Anyone who has met Francis knows how "driven" he is LOL....he always has to be busy doing things,or alternatively building things. Its what he calls relaxing. Not for him to sit and watch the Super Bowl, read a book or anything else that involves sitting for extended periods. He loves to create. And create he certainly did over the winter. The weekends saw him puttsing ( not sure if that is really a word but if not I just made it up because it really does suit) about in his workshop.
The workshop was once the old piggery and I think I mentioned previously how he restored it a couple of years ago- repaired the some beams, the roof, laid down pavers for the floor. Well, this fall/winter he put in an old wood stove and built some cupboards an a work bench. It is now worthy of the term "man cave"! He has an old recliner chair in front of the woodstove and thanks to me it has a radio ( yes, that was his Christmas present).
Well, if a man has a workshop he needs to build things right? So what to build? I hadn't come up with the locker idea yet so we looked further afield to find him "projects". Marina and I decided we would like cavalletti to use with the horses this coming summer.. ( for non- horsey people they are poles with wooden x's attached to the ends). You can use them to train horses to improve their rhythm and also to jump. ( PS the x's are necessary so if/when the horse hits the poles with his hooves they don't roll and change position- the positioning is precise and not willy-nilly but can be altered depending on the exercise). So no sooner have I said I would like some, they appear. Rather like the story with the Elves and the Shoemaker LOL- you get the material and lay it out in the workshop and hey presto the next day you have cavaletti! By the way, Francis does put on an Elf hat at Christmas so the analogy really does suit :) ( If I can find the picture of him in his elfin hat I will post it)
So here are the cavalletti:
As soon as these were built, the owner of the stable I am currently boarding at asked if he would make her some, and again hey presto, one weekend later another 10 cavalletti were completed.These he charged for as they were not "labours of love" as are the ones he made for me.
So, now what? He's bored again.... so the stable owner says hey would you be interested in building me horse jumps? He says sure ( Although he has no idea of what a horse jump looks like!). So we spend one evening perusing the internet to find a design which we sent to the owner for approval. That kept him busy for 3 full weekends and this is the result of his labours:
The picture does not do justice to the detailed workmanship that went into these. All the supports are "counter sunk" into the upright pieces, everything is glued and bolted ( not screwed), all the ends are routered ( or had fancy grooves made along the edges and made to "look pretty")and angled so water won't stay on the slats. All cut sections were treated with preservative. He made a total of 24 of these- 12 left and 12 right.
So then, he gets asked- " Could you make me some fancy ones like this?" ( the owner sent us a picture of what she wanted).... and in two days ( the next weekend) he had these completed:
The picture the owner had sent had a flower basket hanging from a hook-- so Francis even included that for one of them when he delivered them ( he found some plastic flowers lying about and hung them in the hook so she got the full effect of what she had asked for). Again, the details are amazing- he drilled holes along the bottom groove where the lattice sits so water won't collect in it.... He built two of these so 4 sections plus the lattice plank to hang on the jump standards.
So although he hasn't been working in our barn, he has been a very busy little beaver all winter long..chasing away the winter blues.. and also keeping occupied on the weekends that I work 12 hr shifts..
Sorry if the post was boring, but thank you for reading- and hope you share my awe at what can be accomplished with focus and imagination.....
For those of you that followed this blog last year, you may have wondered what happened and why there were no posts over the last several months. Well, Canadian winter is what happened! I realize you have all been just waiting with bated breath, just as we do for our next season of programs we watch on Netflix ( said very tongue in cheek lol)....
The horses moved to winter accommodation on Nov. 3, 2016 and are not home yet. Raphi went to the place he was at in 2015, and Pippa went to a training stable ( yes, that does mean that Romeo and Juliet as the pair were affectionately named at the boarding facility, were separated). Raphi eventually got a new playmate, a cremello gelding called Duncan. I posted a video on FB once showing them playing together. Raphi still is not happy with anyone who lives in the stall next to him and shows his grumpiness towards them all the time, as in his mind that stall belongs to Pippa, I guess.
You see to date, our barn is still not suitable for winter accommodation but who knows, the future may remedy that. Francis has been busy exploring options on how to solve the problems of water and electricity supply on a more permanent basis. One of the major undertakings for this year will be to run electricity to Francis' workshop and the barn. Thus far, we only have seasonal water and solar power. We have discovered a solar heated outdoor water tank that looks both economical and feasible. Last year we discovered a water line that came from the old well in the back of the field that ran into the barn. Our plan is to use this old well as a water source for the outdoor heated water system and for a " water hydrant" in the barn. You see if we are ever to keep animals here we need a way to provide heated water source due to our frigid temperatures. So that project has been researched and suppliers found for necessary items.
Francis has also explored sources for more grill work for more stalls (he wants to put 3 more in- so that I can offer boarding on a small scale in future???), a new stall floor system that allows urine to drain out into the ground ( to prevent smell, wet bedding). We originally had enough for 6 stall doors, but we used a lot of the "grill work" to allow open grill walls between the current two stalls.Hence, although we have three doors, we need grills for front and side stall sections.
We currently have wooden floors in the two stalls and I put down rubber mats as Raphi got sores from the wood ( yes, he is rather a hot-house flower, poor boy!). Using this new system will require the cement floors to be jackhammered up and new grave/stone floors be laid, with the new stall fabric on top. Supposedly, they are cheaper than the mats??? Hmm...we will see after all is said and done. I won't be replacing what we have done thus far, thus will be for the new ones as the concrete floor that is there is uneven and has to be either levelled or removed anyway.
Last weekend saw us up in the barn measuring and making final decisions about where the other stalls will go. There are several ways to do them but we also decided that if we were ever to have other boarders here, we would need additional space for their tack ( I don't want to share my beautiful tack room....or maybe this will officially become the "lounge"). So I have decided we need individual lockers for any potential boarder and I have made the design.... now I just need Francis to build. They will each be a big tall cupboard (locker) with a roll out box at the bottom which slides in under a shelf( which could be used for grooming boxes, boots,etc.) Then the open space above that will have a saddle and bridle rack in it. Above that will be another shelf( for helmets or other stuff). On the inside of the doors, will be a saddle pad holder and whip holder. The front of the cupboards will be the same design as the barn doors ( double dutch door look).You see I have been busy too, designing.......now I need Francis to do... but maybe this is even a project I could tackle-I mean it is only a big box! Each cupboard will be 3 feet wide by 8 feet high be about 30" deep....We need to build at least 3... maybe 5... will see how space looks when 3 are up.
Yesterday, Francis made two grills to go over the windows - you see I don't want horses breaking the new windows and each of the new stalls will have a window in it. Raphi was good last year with his, but we won't tempt fate, so he( Francis, not Raphi) built one for his stall too. Sure you can buy them, but Francis made them in true McGyver style- out of wood for the outside frames and some metal conduits used for passing electrical wires through.These will be mounted inside current window frame with hinges so we can open them to allow access to open/close windows and clean windows ( yeah right)
I can't wait for spring to come so he( Raphi) can be home again all the time. Francis is still only going to be home on weekends :(
Well, that is all the news for now but at least now you know the long term goals for this season and why nothing was posted all winter. Not sure how often posts will be this summer, it will depend on how progress goes......
We really do have to decide how much work is really worth doing and what is feasible given the fact that it is extremely unlikely we will ever have anywhere to ride ( ie indoor arena) in winter.... but note I did not say "never".......I am keeping my options to the universe open... maybe they will somehow make all possible ( PS if they are listening??). That will certainly limit who wants to board here... I think.....unless they agree to be seasonal boarders like we are at this point..........Anyway, my youngest son, Nigel, always says " Dream with your eyes wide open" and I am certainly doing that.... and I certainly know how to DREAM BIG!!!!! So perhaps it is a case of in the film "Field of Dreams"........."build it and they will come"?????
So here are the cavalletti:
