Thanks everyone!!!
We could close horses in if we got a lot of snow, and we have had some deep ones since we've had minis but not so deep that I closed them in. Once it was right deep and at that point, we had other paddocks w/ shelters but I had all the minis I owned (5, I think) in the paddock w/ the carport. Harvey dug them a path from the carport to the heated water container but we did not close them in. Some of mine have not ever been stalled.
Regarding the carport, I like it for the floor space to dollars ratio. It is really HUGE for minis and you could do a lot (as some of you have) with these buildings to turn them into small barns.
If I had it to do over with the carport, I would not have gotten the gable at the open end, and I would not have had the other end closed with metal. Instead, both ends would be left open and the back end we'd have closed with wood but left a window.
It gets very hot in that carport in the summer which concerns me. Our lots, as you can see, are shady, but it still gets hot in that shelter. However, the minis in that lot have always chosen to take morning and mid-afternoon naps inside the carport, so it must not bother them.
We may cut a hole in the back gable before next summer which I think would make it less hot and stuffy.
AND, I already asked Harvey for when Destiny comes home, if "we" can build another 2-stall barn in the same lot as the other 2-stall barn. I am hopeful that Destiny could share that lot with a couple geldings (Bacardi and Sunny would be my first choice). If not, then we could put a couple other geldings in that lot (like Derby and Lonesome w/ Sunny and Bacardi) and then make a pen with a little house for Destiny.
Like I said, it's a million miles from fancy. I wish we had more land and I wish we had grassy fields to let them out on (but I still want dry lots for them). I wish I wish, but even so, this is my favorite place to be. I love it here more than any place else. On weekends, I am usually off Friday-Monday morning and sometimes off on Thursday, too. It is not at all unusual for me to never leave home all those days. I just am a total home-body. Almost everything I love is right here.
Jill
