(I really have NOTHING for WIP Wednesday this week. I ripped the Baktus back to where I was last week and I’ve hardly touched the tablerunner.)

This weekend I figured it was well past time I got motivated and did some more trailer training – for me and Blondie. I need more experience towing the trailer and Blondie needs to realize this is HER trailer, her safe place.

I hitched up myself for the first time. Usually DH jumps in and does this even though I’ve told him I *need* to know how to do it myself (not just in theory which I already knew, but in practice). The hitch weighs at least 40 pounds, then there are the weight distribution bars, and getting the sticky clam shell coupler to slide into place. Hooking up the safety chains, lights, and breakaway are all easy steps, but each one is super important for safety.

Standing quietly at the trailer. This is good, neither of us is stressed.

In the trailer. She’s actually a really good girl when it comes to loading up due to a lot of re-training I did about 4 years ago. When I got her 9 years ago I could only haul her in a stock trailer and now she’s pretty experienced at slants, straight loads, and big semi center loads. The trick to loading is that you really want the horse to self load – even though there’s a large escape door on my trailer (both sides) I don’t want to be in such a small space with a large animal. The other thing to know (if you’re a horse person I’m sure you already know this) is that you don’t ever want to tie the horse in the trailer until whatever gate or butt bar you have is closed. So, the horse needs to step all the way up in the trailer by itself AND stand there quietly while you latch the butt bar.

What do you think she’s saying here? Personally I think this is, “why am I still in here? And where are my treats?”

“Hey mom, are you going to let me out now?” I did let her out and it seems she will get a refresher in backing up as she came out a tad bit faster than I like. Not terrible, but definitely room for improvement.

Due to a digestive upset issue on her part and a broken board in the floor of the left stall of the trailer, loading/unloading in the right side is all we practiced this time. That’s enough though! Next time maybe we’ll go for a short ride.

On Sunday, Patty and I brought Blondie and JJ to my house for a visit and a little trail ride. It’s the first time EVER that I’ve brought her home and now that the barn/fencing are approaching completion I want her to get familiar with the place before she comes home to stay.

When we first arrived the horses were good, but a bit high headed. Who knew there were so many obstacles at my house – we both thought it would be pretty boring! We walked the horses over to say hi to the neighbor’s mares, not even thinking about the goats. It was a non-event. Then there was the tractor and mini-excavator doing work nearby, that was fine when they were tied at the horse trailer, but neither of them was going to get too close under saddle. We went on a short ride around the neighborhood where we saw more horses, lots of dogs (both behind fences and loose), a few cars, some kids playing, and lots of yard implements and kids toys to have a look at. They both did really good and were rewarded with some time in the upper pasture.

I had spent most of the afternoon on Saturday preparing for their visit. Initially, I planned to use the round pen panels to setup a small pen, but then I realized I could close off the far fence line with temporary fencing….so they got access to the whole pasture. Not that they ventured far from the front gate! I also spent a couple hours pulling bracken fern and removing tree branches.

It seems like a small thing, but I was so excited JJ took a drink from the water tank – normally when he goes away from the barn he doesn’t like to drink. This water tank was one both horses had before at a previous boarding stable and I guess my well water must not taste too different than what they’re used to.

All in all, it was a fun trip and very successful since both horses got to experience some new things and they both did great!

Last night 3 of us from the barn went for a short trail ride. Patty and I ride together all the time; this time we were joined by another experienced trail rider. We’ve been trying to learn the network of trails so we talked along the way about where various trails went to and what the landmarks are.

Almost ready to go:

Clearly I need to work on my camera settings! A number of my in motion photos turned out like this. I do like how artistic this shot is, but it wasn’t what I was going for at the time.

Hmmm, should we go further or go back?

This is how rocky it is around here. Most of the trails are nothing BUT rocks. And actually, the rocks are much worse than you can see in this photo in many places.

Headed back to the barn on a nice Summer evening.

Not a lot to say about these – we need to order the metal roofing and start putting up trim. The siding will be fake board and batt. At some point will get back to finishing the fencing. In the meantime, Miss Blondie is perfectly happy at her boarding stable.

Warning: picture heavy post ahead! As an extra bonus, something you don’t see on my blog very often: dogs.

We are having a very mild Winter here in Washington. It’s still been very rainy so we take advantage of every sunny day we get. This weekend (and days on each side of the weekend) we’ve had gloriously sunny weather with a high in the 50′s and lows around freezing.

Saturday started with evening up the truss ends and building the lookouts (all of these things create the eves on the outer walls of your building), attaching fascia board, and finally sheeting half of the roof. At the end of the day the crew moved around to the opposite side of the building and got the fascia on, as well as the lookouts. With the prep done, it only took half a day Sunday to sheet the back side. After that it was quick work to roll out the tar paper.

All this work was done with an all volunteer crew of family, friends, and neighbors. I don’t help much with the building aspect, but later on R will help with projects at all of their houses (as he has also done in the past). My main job for the weekend was fetching food/drink, and keeping an eye on the dogs. Shown above is Logan who is 3 years old and Ziva who is 5 months. Logan is *really* gentle, but he’s big so it took an hour before Ziva was comfortable playing with him.

At the time of our last update the concrete was done and the lumber package had been delivered. Very quickly after lumber arriving the walls were up and the trusses were stacked. The building has taken shape!

Next we will be working on sheeting the roof and getting it dry inside. When that’s done it’ll be the walls. The roof will be metal; I’m not sure when the metal sheets will be delivered. I have no idea what type of stall door hardware I want or what type of flooring in the stalls! Guess I need to get busy!

After a lull at the end of last year we’re getting back into our projects around the house. By “we” I mainly mean DH since he works on projects and I go to work for someone else during the day.

In the last two weeks we’ve done 2 concrete pours for the barn. We went from footings only as you see in the first photo (you’ll have to take my word for it – in the photo you can barely see the footings and rebar sticking out of them), to stem walls being poured and panels stripped, to pouring the floor in the barn and spreading gravel in the stalls, to nicely back filled, and finally the lumber arrived yesterday.

I’m excited! Although it’s wet outside this morning the weekend is supposed to be mostly dry. DH is preparing for truss delivery next week which means all the walls have to be up.

(I’ll try to bring you new WIP photos this afternoon.)

And no, the boots aren’t for me, they’re for my horse…

These are Renegade Hoof Boots. For any of my knitting friends who also read Anne’s blog, you may have seen them there too. She uses them on her horse, Bhen.

Anyway, I’m trying to keep Blondie barefoot (ie. without metal horseshoes), but barefoot horses often have trouble transitioning from shod to barefoot and also with the rockiness of our trails in this area. By wearing hoof boots like Renegades, the horse has foot protection when needed and is barefoot out in the pasture. So far, she’s doing great with her boots and is able to trot out sound!

Here we go again – this time it’s fencing. Looking west from the master bedroom deck you see the trees have been cleared a bit further and the footings have been dug for the 24×36 foot barn. Between where the footings have been dug and where the fence posts start, there will be two mud free paddocks. To the left of the photo the barn will have it’s own driveway connecting it to the private road we live on.

Turning to the right we see all the way down to the far corner of the pasture. There will be a gate down there that goes out onto part of our property that will be left treed. Once we get around to making a trail through the trees, we will be able to directly access state land.

Now we’re looking north and you can see how the pasture comes up close to the house. We had some concrete blocks left over from the wall that will get used around the septic tanks and then we can finally plant something around them.

Finally, this is looking east and you can see the upper pasture.

Just like the wall that was built last weekend, this project is coming together quickly with the help of another neighbor. R has a tractor with a post hole digger and he spent yesterday evening and a good part of today digging holes for us. Later on this year or next year, my R will repay the favor by helping with his fencing or building projects.

I have my very own horse trailer!!! I can hardly believe it as I’ve wanted my own trailer since I was a teenager. Back then it was a rather unrealistic desire, but as an adult I’ve had the means to purchase one for some time now and I still kept putting it off. It was never the right time to spend the money, I didn’t need to take my horses anywhere, how much would I really use it, etc. Once I came to the conclusion that buying new made no sense, I started watching the used listings and FINALLY a trailer I *really* wanted showed up.

It’s a 1997 Trail-et New Yorker which is (as you can see) the two horse straight load with a 5 foot dressing room. The horses have lots of head room because there are no mangers, instead you can clip in a feed bag or hang a hay bag.

In terms of condition, it’s in really good shape! The floor and frame are solid. All the window screens are intact and all of the interior padding is in perfect shape except for one missing chest pad. The tires are in okay condition with no visible rotting or cracking. We need to look up the DOT code and see how old they are before we haul any horses in it just to be safe. Outside, you can see where the stick-on striping has peeled off. We’re going to figure out what the best way is to remove it.

With regular care I think this trailer will last me a very long time!