PREPARING FOR HORSES

[inveresk]

Hi, Chris

The ring will be used mostly for dressage.

The spaghetti hog is popular around here for arena topping. BC is 90% forested so there's no shortage of forestry waste for making the stuff. We just have to be careful there's no cedar in it. The hog will compact some as it's trafficked and, because the strands are well knitted together, it doesn't get kicked up as much as a sand arena does so tends to need less maintenance. It drains well and if the horses roll around in it as they do in the corral and paddock, their coats stay clean. One issue is that it can be a real fire hazard during summer droughts.

 

[nickel plate]

Hi, Chris

The ring will be used mostly for dressage.

The spaghetti hog is popular around here for arena topping. BC is 90% forested so there's no shortage of forestry waste for making the stuff. We just have to be careful there's no cedar in it. The hog will compact some as it's trafficked and, because the strands are well knitted together, it doesn't get kicked up as much as a sand arena does so tends to need less maintenance. It drains well and if the horses roll around in it as they do in the corral and paddock, their coats stay clean. One issue is that it can be a real fire hazard during summer droughts.

I once built a 31' trimaran and during the (3) hull building phase I used many yards of free dry sawdust around the strongbacks to keep my feet dry and above the winter rain runoff level. That next summer it was time to roll the hulls and start the deck and cabin so I invited my softball team over to roll the hulls, have a BBQ and some cool ones. All went well that evening but I woke up around three a.m. to the smell of smoke......... Someone had discarded a cigarete on the dry compacted sawdust under the hulls and by that time just about half of the 600 sf area was BLACK AND SPREADING! A close by garden hose saved my vessel which is now 34 years old and still cruising the Pacific ocean albiet owned by others.
Barn fires can result into tragedies so do provide a decent fire break and water pressure system between your arena and the horse barn. I do feel that you have already taken that into consideration. You have a very nice looking facility.

 

[inveresk]

Thank you for the cautionary advice, nickel plate. I'm glad you saved your boat.

In summer months here no fires are allowed. Even chain saws are banned. When my wife and I moved to the island in 2006 we were blissfully ignorant of the fire regulations so we started burning garden waste sometime around the end of June. All seemed to be going well so we took a coffee break and when we returned half the surrounding landscape seemed to be on fire. It was all I could do to douse the spreading flames with the tractor and loader and it's a battle I would've lost had three fire tenders not arrived on the scene. It took an hour or so to douse the flames but before the brigade left I was given a fairly stern lecture in front of half the neighbours. I deserved it and it was a lesson well learnt.

The riding ring is around 400 feet from the stables. I've fitted the stables with smoke alarms and I make sure that two H2O fire extinguishers are charged and ready to go.

 

[Egon]

As with all your previous endeavors/projects the results are excellent.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

The fence really looks good.:thumbsup:

 

[inveresk]

Thanks, Egon.

Congrats. on being member of the month - or was that in May?

 

[Egon]

Thanks.

Yes it was about that time.

 

[Mike_Kanzer]

Beautiful setting for a house and barn. what do you do with the waste manure and stable bedding ( straw? shavings? saw dust?)? We compost about half of ours to spread on our pastures and also have about 1/2 hauled away to be used for compost elsewhere. Thanks for showing us your project. - Mike

 

[inveresk]

Hi, Mike

The horses only arrived a couple weeks ago so I've still to devise a management programme for dealing with the manure and spent bedding (we use shavings). So far all we've done is spread the manure on an area of land we've designated for our vegetable garden. I intended to let it rot there over the winter then turn it into the soil next spring. Hopefully we'll also get enough neighbours interested in free manure to ensure we don't amass the stuff.

I guess I can also spread it in the pasture although I don't have a 3 pt manure spreader. One web site I happened upon suggested spreading it by getting out with a golf club and practising your swing!!

 

[SuperCobra]

Beautiful place! I've been making snake rail fence out of oak. Pain to split. Wish I had cedar although I imagine the white oak will be around for a few years if kept off the ground. Do you tie the rails together somehow? I've found at a 45 degree or greater angle on the zigzags they are pretty stable. For the ends I drill them and run rebar down them.

 

[inveresk]

Supercobra, I also fixed the rails using rebar. First I set a rock around 6" min. height at each change in direction and drilled through with a 5/8" masonry drill. I then drove 1/2" rebar about 5' - 6' long through the hole in the rock and into the soil to the depth of the shale which is around 15". I then drilled each end of the cedar rails and slid the rail over the rebar. Finally, 12" lag bolts at each end connect the top three rails. Like you, I mostly stuck to angles of about 135 degrees or less.

Your oak snake fencing should last well, look great (post some pics) and be very strong.