for grain-
those round rubber tubs that sit on the ground, mangers, buckets hung up or other??
Our three stalls are all attached to a central, elevated feed room so the only practical way to feed grain is from hanging buckets we can reach from the feed windows. My boys think rubber pans are play toys and scatter their grain by flipping them which sort of wastes those expensive meds several of my horses need and gets the dishes dirty so I avoid them when possible.
Hay-
hay nets with small holes (tied up high of course) , hay racks, something home made, mangers?
I feed on the ground in stalls- always! Hay racks have got to be the most idiotically-designed, unnatural way to feed ever invented. It's no wonder stalled horses fed that way have respiratory problems!
for barn floors-
dirt with mats, cement with mats, Wood floors, other?
We have dirt floors with mats and the mats are always getting messed up. I don't like stalling on concrete but I think if the mats were thick enough I'd try it! I think my preference would be graded subfloor with sand and gravel for drainage topped with mats.
fencing/pastures-
metal posts with many strands of wire, many strands of poly rope, cattle fencing, pens etc?
My absolute favorite is white vinyl board fencing. So pretty, easy to maintain, strong, the horses don't chew it...I'd kill to have my pastures fenced with that stuff! It's pricey though so we currently have no-climb horse fence strung between wood posts and the gates are those swinging farm panels. When we only had big horses we had no-climb around the perimeter with hot wire above it to prevent stretching and marked hot wire fences between the paddocks and as gates but that didn't work to keep the minis separated. They do rub on the no-climb so it's not ideal but a strand of hotwire at the right height would take care of that.
how large do you prefer your mini dry lots to be?
As large as possible!
how large do you prefer you pastures?
My pastures are practically dry lots. I only have a couple of small grass areas I can turn them out in (fenced driveways, the yard, etc.) and even with only a couple of hours on them a day or two a week they are grazed down to almost nothing. I hand-walk my horses to the neighbor's nice pasture to graze when I can.
general Care-
How many hours a day are you Miniatures not stalled?
24
how many times a day do you feed? (Hay & Grain)
Two complete meals with hay and grain, a late night snack of hay only and I'll often throw them more hay during the day when the weather's bad.