Comments on: What IS a buggy barn?

By: suesteiner

suesteiner — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 20:54:44 +0000

Shopper,
Thank you for sharing! Did you get the cart AND the pony or just a cart?

By: shopper

shopper — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 13:33:41 +0000

Back to the buggy barn. We called ours the carriage shed (the poor man’s carriage “house”). It was attached at one end of the horse barn and morphed in usage over the hundred-plus years my family lived on the land. By the time I was growing up, the horses had been vacated and the barn became my dad’s animal hospital. The carriage shed found new life as a receiving area for strays that the dogcatcher would drop off at all hours. My mother thought it sounded more professional to change the name of this structure to “the [hospital] annex”. Resisting cultural deterioration, Dad bought me a pony cart and parked it there in his carriage shed, right in front of the dog cages.

By: suesteiner

suesteiner — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 02:07:43 +0000

My own horses are barefoot and they do very well like that. I have a very good farrier trim their feet regularly and they are very sound, happy and healthy. I am also very familar with laminitis. I agree with the comments that most causes are dietary although there is a condition called ‘road founder’ a type of laminitis, which can be brought on by high impact on hard surfaces. In the article about the buggy barn and horses being shod I was referring to the Amish practise of shoeing their horse because the horses are used on the roads. This is for the prevention of ‘road founder’ as well as traction on the roads. If horses are not shod and ridden on the road they are much more prone to slip and fall. I suppose ideally it would be best if horses all could go barefoot, or for the Amish horses sake all roads be dirt and not pavement, but that is not feasible. If I were taking one of my horse on the roads I would rather they be shoed for their own protection as well as mine.

By: mennoman

mennoman — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:15:19 +0000

I did some research into this and all the known causes of Laminitis are dietary. There are two approaches that people take to this. The traditional approach is corrective shoeing and proper diet, along with some kind of medication. The holistic approach involves taking the shoes off, proper hoof care and trimming, and proper diet. It seems the key to treatment is what the horse eats more than anything. So, really the individual can take whatever action they feel most comfortable with. For prevention, the best thing to do is make sure that your horse is eating right.

By: bowkerch

bowkerch — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 19:37:27 +0000

i know this is sort of off topic, but i cringe everytime i hear someone mentioning shoeing a horse. Shoeing your horses is very bad for them, it causes laminitis, which leads to putting down your horse. Trust me , look into it; my dad is a professor at MSU and is one of the worlds leading researchers on horse feet, and it is a fact. Granted you cant just remove your horses shoes and expect them to instantly acclimate to the way mother nature intended it, but it is better for them. Hopefully this helps anyone with horses (especially if they have Laminitis!). Great forum!

By: ooonurse33

ooonurse33 — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 22:51:37 +0000

In the area I live in Canada we call them driving sheds or drive sheds. When I was growing up on the farm we kept hens in it as well as the tractor and a lot of old horse tack from my late uncles team. Most farmers up here still use them in a similar way.