Not to scale

Fun evening at the barn last night.  We're slowly getting the hay barn stalls put together all the way, which involves lots of sand, sliding doors, hardware, pipe panels, percussive maintenance on MT's part, holding things in place, digging, sawing, trips to the hardware store, et cetera.  Lots of work.  MT, TD, our Hun, and TW have gotten the inside stalls entirely habitable, so now it's down to putting in the panels outside, which is what I got to help with yesterday.

Most of the panels have kind of mesh, like maybe 2" by 3" rectangles made of sturdy wire, on them as well as the usual pipe, and they're quite tall.  So nobody's going to be getting their feet caught, or stealing their neighbor's hay, or nibbling on their neighbors, etc.  Plus, the placement of the gates will make cleaning pens and feeding horses much easier!   Everybody who walked up to help asked "Wait, why are the gates there?" See illustration (of course, I should have taken a picture, but oh well. PaintShop you get.)

Once TW said, "Well, think about it: you open a gate, go all the way up, then go all the way back to go out the gate, open the next gate, go all the way up, then all the way back, then ..." I completely understood.  Efficient design based on experience, woot!   

Anyway, moving panels, holding panels, supervising (which corgis, btw, excel at), and generally lending a hand while hanging out was lots of fun.  :)   The pens look a little bit like a prison at the moment - I've dubbed it the MT Gulag.  Just ask the horses - total prison!  Horsey jail!  With several meals a day, spa treatments for the skin and coat and hooves, and maid service ... jail ...

Once we'd gotten done everything we could get done, I went to get Apollo.  Neither of us was in the mood for serious work, so we did non-serious work.  :)  Just moving around, having a good time, then plenty of grooming.   I also put the desperately-needed bunches of extra holes in the side reins I bought for a song at the FLTS spring sale ... and I found another reason why they were priced for a song: the tail of the leather that goes through the buckle end wasn't stitched down.  I know how to stitch leather myself, so I could in theory fix it, but I don't have an awl or a stitching tool.  I bet MT does, but ... I might as well pay our local harness/saddle maker to do it.  He'll do it faster and better without a re-learning curve.  Plus, support local business!

Anyway, good evening at the barn.  Fo sho.