Hanaeleh Gets a New Tractor and Ulysses Gets a Stall Upgrade

Running a horse rescue takes a lot of work, and for the past 14 years we’ve managed mostly with good old-fashioned manpower — and occasionally a rented tractor when we really needed it. Unfortunately, renting heavy equipment like that is pricey, and winterizing the stalls always means a lot of back-breaking work for our volunteers, multiple Hanaeleh Work Days, and putting off certain projects until we can make it all happen.

We’ve wanted to buy our own tractor for years, but there was always something else that needed funding more urgently. We did try to buy an older, cheaper tractor once, but it just couldn’t handle the job.

This past month we received a very generous donation that we weren’t expecting, and that allowed us to purchase a small Kubota tractor! This means that we will be able to start working on stalls now, and fixing problems before they become larger issues.

The Kubota salesman, Bob Laverty from Glenn B. Dorning Kubota was so great! He delivered the tractor to the ranch(!) and he spent over an hour reviewing everything about the tractor with us, showing us how to operate it (it’s pretty intuitive once you get a basic tutorial!) and reviewing how to use the box and the scoop.

Last weekend, we put our new tractor to work by fixing up Ulysses’ stall, which had some deep ruts from him just walking around and from rain erosion.

What would normally take 30 people an entire day took just five of us — and the tractor — about an hour! We laid down a base of masonry sand, tamped it down, and then topped it off with decomposed granite (DG). Now his stall is not only level and safer, but it’s much softer for him, too.

We’ve already started tackling other projects, like adding new footing to the arena. Next up: winterizing and improving more stalls, one weekend at a time, and making the footing better in the round pen, too. After just a few days of using it, we can’t believe we managed this long without a tractor!