Guess it all depends on the climate in your area and the temperament of your horses. Then do the best with what you have close by to keep costs down while making a safe and decent looking building. If you have the space and are building/modifying you can add a paddock area outside the stall (attached) so the horses can go outside also (sand is a good option for footing)which will make apple picking easier and work wonders in preventing the atmosphere for developing bad habits. Our horses have this and would rather stay outside than under roof. We feed inside for obvious reasons, but they spend 90% of their time outside regardless of the weather. Keep in mind that they are not kittens or parakeets and you aren't doing them any favors by shutting them off from the elements. A horse isn't going to freeze to death because it has a concrete block wall and a concrete floor or is in an unheated building. Electric fenceing is your best friend (just make sure you have a good/safe charger (don't overlook the solars). If a horse is cribbing or chewing the top of a divider, a strand of electric will work wonders. If your dirt floor doesn't drain the way you think it should and you can't afford to raise the whole thing etc, etc, dig a ditch and lay some flex pipe in some gravel, cover it and be happy. You can extend the ditch a few meters away from the building and end the pipe in a sump that you've dug, filled with rocks/gravel and covered in extreme conditions. And don't forget toys be it a ball hanging from the ceiling or a basketball on the floor (could mean the difference in a happy horse with a clear head or a wood chewing weaver/pacer). Don't overlook the importance of your compfort and convenience either (physical, mental, and financial) horses tend to loose their glamour and end up neglected with habits that make them all but worthless when the owner spends more time cleaning than enjoying and eats macoroni and cheese with a backache. My 2 cents. Enjoy, Dave

Livestock do not damage soil. Lack of livestock damages soil by stopping the nutrient cycle, allowing weeds to move in, and by not providing enough disturbance. Most tree huggers and even many ranchers do not understand that disturbance of the soil is a necessary requirement for continual renewal of the soil. It is required at least annually to keep a pasture in good condition for grazing. I would be much more concerned about the prolonged lack of animals than any possibility that a horse, or even a large herd of horses, might damage the soil. Livestock grazing and even stampeding is one of the best things you can do to plant seed. Mother Nature uses that as Her preferred method for replanting the prairies of the world. Farmers are learning the method, too. One rancher here in Texas borrowed a neighbor's 800 head of cattle to eat down an overgrown pasture of about 50 acres. If you know anything about cattle, it took about 24 hours before the land looked like the surface of the moon. Every plant was gone either eaten down or trampled down. He didn't do anything else and the grass started growing immediately. The next season started out with an abundance of fresh grass where once stood a mess of grass and browse. But anyway, if you do not have a ready supply of livestock located conveniently on the other side of one of your fences, then you will need some equipment to grade for your house and then regrade, after the builders leave, for your garden. The tool the graders will use is called a box blade and it sits on the back of a tractor. A good grader could grade 4 acres of pastureland in a morning if there are no obstacles. If there are buildings, concrete, sprinklers, roots, or other things in the way, it could take as long as 2 days to get the last details. Rule of thumb for trees: the roots will extend to the edge of the tree canopy. Some smaller roots may continue beyond the edge of the canopy. Do not turn the soil over. Mother Nature never turns the soil over. That is the worst thing you can do in preparation for anything you have planned. Definitely don't do it for under the house, and don't do it for the lawn. The box blade is all you need. If the driver feels the need to use the ripper bars on the box blade, at least that tool is under control. Other tools that dig or till the soil will cause an increasing bumpiness problem for three years. After that the soil will have settled and you can level it. Thank you for writing before you made any mistakes.

Bill, Good to hear the news. Yup, on really long stuff mow it up first and then in the down position. I have mowed rough fields in the up position with my old ~1975 C120 Auto The deck on that was a bit nicer than on the 1969 Charger 12 auto (direct ancestor to the C120). Has at better anti-scalp rollers. Still the 1969 is quite good. The Charger has been laid up since Easter, so I have been mowing with the 1964 854. I picked it up and a 32 inch deck. This is the first rear discharge deck I have used and it works nicely. Pretty amazing for 43 year old technology. Actually the 854 is a better fit for my small lot, though the Hydro on the Charger is nice for mowing and snow plowing. Have fun.

I did something similar ... 20 acres, with an old round ring ... the round ring was made of old wood and was falling apart anyways. We took it down and had a bonfire. I've planted many specimen trees around the farm. I found a local company that sold bare root trees in the early spring that were brought down from Canada. They are cheaper than balled trees and easier to plant. Are you planning on mowing the entire 5 acres? That's a lot of work. I have about 1.5 acres around the house mowed, the other cleared acres (about 15 acres are woods) are fields that I have a local farmer brush-hog at least once a year. You will at least need a riding lawn mower.