Our Haflinger Horses - Al and Brandy Wagner of
Tiffin, Ohio
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This is what the house looked like when we bought it. It sat empty for over a year and was definitely in need of some TLC. After many years of slow but steady work, this is how it looks today.
We put a 3/4 acre pond in behind the barn soon after we bought the place to have a spot to relax and cool down during the summer months. It's definitely one of our favorite places to be. Just click on any photo in the gallery for it to be displayed larger.
Lovin' the Pond!
Although we redid the barn interior prior to working on the house (first things first you know) after the house was pretty well done we decided to add steel siding over the exterior of the barn and remodel the stalls. Here's the barn before with some of the old siding removed.
And here's how it looks with the new steel siding.
Shortly after (or perhaps during) the makeover of the existing barn (fall '99), we decided to add a small indoor arena and additional stalls onto the west end of the existing structure. The barn addition includes seven spacious 13' x 17' stalls and a 56' x 64' indoor arena. Four of the stalls have automatic, heated waterers and there is an overhead sprinkler system in the arena that can be set to automatically water it as needed. The upper portion of the sidewalls of the addition are a poly fabric curtain material which can be easily raised in the warm weather months providing excellent ventilation and light. During the winter months they are lowered blocking the wind, but still letting in plenty of natural light. Having the ability to continue training during the winter and early spring months has been wonderful for us and the horses. Just click on any photo in the gallery for it to be displayed larger.
poles going in for new addition
We have now finished the 60 ft. permanent roundpen built of wood and lined with rubber belting and the 100 x 200 outdoor arena on the north side of the barn. These two areas are a great asset to our training program and a wonderful place to give lessons for either horses or humans!
view of roundpen with outdoor arena behind it
What's next? Well in the late summer of 2005 we decided to re-roof the house and add onto the kitchen and bath. This project is well underway and will increase the floor space in those two rooms by ten feet as well as double the ceiling height. The addition of skylights has made a wonderful feel in the space. Watch for updates soon.... Just click on any photo in the gallery for it to be displayed larger.
foundation for new addition
Work on the kitchen and bath continues. The siding is up on the addition and from the outside it looks pretty good. However the inside is still very much under construction. As tends to happen on the farm though (and in true DIY'er form) we took on several other interesting projects in the fall of 2006. The roof on the big barn needed some attention which included screwing down the standing seam panels, caulking the bad spots and painting. It's too steep to walk and too big for roof jacks so we rented a teleporter. What a magnificently handy piece of equipment that is! We did the roof, trimmed some trees and removed others, finished putting up the windmill (a project that had gone on for far too long).
And last, but not least, while we had the teleporter (and the help of a couple of very dear friends) we tore down the old wooden silo at Grandpa Zeis' farm. The silo was over 100 years old and made from cypress wood. We hope to be able to have the boards from the silo planed and use them for the floor in our new kitchen and perhaps a couple of other places as well.
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