Below is the new paddock in front that we have been working on for three weeks...all finished except for the metal on the barn (it is arriving tomorrow), and hanging the vinyl strips for the door, and making the hay manger inside, and making a gate on the other side of the barn so the donkey can not go between the barn and the fence to the dog yard. Then we start on the new paddock on the right! Will it never end??? No, and we love it!!

Update 2016: We took this front pen down but left the building to park our barn truck inside instead of parking it inside the maturnity barn. We took the fence down to make more room for our flatbed trailer to go in/out when it is filled with hay. We made three new jack pens with long pasture runs to the left of our maturnity barn and this pen was no longer needed.

Here is the new paddock on March 15th, 2004...all finished except for the vinyl strips for the door and the hay manger and hanging his electric water bucket!

This is what Joe and I have been up to in our spare time! Still a million things more to do!

Update! This is Joe putting the finishing touches on the jack pen...he lined the outside with boards to give it a finishing touch and to make it safer in case a donkey rubbed up against the fence on the outside...it covers all the nails. We also put a board on the ground under the gate so absolutely no quarterdown could run out or any rain water wash in. We now have the second jack pen in progress and it is going to be nicer than this one!.

The New Jack Pen still in progress!

We still have to cut two tops off of two posts...add the metal to the windows...add the kickboards inside and the built in hay manger...put the vinyl strips on the door for winter time...and it will be completed! The quarterdown is at least 8 inches thick..maybe thicker...the different colors it looks is because we wet it to get it to harden and set. It has 30 tons of quarterdown inside...all dumped in one pile and spread by shovel and wheelbarrow by Joe and me!

This is inside before we had it filled with quarterdown just to show you how thick it is. Kickboards will be added all around the stall up to the second board.

This is to show you how thick the quarterdown is outside too
That pile was over our heads when we started

The quarterdown has finally all been spread!

After wetting it down with a hose so it will dry and set

Jack Pens finished November 5th, 2004

This is Pepper's new jack pen...completed!!

Another view of Pepper's new jack pen...Joe giving Pepper a butt scratch!

Pepper's new hay rack..this one is large because we will use his pen for a maternity ward next year when Pepper will be turned out in the big pasture with girls that were allowed to rest this year. Pepper's kickboards have been added all around too.

Pepper's new vinyl strips for his door to keep him toasty warm in the winter time.

The locks for his windows inside

Inside view of his windows to keep him cool in the summertime

Outside view of his windows.

Mojave's new hay rack in the first new jack pen..he loves it!

Mojave in his new jack pen...completed..he has an inside and outside hay rack. Beside his pen you can see the temporary pens beside him for company.

Mojave's pen with a view of his temporary buddy pens

Mojave's vinyl strips...I have one pulled up until he has no fear of going through them all
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Mojave's in his pen with his best friend, MoJo in the temporary pen beside him

Another view..those pens will be taken down soon...that is MoJo that you can see