Introducing Myself

CajuninKy,

Buck is Paul's horse. I don't deal with any of his needs so I have no idea what hay cost though I do know Paul has a pickup truck load delivered for about $50. or so.
I'm told that Buck is 5 gaited (whatever that means). All I know is he's old (34 or 35) and retired. Acts young though and not sway backed either.
I imagine the farmers have insulated pipes to deliver water to their stock in winter. We're not about to go to that expense for one horse! And I know he won't consider it for the GH. Digging a trench 4' deep and running water lines is doable if I were younger.

doccat5 that wouldn't work in sub-zero weather

taynors your link took me to the company's home page but not any specific product.

Thanks,
MollyD

Sounds like a Saddlebred. They are called 5 gaited if they W / T / C, slow gait and rack.
He is a senior citizen. Good to know he is doing so well. We rescued a saddlebred mare who is about 30. We will have to put her down before long as she has an injury that was not taken care of and now cannot be fixed. We have kept her comfortable and given her a happy 6 months but her time is approaching. I will miss her very much but it is the kindest thing we can do for her.

How far is you GH from your house?

CajuninKy,

Wish you could see him when he gallops (G) Looks like the Pony Express!
Thanks for the info on his gaits. Paul has often said he could not figure out what the 5th one was. Must be the one you called rack.

I am sorry about your mare. A neighbor of ours has Arabians and recently his mare (extremely old) died. She'd been very ill for over a year, loosing weight till she was nothing but skin and bones. Very shocking to see but no matter how much she ate she could not put weight on. He'd had her since she was a filly and could not bring himself to put her down. I don't think he could really see how awful she looked. Sometimes people love too much to let go when it's really the best thing for the animal.

My Gh is about 100' from the house. There is a huge deck around the house which prevents it from sitting closer. To put water lines in the trench would be under that deck (another reason for me not to tackle that job!).

MollyD

ahhh sorry
the northerngardener.com has a link for his ideas on the water iwth his GH. I think the link is called Bobs Projects and then click on water trench.
sorry i still have alot to learn on links
the other one is a DG thread on Cattle panel GH lots of info on them and other ideas regarding GH's
sue

How fun this thread has gotten! (except the sadness witht the horses. I'm so sorry to hear of your horse's declining health Cajun).

I am filing away all this great information and these helpful suggestions. I know I'm not the only person with money concerns and you all seem to understand how important it is that I get the best bang for my buck. I have to remember that this is just a hobby, LOL and not get too carried away in my enthusiasm. On the other hand I want to do it right so that I'm not undoing next year everything that I do now. I guess the key is to continue researching and brain-picking and you guys are coming through like troopers!

Now if I could just keep my nose out of the online plant sights I will have REALLY accomplished something.

Sue thanks for the link. I will look into that.

Lala my problem is all the gorgeous pictures here on DG! They always lead me straight into trouble :-)

MollyD

Sue just read his info and while he lives in North Dakota (mailing address anyway) he clearly isn't talking about winter! He talks about rain. It snows in winter unless the temperature has gotten above freezing.

Thanks anyway.

MollyD

Lala i guess we shouldn't tell you about the plant trades and the seed trading threads then huh ? Muwahahahhahaha
We are a bunch of frugal folks around here
WE are also bad enablers , so if you need help at control . well .... your on your own lol :)
The tomato people are realy bad enablers lol :)
Molly yes i reread it and i guess his weather isn't like ours lol :) ours would end up a ice rink . Somtimes my reading is " not smarter than a 5th grader 'LOL :)
sue

Molly

The gallop is called a canter. W/T/C stands for walk, trot, canter which are the 3 gaits most horses do. Some breeds are called easy gaited and have specialized gaits. Out of the 11 horses we have, 8 are easy gaited. We have Tennessee Walkers ( TWH ), Rocky Mountains ( RMH ), Kentucky Mountain Pleasure ( KMP ), Standardbred and Saddlebred. Our 3 non gaited are Haflinger, Percheron cross and a miniature. The rack is a 4 beat gait that some of the easy gaited breeds do.

So sad about your neighbors horse. It is true that it is hard for people to let go but sometimes it becomes the only kind option. We have to put the animal before ourselves and not be selfish in our grief. It is easier to say than to do.

The deck sure makes it hard to get water to your greenhouse. Is the deck on the ground or could an ambitious teenage boy get under it? Might be a good project for a boy scout looking for a badge. LOL

CajuninKy I told Paul about the gaits and he was all excited cause he had never been able to figure out those last two you listed. He knew about the first three alright. He's had Buck for about 18 years now and he never thought to research this on the net :-) men!

Our deck has clearance under it but any boy scout that saw the job would probably run in the opposite direction -LOL

MollyD

Could you post a pic of Buck? I would love to see him? It's so cool Paul has had him for so long. How long has it been since Buck was actually ridden? He may miss it.

Here is a pic of my 2 DGSs at Thanksgiving. The bigger one is Nathaniel aka Knock. He is 6 and he and his Mom live with us in Ky. The smaller one is Rayden aka Radar. He lives in La. They are riding Knock's Haflinger, Goldy. She is a sweetheart.

CajuninKy your horse is a beauty! Cute kids too :-)

Below is Buck's photo. Paul actually took him out briefly three times this summer. One was actually a pick up since Buck broke out of his pasteur and raided a neighbors feed bin :-) He's a 4 legged juvenile delinquent.
They live about 2 miles from us so Paul had to ride him home.
These pictures were taken 3 years ago but Buck hasn't changed at all.

MollyD

Those are great pics !!!
Love to see kids riding
would love to get my kids a horse , my youngest DD she walks like a horse all day loooong and then she trots like one too all around the house lol :) she just loves pretending to be a horse
I guess its in the genes lol i was just like that too
but right now i think we will wait unitl she is older.
sue

Molly

Buck is a real beauty. It's good Paul still rides him a bit. Animals want to feel useful and needed just the same as people. He looks like he is in excellent condition. It's easy to see he is loved and taken good care of. Likely why he still has the spirit and character of a young horse. LOL

Here is our Ginger. As you can see she was not treated with respect by her former owners. She is elderly and has an old injury to her right hind ankle. We have put about 200 lbs on her since we got her but we can't let her get much heavier as the added weight is causing problems with the leg. Favoring the one leg has involved the other leg and it can't be fixed. She is still comfortable for the most part but we know it is just a matter of time. I will really miss her. I have grown very fond of her.

Sue

I don't ever remember pretending to be a horse though I'm sure I did. I do remember always "riding" a mighty steed around. I must have traveled around the world on the backs of those magnificent animals. I still like to daydream.

Here is another one of our horses. She is a RMH / TWH cross. Her name is Firefly but it should be Wildfire. She is a brat. LOL Always has to have the last word. Her owner had to have brain surgery and could no longer care for her. His daughter, who is a friend of mine, had her but could not handle her. She is an alpha mare and is very pushy. My friend knew the horse needed an owner that could make her mind without being abusive so she gave her to us. She couldn't believe I rode her as soon as I got her home. She is sassy but I like her. She is a 10 yo strawberry roan.

My dd saw the pic and now is pretending to be her. I told her she was a naughty horse lol :) and now she is singing " im a naughty firefly horsy, naaah naaaah " lol :) she is really enjoying the pics of all the horses. Then pretending to be them lol
what a wonderful imagination you have Cajun. Yes i bet riding all those mighty steeds , you came across adventures. :)
thanks
sue

Sue your daughter sounds precious!

CajuninKy I am so glad that mare will at least have had good treatment at the end of her life. btw she is 'fat' compared to our neighbor's mare that died. Firefly has a sassy grin on her face!

MollyD

Thanks Molly, she thinks she is pretty precious too.lol :)
Cajun do you do horse rescue ? sounds like some horses are very lucky to be with you. :)
I am afraid that with my heart, on my sleeve I am a sucker for animals in need. I think i might be in trouble lol :)
ok i got to ask
what is RMH/TWH ?
i just can't get the obvoius sometimes lol :)
sue

We are not a rescue but horses in need find their way to us. We "fix" them up and find them a better situation. 5 of our 11 are rescues. The skinny ones are the easy fixes. Good feed and hay are easy enough to provide. The harder cases are the abused ones. I have 2 of those. My main riding horse has been a very difficult horse to work with but well worth all the extra time and effort. He was very badly abused. He was shown in pads and had his legs burned. He was pressure shod and hot nailed. He was also beaten. I thought for a time that I was going to have to put him down due to the fact his fear made him dangerous. He would blow up and mentally "check out". But he has finally come around with fair, consistent treatment. He knows what the rules are and being an intelligent animal he has figured out that breaking the rules earns punishment but never beatings. His trust is slowly coming back and I am starting to see glints of his personality coming through. He is a very imposing figure. Tall and regal with a proud bearing.

TWH is a Tennessee Walking Horse
RMH is a Rocky Mountain Horse

Here is a pic of my big boy, Shaq. He is so black he looks purple.

Your right he does look purple
amazing what he has gone through. To bad . Wonderful that you can see some spririt back in him.
Guess what my DD fav movie is ? ...... one guess....... Spirit ! she used to like Flicka. Now its Spirit.
You have a special tough with horses Cajun :)
see i told you the obvious isn't so obvious to me at times lol :) duh
sue

OK just a very small update. No greenhouse yet, but at least there is talk of a greenhouse. LOL. Moving it in is contingent on the weather (the ground is too wet right now, and next week there will snow again, then it will probably be too frozen to get the tie-downs out of the ground. Blah.) But I get to put flags down to mark where I want it so when I get that window of perfect weather we can slip it in. Yay! I get to put flags down!

I am a sad case, am I not? :-P

I would be interested in where you are going to put it . This was one of the biggest decisions for me. What direction have you decided for the door opening? Are there trees around?

Are you going to boost the foundation up to make it taller?

I remember when my greenhouse came.. I have a little HF. It came in two boxes in a "million" parts.. I was so excited about it I couldn't sleep. We share your excitement!

Hey Kathy! Do you have any suggestions? It's going to have to go out back by the Giraffe House somewhere but I'm not exactly sure where to place it. (Let me explain the Giraffe House. It came with the property and I think it might have originally been a playhouse(?) at one time. It was the oddest looking structure being only about 8X8 but about 500 feet high. The first time I heard the neighbor kids call it the Giraffe House I thought I'd bust a gut 'cause that's exactly what it looks like. And so it has been called ever since. I was going to tear it down last summer as it was in pretty sorry shape, but I needed an outbuilding/potting shed so badly that dad stepped up to the plate for me once again, and for very little money and a heck of a lot of elbow grease I now have a cute little outbuilding).

I will post a picture and you can tell me what you think. Sorry, the only one I have from a distance is my before and after picture, but those can be kind of fun so what the heck? The small front entrance under the porch faces west and there is a bigger double door in the back where I push the mower in and out. There is also an access lane directly behind it which will be very handy for bringing supplies in and out. There is a pretty good tree canopy over the GH....oh! I guess "GH" is already in use as GreenHouse so I shall here-in refer to the Giraffe House as "the shed." Anyway, the lane is right behind the shed on the east side and there is too much shade on the north. This narrows my choices right down for me, but I'm still not sure. The GH is small enough that I can angle it in howerer I like and I seem to recall reading that it's better sitting angled to the southeast(?) but I'm not really sure what that means. I could bring it up a little closer to the house along the access lane leaving enough space between it and the shed....ack, I'm just not sure.

As far as raising it, I'm going to guess that I won't do it this year. I really hate to ask dad to invest even more time and effort than he had intended, so if I can get in place even temporarily this spring I will re-visit making any adjustments this summer.

(In re-reading this post I have to say that sometimes I amaze even myself when it comes to answering a simple question with a 4 page answer.)

WOW for a min i thought you acutally had a giraffe !! lol
Hey cool on the GH.
your pics are looking good on it
Yeah this weather is giving me the spring fever that is for sure. It just can't make up its mind this yr ,snow ,rain ,sleet or more rain ?
I am waiting for a driveway lol
We are building a cattle panel GH and cold frame's.
gonna be kinda tough though it is pretty far away from any water or electic . But the spot i have picked is a good one so hopefully i can just rely on solar :)
Hey lala any more pics
maybe the previous owner really had a giraffe that they were hiding LOL :)
sue

Those guidelines about what direction to point the GH are idealized scenarios assuming you don't have something blocking the sun that comes from that ideal direction. In a more real-life scenario where you do have trees, giraffe houses, etc, I think it's just like deciding how much sun exposure an area gets to decide what you want to plant there. Mark out the area(s) you think you could put the GH, then pick a sunny day and go out and look at your areas every few hours, and pay attention to which one seems like it gets the most sun for the most hours.

Let's see..

I think if I could have put my GH up again, I would have tried to somehow attach it to the house, so that I could go in and out of it from the house.. That was almost impossible though.. and like you , there were lots of considerations.. With this big old two story farmhouse, If I put it anywhere else except the south side of the house , There would have been too much sun blocked.. I do have it close enough to the house that I can run out there for a few minutes at a time.. I could have put it up by the barns, There is electricity and water, but not as accessible..

LalaJane, Certainly if your shed is your potting area, then I would try to make my entrance of each building rather close. So you won't have so far to carry your supplies.

Do I see a highway behind your shed? Did you say at some point in the future you may want to have a business? Is it possible there might be a place for a drive way of some sort different from the front of your house for you business? and that should also be a consideration when putting up your greenhouse?

Ohhh, good thinking KathyJo!! Lala, you should be up and running by Spring. Get that business plan together, girlfriend.

Lala,

Kathy Jo is right about keeping it as close to your shed as possibly. Ideally you want the long side of the greenhouse to face south for maximum sun exposure. If you can do this and still be close (or even attached to the side of your shed!) it would be a good idea.

MollyD

It's here, it's here, it's here!!!! Oh my goodness I'm so excited....and totally surprised.

With the weather being so unco-operative all winter long my Christmas gift has sat at the home of the previous owner low these many months. The task master I was working for had me toiling from sun up to sun down (literally) the last couple of weeks, and the GH had been sitting in my back yard for over a week before I even knew it was there.

Look out y'all....I'm about to bombard you with a million questions again.

Starting now.............

I spent the afternoon toting plants out to my little slice of Heaven. (I'd forgotten what it was like to have a dining room table and hallway. Wow does this little cottage look like a castle with all the extra space now!) It's a fer piece from the house to the GH, so it took a couple of hours and several trips with the wheel barrow to get all the seedlings moved out. Now my question is, am I going to have to tote them all back inside tonight?

This afternoon it was not quite 60° outside and when I opened the door to the GH the thermometer read almost 90°. Holy schnikies, who knew? (Well I suppose you all knew, but the difference in temps really blew me away.) Now I'm in a quandry not knowing if it will hold enough heat to keep all the seedlings happy through the night. None of them have been hardened off, and it's supposed to dip down to 40° tonight. What say ye fellow green house owners? (oooh I love the sound of that). Can I leave them out tonight, or do I need to begin the trek back to the house?

My guess would be mid to high 50's in there tonight.

MollyD

Im sooooo jealous !!!!! of you
Whaaaa :)
it looks wonderful Lala
hey Lala are you comming to the Ohio RU ?
Most people use some sort of heat mass like black containers with water
cememnt blocks
that is a real skill trying to control the heat
Just experiment with the ventilation. You do have vents or some type of vents in the GH ? or just use the door. a bit open
90 is much to hot unless your doing tropicals
No you shouldn't have to tote them back inside
they are protected from the elements , wind ,rain ,freeeze, ect...
The temp will stay at night just close it up it should ok
what kind is that
looks really nice
sue

Thank you ladies! I did prop the door open and the back window as well during the "heat" of the day. I think I was most concerned because I've not hardened anything off, and if it doesn't hold the heat and drops down to 40......

Sue, I've not been on the ORV forum for awhile. I'll have to pop over and see when the RU is going to be held.

Hope to see you there
remember its like a car
even when its 35 out as long as the sun is out it can heat the inside to 80 easily
looks great

Congrats on your new GH! It looks wonderful! :) I just got mine a few weeks ago and I love playing with it!

I have run an electric space heater a couple of nights when it got down in the 30's, but otherwise don't. Most of my seedlings appear to be doing well. Even the summer vegetable seeds that I put in seed trays 10 days ago are up and growing.

Since I don't heat at night, I make sure to not let it get much above 70 in there during the day. Figured the very wide temperature (between day and night) extreme might be too much for them.