Who is Nebulous?

You have heard the saying- a horse person only gets one GREAT horse in their life- Nebulous is my great horse. He is a 25 year old, 16 hand, Gray,  Trakehner Gelding. He was bred by Williamsburg Farm and was a first son of the great Olympic horse Abdullah. During my childhood I would follow the events of Abdullah like a hawk, I had posters, and Breyer horses and all the film coverage I could find. So to find out that I now was working with one of his sons was a dream come true. “Neb” came into my life when I lived in Boca Raton, FL. We started in the Hunters and then moved to Asheville, NC where we learned from a friend that he was great at the Jumpers. We went on to win many jumper shows and even won some Training Level Events. I have been learning from Neb ever since. He is now retired, but has been used once a year as my outriding horse for the Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event.  This farm is named for him…

So in 2004, my husband Dr. Tom Morton Jr. and I purchased 40 Acres in Candler, NC. We spent at least a year looking at land for sale and then found this piece at the end of Colebrook Road.  We started doing the clearing of multi-flora roses by hand, then hired a friend with his tractor to clear the rest.  In June, we bought 8 Boer Goats to be used to clear the sides of the hills that we could not get to, (this works great). 

This page will follow the process of this farm with pictures and pricing. It will also track the issues that we have and possibly you can help us with the problems you may have already gone through, if you have built your own farm.

The Plat of the Property- 40 acres

The Girls- Boer Goats- Great weed control

Snaffle- barn cat and tack room protector- Adopted

As of August, the horses have been with me for two months. While I am tired of cleaning stalls everyday, I am happy to have them with me. I am learning that time with horses on a daily basis is very valuable to me and trying to not be so picky is a lesson I am slowly learning. Below I have listed the prices of items that I need and use daily. They may be different in your area, but is is something everyone needs to think about when building their own barn. Did you realize I am only saving $9.00 a month by having my horses at my own barn instead of boarding them for $400 per month. That is hard to believe, but I think in time the cost savings will be greater. There is just more cost involved in starting this farm then I originally thought.

Update: December 2006- It would seem that adding two horses to the mix has almost doubled my time and supplies. I now go through shavings at 6 sccops in 35 days, 3 bales of hay per day and three bags of grain every 5 days. I have also hired a man to help me with the cleaning. I was so burnt out after three months that I needed some relief. So on Mon- Wed and Fri, I have someone who feeds and cleans stalls for me. He is a great asset and I could not run this place without him.

Update January 2007: Ambrosia was not gaining weight as much as I would have liked. I believe I spent too much time getting her used to my food that I was not giving her enough. So on advice from a friend and my trainer, I started using Beet Pulp. I thought I did not like this stuff, but after reading all about it, I now feed it to all my horses. I use three feed scoops worth a day and it soaks in hot water overnight. I have been able to reduce all the other horses to 1/2 their grain and 1/2 beet pulp. They are maintaining their weight and have lots of water and fiber added to their diet because of it. Did you know there is more fiber in Beet pulp then their is in fiber! The more water you soak it in the more fiber it gains. I have gone from almost 20 bags of grain a month to 12 bags of grain and 3 bags of beet pulp. Beet pulp costs $9.36 for a 40lb bag. Ambrosia is gaining weight and starting to look a lot better. She truly eats like a horse!!

Hay Costs- $3.50-$4.00 per bale. My 7 horses eat 3-4 bales per day during the winter = $3780 per year.

Grain- I use Godfrey horse and Equine Senior. The horses use 2 bags per month per horse, so thats14 bags of grain at $10.36 per bag. EQ SR is $14.50 per bag) The price went up in December $1740 per year .

Bedding- This is an issue for me. I am using Equine Fresh at $6.97 per bag and you use 1-2 bags per week. I thought a pallet of 50 would last me longer then a month, but the first batch did not. I think I was using too much. I am on my second month and I think 50 bags may last me 2 months. If not then I will switch to a local saw mill shavings at $25 per truck load, which could last me a month.The storage of the shavings will be an issue as I do not have a place for them to stay dry. The Equine Fresh comes in 40lb bags that can be stored anywhere, which is why I went with it to begin with. Equine Fresh is $181-$362 per month or $2172- $4344 per year

Update: I have now changed my bedding to wood shavings from Woodpecker sawmill in Mills River. It is $28 for 4 scoops, which lasts me 35 days for 5 horses. This is a better fit for my budget. I have to pick it up myself and I store the savings in a utilitiy trailer out behind the barn. $336 per year

Update: I have switched again to WNC Pallet Sawmill for shavings. They are $13 for my trailer load which is lasting me about 30 days with 7 stalls.I had to save money somewhere. The stuff is not perfect but its easy to get and I dont feel bad about throwing it out. $156 per year

Time- Taking care of my 7 horses without riding is about 3 hours per day. So its not a lot of time. But between driving, picking up supplies, and my other job, I had more time to ride when I was boarding. Its funny how at the time I boarded my horses, I thought I did not have time to ride then either. It is just something I will have to make time for if I want to be more serious. 1095 hours per year, this does not include maintenance items- just feeding and stall cleaning and the like.

Other Items: My neighbor Margaret Smathers has leased me her 5 acres in front of my own pastures. Its is so exciting and really improves my pasture on the right side. My husband and I installed our own fencing from Horseguard. I bought the t-post sleeves and ran three strands at 2000 feet each in brown. This fencing is electric tape and the sleeves cover the t-posts and attach the fence to the post. It was very easy to install and we did it ourselves. Cost: $2100 it should last 20 years.

Fencing Update: May, 2007- I can say I love the fencing, but we installed is with too much space between each post. We should have done 10 feet, instead of 14ft. We had some serious wind a few weeks ago and two sections came out of their holders. It did not do any damage and was very easy to fix, but it may not have happened if I put the posts closer together. Now we know!!

6/16/07 We used horseguard Fencing around my ring as well- 4 strands

Update- January 2007- We are getting ready to start our house. I will follow this process as well and share as much information about the process as I can. Check out the link below for more photos...

New house plans from Frank Betz website

The Back will look out over the pastures on the

great view of the horses and mountains

Main Floor- master on Main, Three car Gargage

4 Bedrooms- 4 1/2 baths, 4317 total sq. feet

Click here for House Construction proceedings!

Update Feb 2007- I was in dire need of hay- the worst time of year to need it! I had to resort to a round bale, which I swore I would never do. However, its very good hay and my horses are loving it. They have inhaled an entire bale, almost 1000lbs in a week. I figure, with 7 horses eating off it, it should not go bad before they are finished. I am making sure to cover the bale if it rains and I have a holder that goes around it so the horses are not stepping all over it. The goats love the hay as well. I now believe that with this many horses and not much rain, I like this method. I am able to give them as much hay as the want and they can be out all the time and its only $35 for the hole thing. This only works because there are so many horses, but its a great option for those that can do it. I am going to do it again next year, unless I learn something different.

Update- March 2007- I have spread alomst 3000lbs of lime on the rental pasture and about 3000lbs of 19-19-19 on my pastures. I hit it right, just before a rain and now everything is getting green. I bought the items from Southern States in Asheville and spread it myself with a spreader behind our ATV. I was more comfortable on that then the Tractor. The rental pasture is now at rest with no horses for a month. After that I will switch them over and start again with the older field. I did learn that if you want a soil sample from the state, do not wait until March, its a 6-8 week wait. If you want one- get it in Feb and its only a 1 week wait. Tom and I are about to install a fly spray system. I feel that it will ease the pain of horse flys in the summer and the directions say to get it up before you are over run with flys. We start tonight so I will let you know how it goes. I got the smaller system from Country Supply and it cost $1053.15.

Update: May 2007- We have turned on the fly system and I am bug free so far. Due to temps being in the high 80's the horses are now inside during the day and out at night. So the no bug thing is amazing. I am not sure how long the mixture will last, but I will let you know. Its quite expensive so I hope it will last at least a month. We turned on the system before we had a problem, so we follow the directions for the timing of the sprays for a barn that has their fly problem under control. This means the spray goes off 6 times a day for 30 seconds. So far, its worth a million dollars! 5/15/07 - The spray system is amazing. Its worth every penny. I do not have any flies or bugs in the barn and its much more pleasant to be in there so far! The spray does not smell too bad and I am comfortable being in the barn when it goes off. I have found that I have only used about two inches of spray from the big blue barrel in two weeks, so it should last me several months at this rate. It is gross to see hundreds of dead bugs at the door every AM, but I would rather see them there in on the horses.

4-29-08 All the babies are born- 20 kids and 7 mothers

8 girls, 12 boys

11-20-07 Bred the goats to this Buck for April babies

6/16/07- The ring is complete- we used Horseguard Fencing and I love it!

They are working faster then I can update this site 4/10/07

Here we Grow again. I have started grading for my riding arena

136ft x 220ft- its just above the barn & behind the house...

This is the same spot as the 6/05 photo. What a year!

Aug 6th- the flowers are planted and grass is in

June 20th- trying to grow a lawn

Aug 6th -The completed office/tackroom

Tom built me a new Desk

June 20th- They Love the turnout

June 2nd- The boys are home!

May 29th- the stalls are ready- but still no power

The Feed room is Ready

May 7th- all the fencing is painted and installed

May 7th- All the Stall mats are in- this is the hardest job we have done

April 12- the concrete in complete

April 4- the outside is complete

April 4- looking down the new isle

March 31-95% of the outside is finished

March 28,2006

Backside March 23

The Back of the Barn- March 22, 2006

March 13, 2006

June 2005