Tuesday 11 October 2022

We Progress

Unfortunately Bridget didn’t accept Sophie back into her life as seamlessly as I’d hoped. She really is that odd pony who prefers to live alone if she can. On arrival at the barn last week, I was met with a very grumpy Bridget and a brand new section of fence destroyed, with 2 posts sheared off at the ground. I have no idea what really happened but the evidence suggests B ran into the fence pretty hard, likely threatening Sophie on the other side. I was having a few issues myself with B being very pushy and in our space and generally questioning the rules.

Cursing myself for cementing the posts in, apparently I just created a lever that makes them easier to snap at ground level (and a giant rock to dig out before I replace the post)


I know it's just horses doing horse things, and B was likely just feeling like her resources were being threatened. It sure made me worry things weren’t going to work…so funny as going into this I had wondered if Sophie would fit to our little barn and she’s been completely unproblematic - the drama was all B!

Luckily, it seems to have settled down now. I’ve been able to leave them sharing a paddock for longer and longer periods and I saw B sharing a hay pile with S this morning, a sure sign things are going to be OK.
This seems better


The dry weather here is holding, we haven’t had much rain at all since June. Completely unheard of, but excellent for me because we got the ring base finished this week! 

Sophie's been entertained by all the activity - proving me wrong yet again. She was zero percent stressed about dump trucks and excavators working and spent her afternoons in the barn quietly watching the goings on.

It looks huge from this angle, but it's really about 75 x120 and evenly splits the area behind the barn between ring and grass paddock.

Bad at picture angles, you'll just have to trust me there is a nice paddock space left above the ring-to-be.

Next up, I take a big time out on that project. While it’s tempting to add the footing and call it done, for now we’re going to continue to harrow/level it and just let it settle and compact as long as I can stand it. I think the time taken now to make sure it’s going to hold up well in winter rains will pay off in the long run. I’m probably worrying too much, but our club arena ended up with the sand migrating and water pooling the first winter and I wonder if that could have been prevented if we had waited even a week or two and seen where the water flowed and collected on the base and adjusted accordingly. 

Moving on, we started the back fence line this past weekend and it’s a project and a half. It’s along a lane way and it seems that 50 plus years of road crews grading towards the low side (our property) means the road eventually came onto our property line. So, I get about 2’ deep of compacted ground and rock to dig through. We rented an auger, but it’s mostly a case of needing shovels and pry bars and getting 2 or 3 posts in a day. I voted to move the fence line in off the old road, but G’s determined not to give up our space (and that’s a valid enough argument when you only own a little over an acre lol)

4 days of digging up rocks. RIP to my favorite shovel.

Posts are happening though. I'm planting the shrubs as I go as a reward, because that's the fun part. Plan is for a 6' post and rail fence with wire mesh, and an eventual hedge inside. We've made the fence a foot higher than originally planned because you wouldn't believe the amount of nosy people, sometimes even stopping their vehicles to sit and stare at me working or riding. I don't know if that's a 'thing' elsewhere,  I find it really uncomfortable.


I finally organized a replacement for our missing farrier and got Sophie a saddle that fits her newly bigger self better, so the hope is to get back to work this week. She’s got plenty of energy needing some direction. Enough that I think we’ll start with longeing and groundwork for a week or two ;) This break to focus on property improvements was always the plan, but it’s been a bit of a tough slog this summer (even this entire year, in fact) without much riding progress (hacking B is fun, but I get bored), so I’m looking forward to getting back at it. 

Speaking of nosy...these two creeping me everywhere I go;)






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9 comments

  1. ugh Bridge... don't take down your nice new fences!!!! :( for real tho, glad the property is going well -- so exciting about the arena!

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    1. Our local area doesn't have boarding per say and we all trailer in to a shared club facility if we want to ride in a ring...it's going to be such a treat to not have to leave the property.

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  2. So much progress! Yeah! Fencing and fencing repair is the pits though. And yes I notice since I put in a ring a lot of people slow to watch me ride or even stop and watch. Weird, but I give them the Midwest head nod and go about my business.

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    1. You're more well adjusted than me, I get all weirded out by it and worry about all the nefarious reasons they might have to be watching me lol

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  3. The property looks amazing. You are going to love it. I agree with your plans to let the arena settle and see what you need to do. No matter how much you do, some run off and settling is almost impossible to avoid. If you can put landscape ties where the run off occurs (if not all of it) will help. I'm sorry for the initial drama but glad it is settling. I'm also glad that no one was injured by the snapped off posts!

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    1. We were discussing landscape ties or 'something' yesterday on the lower edge by the new fence. It's going to get graded further towards the edge once I have everything planted and fenced, but I don't have a solid plan beyond that yet...G is in favor of a little rock wall, stepdad wants to do it with bricks, me being me can't help but ponder something that won't hurt as much when I fall on it ;)

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  4. Beautiful! I wonder if the horses will eat the planned hedge? My horse eats everything.

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    1. Likely! I tried to pick horse friendly shrubs/traditional hedgerow plants that tolerate some 'pruning' in case they do decide to nibble.

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  5. Hi, we had the same thing with a post cemented in, that broke off at its base at our gate. We had to hire a contractor to come dig out the concrete, put in a galvanized steel post embedded in new concrete. We're waiting now to see how long that lasts, although he assured us that a tractor couldn't take it out. *shrug* I feel your pain! So far the biggest lesson we've learned it to not use wood, only t posts or composite (my dream) and to reinforce the corners appropriately. And to use stainless steel electric wire connectors that do not rust. I never thought I'd want a crappy American t post fence, but just last week another fir tree fell on our fence and all we had to do was push the tree aside and then tighten the fallen electric wire. No rebuilding of a wooden fence, thankfully. In 13 years we've never had to replace a t post, but I admit, one of them is crooked from having a tractor slide into it. It still works!

    I have a cypress hedge on the outside of my horse fence and my animals never touch it. I wish I'd gone with all rhododendron in some places cuz the tastier shrubs are being eaten away.

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