waited until the ring was complete to ride his beautiful AQHA mare "Lucy".
After nearly a year of working nights and weekends, the barn was ready for horses. 100 pound rubber mats, 6x6 studs, hundreds of 2x8 boards... AND NOT ONE NAIL WAS USED!	Seven stalls, a wash stall, and a tack room were built. It just doesn't get any nicer than this!
The 20x14 tack room is perfect for both English and Western tack.	And when it is all said and done...  After a long day working on the farm...  It seems that it is all worth it when you can sit on the front porch and just watch the sunset over the western pasture...