Progress On the Barn : Stall Fronts Installation

 

The barn project continues, and everything except the tack room should be done today. Woot! Woot!

I have a question about fans and lights for all the barn experts! We want to put fans over the stalls, but we also need lights, and we don't want to have to turn on the fans to turn on the lights. Is there a system for this?

Last night we had a mother / daughter evening staining the boards that they will cut and place in the stall fronts today.

Oh, this has been a hard summer, but our scars are what make us beautiful. It's hard to watch your child go through the process, even when you know that there will be a stronger, more vibrant woman, on the other side.

I continue to have my lessons on Fridays, but it has been too hot to do much in between them. We're working on vertical flexion at the walk and trot. It has been fun to see Tumbleweed figure it out and not try to stop moving forward--mistaking that little bit of pressure as a whoa signal. Regina likes for me to give him room to figure it out, and having her eyes on the ground really helps me to know when to hold steady or release. My cues are all over the place, but when she keeps me honest, we make really great progress.

An update on the barn floors. They are really beautiful, and they have a little grit (it feels like sandpaper) that was added onto them for traction, but they might not be as grippy as brushed concrete. 

We had the farrier out today, and Tumbleweed hadn't been on the new floors. He pulled back and slipped as he was walking into the barn, just a little, but it was enough to scare him. We trimmed and shod him in the first stall on the mats. The farrier said that if we want to shoe them in the breezeway, we will need to put down mats there. I think we will continue to do it in the stalls though. It works out better. I'm going to add tie rings in their stalls, too.

Cowgirl and Foxy walked onto the breezeway, barefoot, and they didn't have any issues. Of course, they were calm. 

The stall fronts were put in two days ago, and that only gave us two days to stain the spruce boards that he left for them. I went with a golden oak stain (Varathane at Home Depot) because I didn't want more red, as in red oak stain. I want them to contrast with the red in the brick concrete. It will be interesting to see how that looks today against the brick. The stall dividers that we've had in for 16 years have weathered to a similar color, so it does give me an idea of what I wanted to try and match.

The fronts are beautiful. Extremely well made. The stalls doors have an amazing rolling system from the top. The windows in the doors swing down so that the horses can put their heads out. There will also be doors on the hay windows when they're done. I think the design allows for enough air to circulate while keeping the shavings in and the horse's legs safe.

Custom Barns in Spokane made the stall fronts, and they gave us a smoking deal at $15,000 for everything : 5 custom sized fronts, 1 extra front for the large stall (no door), spruce, tongue-and-groove boards, heavy duty powder coating, heavy duty feeders, and full installation, including the cutting and installing of the boards today. (The concrete work, with the stamping for breezeway, tack room, 4' skirt, and patio, and preparation of 6 stalls for the mats, which required digging them out and then filling them with gravel and sand layers) was about $24,000 + taxes.)

I'll share an update as soon as it's finished! Yay!