Two Peas in a... Stall?

Sonny has to be moved to his new barn by July 1st. That has been putting some pressure on the 'stall building committee', but I believe that we can pull it off!

Stephen and I had some time to work on it this weekend and we are definitely making progress! Saturday we bought a board for the bottom of the wall the separates his stall from the tack room. With that board up, we could make everything on the ground level. We needed to get the ground done to get the pile of gravel out of the way for them to build the driveway. But, now all that's left is the wall :).

So we cut the board and put it up and realized that our original sandings were flat, but sloping. So we had to re-build the one side to make the sandings level so the matts wouldn't slope. Once those were level we put two mats in to make sure everything was going according to plan. So far so good!

Board up, sandings level, mat #1 down.

Pounding the sandings down and level.

Mat #2 in.

Next in line was to get the board up the separates the sandings/mats from the pea gravel. I wanted a board there so that he couldn't drag wets shavings into the pea gravel or pea gravel into his shavings. The board had to stick up a bit so that he is forced to pick his feet up over it rather than drag them across it. We put the board 8 feet away from the wall because his mats are 4 feet wide, so two would fit perfectly. Along with that, it gives us plenty of space for pea gravel.

 Making sure the board is 8 feet away from the wall.

Secured at one end.

We cut the sandings back so that we could use rebar to
keep the board from moving if he would step on it.

Rebar in!  

Screwing the rebar to the board so that it was super secure.

Once we got the board in, it definitely wasn't going anywhere! We could then fill in the rest of the sandings up to the board and level it out again. 

Once everything was filled in and level, we could finish putting the mats in. Mat #3, the one towards the wall, went in quite easily. Mat #4 was a little trouble maker. We ended up having to pull it out, re-work the sandings, and put it back in. But, we finally got it to work!

There is still a triangle area that isn't covered by a mat. I have one mat left over, so I might cut it up and put it there, Regardless, it won't hurt anything for that area to be bare now. The important thing is to get the stall functional so he can move in! 

The very last, and most exciting, step was to add the pea gravel. For those of you who don't know, pea gravel is supposed to be one of the best things for a horse's feet. Sonny has had feet problems since I got him so I have really, really been looking forward to him having an area big enough for pea gravel. Not only should it help his feet, but word on the block is that it is like a foot massage for them. I bet he will love it :). 

Stephen with our first load of pea gravel! 

It's in! 

I am so excited that things are really coming together. I guess they almost have to be for him to move, but it still makes me happy to see all the progress. I am just thrilled that he finally has a place that I am 100% happy with. I hope he loves the pea gravel as much as I do!