Everything about the last couple of years has been pretty terrible and has been the root of my lack of motivation. However, 2022 and I say no more to that.

I have for so long been the type of person that has an idea and I go “wow what an idea”, I’ll jump right in and I’ll brainstorm how I can make it happen. It gets to a point usually where it loses steam because it seems so unreasonable and unrealistic for me, especially currently and the idea fizzles out. Since I have recommitted to utilizing Grey2Bay as my space to voice my opinions, feelings and dreams, I wanted to share with you my little and large plans to make my own barn space a reality.

For years I have dreamed of a small backyard barn like my family’s in Arizona, or a large commercial barn for sales, training and luxury boarding. I don’t know when I’ll finally make a decision on what size barn I want, but for now we can start talking about the little pieces I love in a stable. This is going to be an ongoing process as it’s been years in the making and it’s many years off even still. However, I have called most things I create Grey2Bay’s “whatever”, or I relate it to some core things I post about or inspire me. Metropolis Reptiles was a prime example. It stemmed from Metropolitan or Metro my Crested Gecko who taught me everything about gecko care and behavior. Unfortunately, during the move in 2021, he passed away due to stress and the abruptness of moving. In his honor I have affectionately been calling my barn project “Metropolitan Stables”, and honestly it might just stick because it sounds pretty darn cool. That being said all barn related posts will be under that tag so follow that for ideas for your own equine space.

Now that you understand where this project kinda comes from, this post will seem extra silly to you given the subject matter. Today’s post is going to cover something rather basic, but ultimately it’s one of the most important items I’d say you can have around the barn.

Around construction sites you’d have to have a permit/ certificate to operate one of these, but horse girls have an innate ability to use one. Any guesses what it is? No?! Well, hold your horses because it’s just a wheelbarrow.

I know, I know it seems kinda ridiculous, but this is one of the top items I pay attention to at the barn. Between my family, Webb, private barns provided wheelbarrows and my new jobs ones I feel I have enough experience to break down which ones I would go for, use, buy repeatedly or stay very far away from.

During my time at Webb we used wheelbarrows for about 4 uses and I can honestly say I stand by these uses to this day and can see myself doing the same thing in the future. I might use different wheelbarrows for each use, but my point stands.

Early in the morning we would load our Webb green wheelbarrow up with a whole bunch of dehydrated beet pulp, and add the needed water to rehydrate it for mixes, mashes and a treat. I used to use a huge black rubber grain bin in an old wheelbarrow, but it finally gave out and we got a whole new wheelbarrow. Since it was new clean and perfect, I elected to make the whole wheelbarrow beet pulp only, and we served it right from there. It was one of these small and cute bins from Home Depot. They are $124, a hard plastic sturdy enough to withstand hooves and horse teeth, and a great bar handle on it for optimal steering to and from the hose to water the beet pulp. Pictured below is how we used to do it in a rubber bin, to how I changed it into the wheelbarrow. One day, I will do a post on the beet pulp I prefer, but for now we’ll stick to wheelbarrows in todays post.

When carrying bedding to and from the shavings pile to your stall I liked to use the same kind of wheel barrow I would use to muck, or just a clean basic barrow. That being said this wheelbarrow is my go to, to transport hay so we’ll say that’s the one for shavings too!! Home Depot unfortunately doesn’t seem to carry it, and it has a steep price point at Ace Hardware so maybe you can use one for both purposes? In a perfect world I would have a wheelbarrow stationed at each of these places so it’s only used for it’s specific use and they don’t get moved around. That being said, Rubbermaid, yes your Tupperware maker, made a fantastic wheelbarrow with linked handles for a supportive steering experience. As mentioned it’s a bit expensive priced at $220. My family has used this one, Webbs used them, and our San Francisco location of Chaparral has used this model and it’s a great choice as long as you don’t push it too hard, use and abuse it or take it over bumps often. The wheels have a tendency to be the first piece to go, as the bin and handle are nearly indestructible.

However, the holy grail of all wheelbarrows is this one. Something about the handles, the balance and easy use just takes the cake for me. Home Depot carries this model and I hope you add it to your wishlist because it’s worth every dime. Priced at $130 this True Temper wheelbarrow can withstand me packing a hundred pounds of poop into it and it’ll work with you up a muck ramp to the dump. I have never used a wheelbarrow that didn’t have some degree of working against me, but this one doesn’t do that!! It’s like going to the grocery store and having a cart with one bad wheel. Most wheelbarrows will kinda give you a hard time like that, but not this one. I would personally find a blue one or even spray paint my bin part blue to make it cute, but stock color is yellow. Pictured below is the one at Capone’s old barn surrounded by the resident chickens.

If you were in a pinch and wanted something similar, but not entirely that model you could try this one. It is $10 more, making it $140 vs $130, but it would absolutely work.

I hope you guys had some fun reading about a simple thing like a wheelbarrow and if it wasn’t your thing no worries. This post is really just a building block for me so I can put together a list of all the things I would need to make Metropolitan Stables the real deal. If this is your thing I can’t wait to show you more things I would have on hand for an effective and enjoyable barn experience.