Busy Little Beaver- or How Francis Spent the Winter

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.....

Beginning of Volume ( Season) Two........

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"?????

Hitching Post vs Wash Rack

All summer Francis has watched Marina and I struggle to shower the horses after they have been worked and are all hot and sweaty. You see the challenge is getting them to stand still while we spray them with the hose-- it is rather like washing hair on a 2 year old ( or at least my boys when they were 2). So we came out one day to find the previous day while I was at work he had solved our problem. He has built us a hitching post/wash stand right next to where the hose is! He repurposed an old telephone pole that was lying along one of the fence lines... they certainly won't be able to break it if they pull on it. It even has a sprinkling of moss along the top....looks like its been there for years which is so important ( esthetics you see, I have a vision..... the cozy quaint old-fashioned  style barn-- but of course with modern amenities lol). Lately, with the nice fall weather I have been using it as an old fashioned hitching post when I tack and untack before riding. My saddle fits perfectly on it and my bridle can hang on the hooks in behind where the sweat scrapers are kept. It also works great for rinsing off the saddle pads after each ride and letting them dry in the sun.

He says that it is not finished and he wants to put down paving stones so the grass will grow in between and it will "look nice and the grass won't get churned up or get too muddy". He says he needs it to be done with something that he can go over with the lawnmower-- yes he mows the whole area around the barn with the lawnmower; he does the field with the "bush hog" but the barn area, around the round pen and shed are all done with the lawn mower!

Marina and I hope to get burgundy Hollyhocks growing around the barn next year- not sure Pippa won't eat them but we will try. Marina has already given me the seeds...

Inaugural use of the wash stand- or should we say Christening with all that water flowing lol
 

A New Coat for Fall and Pippa Takes a Nap ( sort of)

 If you are a fan of Winnie the Pooh this posting could also be named - " The Day in which Francis the Gallant rescued the Pony Princess"............( PS I love Winnie- "thuh" Pooh!!)

If you've been following my blog, then you will know that earlier on Francis removed all the old barn board from the exposed side of the barn in preparation for constructing the new support wall for the barn. He then put up new plywood  and covered it with "barn" wrap or waterproof membrane (can't call it house wrap on a barn lol!). Well summer has come and gone and now Autumn is here and so Francis is busy tidying up final things on the barn before winter (urrgh) sets in.

One of the things to finish was to put back up the old barn boards onto the new wall. He had been dreading it as it meant dragging all the boards he had placed in his workshop out of there, and place them on the ground so he could sort them and figure out how to make them go back on to the wall again( rather like doing a life-size jigsaw puzzle). Also, the wall had consisted of two layers of boards- one inner layer and one outer layer.The outer layer boards have been weathered by elements for over a hundred years and yet the inner ones were not worn at all. So how to make the boards match when he was using them again? You see some were damaged when removed and he would not have enough of all one type. Well,true to Francis style, he came up with a great solution- turn the boards over and use the inside surface as the outside! Now all the boards are the same colour and wear pattern! Genius I say.

And so in under 12 hours the barn was transformed yet again from a bit of an ugly duckling that looked like it hadn't got all its adult plumage, to the regal and elegant swan I knew was possible. He still has not finished putting the "frame" around all the windows, but the two closest to the barn door are done. These are also made out of the old barn boards.The boards don't match the top part of the barn as those have been weathered for over a hundred years, but in another hundred years no one will be able to tell the difference- or who knows with the wind and storms we get it may not even take that long!!

My hero at work!

Autumn sunset and glow

New wall with window frames!

Add caption

On Thanksgiving Monday, I took Raphi somewhere for an couple of hours off property. This left Pippa at home alone to amuse herself. And true to her inquisitive nature and as most small children will do when left to amuse themselves, she got into a tad of mischief. She decided to check out the new fresh dirt next to the barn now Francis had raked it all nice and flat and smooth after completion of the wall. You see Pippa  just loves to find a patch of dirt to roll in-- which is a challenge with all the grass fields, but leave it to her to find a nice spot of dirt for just that purpose.

Francis heard some banging while he was working on the other side of the barn. He thought he had left the barn door open and Pippa had gone in to check things out ( ie get into mischief). Well into mischief was right, but not in the barn. Instead she had managed to get herself "cast" against the barn wall. A horse gets cast when they decide to lie down and roll too close to a wall or other immoveable object. This means they get stuck and can't get back up. If left long enough a horse can die from being cast. But the universe was with us and Francis the Gallant came to rescue the maiden in distress ( PS its usually me he rescues---hmm should I be jealous??). Pippa is such a lady she let Francis grab hold of her back leg which was against the wall and use it to roll her over.... after which she promptly righted herself, shook herself off and went back to grazing none the worse for wear. Can't quite say the same of the poor wall-- it has a few quite large scratches from her back feet where she was kicking trying to rolled over and up again. Just thankful she plonked herself between the windows so no windows were broken and she didn't cut herself ( that could have been very ugly!). You can see how close she was to the window.... In fact she looks like she's having a nap, but in fact she was exhausted from trying to get up.

Poor Pippa "cast"against the wall- no she is not napping

Anyway, Francis maybe upset about the marks but like I told him, it adds character, reminds us to tell the story of when "Francis the Gallant Rescued the Horse Princess" and in a hundred years when the boards are
weathered we won't even notice them! 

Enter at "A" or "Why I Ride Dressage"

Update on the dressage ring.... it is completed! It even has letters ( as per my previous post). 
Francis and I decided to make a "border" for the ring with railroad ties. He had some and I tracked down some more on Kijii.... the ones I bought were not as good but we put them on the far side and far end of the ring so they are not so noticeable. If we find other nicer ones later they are easily replace. Again budget was a factor and these were a bargain.

Originally I was just going to put a fence around the ring to keep the horses out that would also mark the 20-40 perimeter. However, after we decided to put the railroad tie border, we still needed a fence to keep snoopy horses out, so they don't decide its their own personal sandbox to roll and play in at liberty. So Francis spent the weekend digging post holes and putting up a perimeter fence. He used two strands of yellow rope that had made up the temporary fence we had initially. Yes, I want white fat rope but do you have any idea how much rope is???? Seriously spending almost $1000 on white rope or plastic chain ( which is what I really wanted) is just ludicrous and so we settled for the rope we had bought on sale at the local Canadian Tire store  $10/roll and I think it ended up using about 5 rolls... hmm easy decision.. $1000 versus $50.

The letters are temporary as Marina and I plan to make bigger painted wooden ones over the winter. With my age, I need the letters to be a bit bigger but this is all we could find for now. White rubbish bins from the Dollar Store with black stick on stencils........hey presto dressage markers!

And here it is already to be used this week..... so excited. Marina's friend, Claudia, is visiting from Germany this week and so we get the privilege of riding with a high level German rider and try out the new toy ( dressage arena) while "playing dressage". What an end to a great summer of riding and building a dream...........

It is hard to see but all the letter markers are in place ready to guide as as we practice geometry figures- 20, 15, 10 meter circles, diagonal lines, 3 and 4 loop serpentines, straight down the sides, and where we practice precision, transitions, lateral movements..............all in the name of improving our riding, our horses way of going and most importantly building a relationship with the horses we so love and admire. To many people and even riders, dressage is "boring", but when you suddenly achieve for the first time a transition, or figure or movement that was elusive for so long.... the slow burning ember that is your soul, and hope and dreams, bursts into flame and you suddenly want it again, and better than before. For one thing riding has taught me is that you NEVER arrive at your destination... it is all about the journey and the challenges and moments of despair and glory along the way. One day you are ready to toss it in, sell your gear and your horse,and then you have a fleeting moment of "YES, this is it!!" and you are committed all over again to hours of practice and patience as you persevere to find that elusive thing......improvement... You hear Olympic level riders tell people that one day can be magnificent and another not so good, that they continue to practice and strive for improvement.... and I am no Olympic level Grand Prix level rider.... just a girl and her horse, forming a relationship, built on trust, understanding, patience and yes trying to "play at dressage" along the way.  Don't get me wrong, I love just hacking out in the fields and woods around home, and going on excursions, but I still love "boring flat work".... the nuances, that one thing that is suddenly there that wasn't yesterday, be it a trot to canter transition, a shoulder in, or just getting a relaxed walk on a loose rein................and then I want it again, and again, and again, ....I don't even have the "independent seat and aids" established and I have been riding for years, but I keep hoping one day I will get it...it sure is not for the lack of trying on my part. I have no desire to compete..and maybe I shouldn't call  what I do "dressage", but hey I like the fancy word and my dear Francis is French and "flat work" sounds boring!!!  I mean it even has the word "work" in it for gosh sake.  Doesn't Dressage make you think of princes, magical steeds, Avatars? and dreams? and so I do "dressage"............

Blanket Rack - What Every Fashionista Needs! OR Another Sue and Francis- "Design and Do" Project

I myself may not be much of a fashionista, but I do like my horse to be fashionable and as such he has an array of outerwear to keep him warm, dry and cozy during miserable weather. Raphi in fact, has more outerwear than I do! His current wardrobe consists of:

• two rain sheets ( 2 so that if one is completely soaked and not dry by the next morning he has a dry one to put on)
• two winter blankets for being turned out in- one is for regular cold winter days and the other for the really Artic days ( like when its -30 Celsius)
• a wool "cooler" to help him dry off and keep warm after getting all hot and sweaty when working in the cold weather. He would catch a chill if you just leave him wet to dry off with no blanket, or overheat and sweat up again if you just put his big blanket back on while still hot from exercise
• a stable blanket/liner- for keeping warm in the winter while inside the barn. The barns are not heated and it is hard to work a horse in winter if he gets his full heavy winter coat ( his natural one!) as it takes simply ages to get them dry! The options are to clip all the hair off and blanket them. I don't clip him but his coat stays lighter if he is blanketed. With the weather we are currently having I will have to think about starting soon-- it is going down close to freezing at night now. Raphi is also typical of his breed( thoroughbred) and was raised in Southern Ontario where winters are not quite so harsh as they are here. Hence, he does not get a really thick winter coat and if I dont want him to lose weight/condition over the winter, I need to help keep him warm. Otherwise he will use his "stores" of fat ( of which he has none!) to keep warm... and end up a skinny horse by spring.

So I came up with a very budget friendly way to keep his blankets tidy and able to dry if needed. There are commercial ones I could have purchased but they don't have the look that I wanted. I again wanted something that would suit the old barn look and feel. So my idea was a combination of a saddle rack that I have seen at another barn, and the stall guards that Francis made. I said we could cut a cedar pole in half lengthwise and attach to the wall with a " screw eye" and a "hook". The screw eye is mounted on a board attached to the outside of the tack room, and the hook is screwed onto the cedar piece. These "arms" can then be left hanging against the wall when not in use, or put the hook up into the eye so the butt rests on the wall board and the "arm" sticks out. The blanket is placed over the arm and hangs down to the floor. The width of the cedar pole "arm" allows air flow which will facilitate drying.

All neat and tidy!

Vision Becomes Reality- the saga of a dressage ring

Well in my last post I told you about my dressage ring dream and how reality did not quite match the vision I had.... well Hey Presto, my magician ( yes you guessed it, Francis) managed his usual magic and turned a soggy patch of unlevel ground into a wonderful 20x40 m dressage ring! And we had some rain after the base went in and no puddles or wet spots! Will have to see what its like after a really heavy rain but it is such an improvement from riding on grass! The round pen is great but it does limit what you can do in the way of exercises/training. Now the girl has options!!!

 The man who delivered the first load of sand  did a terrible job of doing a "tailgate spread" -( that is when they drop the material out of the back of the dump truck as they drive across the area); a good person can get a fairly even spread of a few inches which is what we wanted/needed. Instead we got a huge pile of each end of the "ring" and very uneven in between.So Francis had to scraped it all off to the sides so we could start again. I then contacted someone else on the advice of a friend who came and told me I would need a "base" of gravel that would pack and provide a firm footing and then put a couple of inches of sand on top. So all this was going to cost only a bit more than what I had originally arranged from the one gravel seller, I decided to go ahead.

So last weekend Francis levelled the "base"... a challenging task when he didn't have the best of tools/equipment. He has his old tractor whose hydraulics don't have any real "down" pressure, a borrowed blade that attaches on the back of the tractor( borrowed from my friendly ex-husband), Miss Piggy ( our little ATV) and a drag harrow and of course, last but not least- a regular hand rake!

Base layer down and levelled

First two loads of sand "tail dropped" on the base

Francis the "Magician" at work levelling the sand- Notice the markings in the foreground- that
is where he raked and levelled by hand to get it just right!

During the week this past week the sand for the top was delivered and Francis spent at least 10 hours levelling it.... it is amazing to see the transformation! Yesterday the three of us, Marina, myself and Francis measured the ring and put in a few markers. We still have to put a "fence" type structure around it to keep busy horses from exploring the new "sand box"...We are trying to decide on how to do this . We have come up with two options - each of which will be about the same cost: 

1) entails putting about 30 posts around the outside which will stand about 4 feet tall; drill holes in the posts at the top and about half way down, through which white plastic chain will be passed. This will be pretty and  quite traditional as far as dressage rings go ( except for the height), as typically the dressage "fence" is about 10" off the ground and is white in colour. The advantage the chain is removable to allow equipment into the ring, but the disadvantage is its frail and would not stand  up to horses crashing through it. However, so far the horses have not demonstrated these tendencies. We easily kept them out of fresh grass seed areas with pickets and tape/string.

2) for this option we are considering buying traditional split cedar rails fencing. It has the aged traditional look of farm fencing which would match the old barn and be about the same cost. However, it would not look like a traditional dressage ring... not could it be taken down to allow equipment in if we ever have to add more sand,etc

So if anyone out there wants to comment on which option we should go with please feel free to do so! We will show you the final construction...

Inaugural ride!

Every dressage arena/ring needs letters to mark the ring (A, B,C,E, F, H, K, M for a 20 x 40 metre arena).We are thinking of making out of little plywood "teepees"... so they can stand up; these of course will be painted the traditional white with black letters. My next task is to do a search online to explain why the letters are the ones they are....? Okay so I couldn't wait and had to do it right away.... So this is what I found:

One theory suggests that the letters indicated where each courtier or rider's horse was to stand and wait for their riders.

The "hof" (stable yard) was believed to be large enough for the horses and riders to parade around for their morning exercise or to assemble for ceremonial parades (20 x 60 m).

The markings found on the walls of the Manstall were:


A         Ausgang                   (Exit). 

K         Kaiser                       (Emperor).
F         Fürst                         (Prince).

P         Pferknecht                (Ostler or Groom).

V         Vassal                        (Servant/Squire/Equerry)

E         Edeling/ Ehrengast   (Chieftain or Honoured Guest)

B         Bannertrager              (Standard Bearer).

S         Schzkanzler                 (Chancellor of the Exchequer)

R         Ritter                         (Knight).

M         Meier                         (Steward).

H         Hofsmarshall              (Lord Chancellor).

The above list shows all the letters used for the larger size ring- 20 x 60... 

Another theory about the letters is that they represent the letters of cities first conquered by the Romans... so you decide which one you like best! I love medieval things so I liek the first version.

I'll post pictures again when the fencing and letters are up! ( but that may not be for quite awhile!)