09/01/2026
**Day in the life of a horse caretaker.** 🐴✨
It’s a constant balancing act: new clients rolling in, my own horses, and the ones who already know the routine. Never a dull moment around here.
We have a six-stall barn split right down the middle — three on each side. When client horses arrive I always buffer them so they’re never stalled next to each other. Some horses want a buddy, and that’s when Cas or Licorice become the official welcome committee. 💚
Typical lineup:
Artax and Cas on the left, each with their own space.
Licorice on the right.
Sammy gets two spots because he’s a 17.2hh big ol’ boy who needs room to move. 🐎
Our last overnight guests had unexpected truck trouble, so they’ve been with us extra days. That meant Sammy temporarily lost his second run. He’s usually fine with that overnight… not so much when it turns into a multi-day situation. Yes, a 20x24 is a big space — until you put a 17.2hh horse in it. Then it becomes a whole different story. 😅
Last night is why I’m starting to rethink letting the top lot go.
Temperature dropped. Gassy rumblings. At 10:30 pm Sammy started showing signs of gas colic. This is exactly why we do night check. He’d already been a little extra on edge because the client horses have serious separation anxiety — when they get wound up, he feels every bit of it.
Got him into the round pen. Instantly he wanted to move, rolled a few times, and let a *lot* of gas out. He felt so much better and went right back to his “hey I want to eat those leaves” personality. 🍃
Letting a horse roll during colic is controversial. With him I decided to let him do it once and watch closely. The second he hit the ground: gas, roll, more gas, jump up, buck, even more gas. He felt better. That was the information I needed.
Time for musical chairs. 🪑🐴
I moved Cas into a locked stall across from Licorice (stall guard so he could still see everyone) and put Artax in with Licorice. Biggest issue with those two together is they bully Cas at mealtime. Cas doesn’t fight back with them — he takes it out on people instead (pushy face, nippy). Since he got his own space to eat, he’s been way more relaxed.
Feeding setup that actually worked overnight: Noble feeder for Artax with his hay pillow inside it (too high for Licorice). When Artax finishes his and tries to raid Licorice’s pillow, Licorice gives him a hard no… and Artax actually listens. Those two did great. 😂
Checked Sammy again at 3 am (couldn’t sleep). He was good. This morning he’s a sleepy old man who is *very* happy to have his extra run space back.
This is how we learn — by watching, rearranging, and showing up at 10:30 pm and 3 am. The top lot would make all of this so much easier. But I’d need a lot more clients coming through to make it worth the cost.
Anyone else living the musical chairs life with their herd? 🙋♀️🐴
