Sorry, I've done it again.... gone off on a tangent, but after all, this blog is about me, the feelings that come up when I sit here "blogging", and my past is part of my present and my future, and so it must be honoured as well.
 |
| Stall # 5 on the left- across from 3 and 4. View looking up the alleyway. ( Yes the floor isn't matted yet, but Francis has plans for that as well) |
The stall went up last weekend and today Francis is building the "shavings" stall. Up to now we have been getting shavings from a local saw mill which we bag ourselves and bring home. So now we ( the royal "we" again)have built and area that we can dump shavings into. The same person we buy from is willing to sell in bulk and deliver loose ( not bagged) shavings for us. It will not be quite as convenient when putting shavings into the stalls at night, as I will have to shovel them into a wheelbarrow to get them to the stalls, but will prevent the need for having to go and load up the trailer and bag the shavings and then brings the bags into the barn. I just love the door Francis made. He made it to my specifications- I wanted a "stable door"- the type that the top half opens separately from the bottom. I just LOVE stable doors. I think it is because it reminds me of some of the happiest times of my childhood. You see when I was growing up in England, our house( called Wyncliff- it was built on a cliff along the sea), our kitchen door was a stable door. It opened out into a courtyard that housed a place) very similar in fact to my shavings room) to store the coal for the Aga ( English equivalent to a North American cook stove- but sorry far better😁) and then steps up to the garage.
 |
| The finished product- |
 |
| View of the "stable door" Francis made- Inside the shavings room PS I would have like the cross bars to show on the outside, but he says he made them to match the Feed Room door |
 |
| The inside of the shavings room |
Also last weekend finishing touches were put on my hay cart. I usually carry flakes of hay from where the hay is stored down the alley to the stalls. It never fails that both myself and the floor are covered with loose hay by the time I am finished. But Francis solved that problem by buying a little cart and converting it into a hay cart by building a box ( please note the special trim around the top) that will hold a bale of hay. It has wheels that steer and even a padded handle! I had suggested he make one from old bicycle wheels as we have a lot of old bikes stored at the far end of the barn, but of course this is a step up from that.
 |
| The "hay cart" |
I have just realized that the design of the barn is not the most "heat efficient" if we do ever winter horses here as the stalls are not clustered together at one end with all the "utility areas" at the other. However, if in future I do board horses, it gives a sense of intimacy and privacy as my horse and tack etc is in one area, while boarders would be further down. The final stall is set aside by itself which can be for a) a horse that is not very sociable or b) one who is sick ( would not be in contact with any others through bars etc). However, although by itself, the 5th stall is across from the other so other horses would be insight. Of course, its Murphy's law that the last stall's sliding door is the easiest to open/close and works like a dream. It is also a bit longer than the other two, albeit 4 inches narrower ( had to do with joists,etc and I vetoed the idea of a stall that was 12 x 13, so instead it is 9 1/2 x 13. The other two extras are 10x10. Sizing is based on where the main support beams are for the barn. The alleyway in the barn doesn't run directly down the middle but is instead slightly off center. Raphi's and Pippa's stalls are the deluxe versions of 10x13. Unfortunately, Pippa's is the only one without its own window--- perhaps next year Marina will want her to have a window? In which case she would have to change stalls as there is not a way to install one through the stone foundation.
Yesterday the electrician was out to give us advice on how to get electricity to the barn. We will be running it from the house breaker box underground to the barn and then from there over to Francis' workshop. I do believe he said that is what he will do during his "holiday" this year. As I said, there is still lots to do, but the major changes are now finished. A wall is to be built at the end of the "renovated" section. This will close in the stables and separate it from the empty part of the barn that still looks quite unloved and dishevelled. The wall will have a big door in it to allow us to bring hay in etc. The shavings room may end up storing some hay as well... we will see what develops over time.
This last picture is just a view of the wonderful sunset we had last evening. It seemed to just finish the end of a great weekend. Saturday was spent grooming our acreage- I cut the lawns around the house and then the grass around the barn ( about 3.5 acres) while Francis bush-hogged ( mowed with a rotary cutter run by the tractor) the 4 acres of pasture. It has been such a rainy spring that the grass has grown like wildfire. The horses are rather picky in that they really don't like grass when it is over long and over mature, and so we cut it back so it can regrow. It also helps prevent weeds from going to seed and reseeding themselves( may theory anyway). Funny but on Saturday evening I was working Pippa and Francis had left the back gate to the neighbouring fields open( he was whipper-snipping, "trimming") along the fence lines and Raphi decided to go for a mosy( slow ambling walk) into the tall grasses. Raphi could have decided to gallop off across 300 acres of lush pasture or even to go and search for cow friends, but instead he chose to stay close by- close to "home" and his family, which I do believe is finally starting to include the humans who care for him as much as it does Pippa. Francis went to bring him back and he was so good about it- just kept dropping his head for one more bite of the long grass- no halter, no lead rope- just Francis holding the edge of Raphi's fly mask( Raphi HATES flies) that he wears on his head when flies are bad. I wish I had a picture of that but it is etched in my mind. A man who had no love of horses before we met, and a horse .... wandering through waving grasses - with a gentle communication- "Raphi come back in to your pasture", and the gentle reply of "Yes, okay but can I just stop for a little bite along the way?", and the man replying, "Sure, why not...but then we really must go back because Mum said so"
It really was such an amazing weekend--
Of course the camera does not do justice to the crimson and orange of the sky, but this was the view that greeted us as Francis and I came around the corner of the barn... He wanted to show me his handiwork of the day.
