I’ve been laid low by this miserable cold/flu/cough for days and days. I feel like I’m 180 years old, aching and pathetic. Yesterday, I was bemoaning how difficult it is not to be able to just open the barn and the gates and let the horses come and go as they want during the day from their stalls to the corral to the pasture. We had this time consuming ritual of walking them with their lead ropes from the corral to the pasture and from the pasture back to the barn, even though they are right next to each other.
It’s been a point of contention between me and my husband. He is the Protector of the Ditch. If the drainage ditch between the corral and the pasture gets blocked, we’ve got flooding. Despite my promises to clean the ditch religiously, I’ve never been able to convince him that we should just put in a gate between the corral and the pasture.
Maybe it was because I was so sad or so beaten down by the flu or maybe he just wanted to let me know how much he loves me, but a small miracle happened while I was napping. Our neighbor had an extra gate that he gave us, and my husband pulled the fence rails and installed it in less than an hour. When I looked out the window from upstairs, I thought I was dreaming. There was my gate, with my horses curiously sniffing it and looking towards the house to see if I was going to open it any time soon.
I staggered out and set them free. They are in heaven. I am astonished by the flexibility and the possibilities suddenly offered to me. It takes so little to make us happy in our little herd.
14 comments:
Victoria...sorry you aren't feeling well. This simple solution will make your life so much easier and the horses will be very happy. Good move!
Feel better! - I've just got over the same thing. Sounds like that gate will make your life easier!
Oh, that nasty flu...had the achy one myself a few weeks ago. Doesn't the smallest act of kindness take on enormous proportions when you feel lousy?
Hear, hear for simplifying life!
Sorry to hear you're feeling so miserable, hope you feel better soon.
What a great idea to help ease the transportation process from barn to paddock. Your husband's a really sweet guy.
One simple thing brings freedom and happiness. Yay! Give your husband a hug.
As for you, get some zinc lozenges! (My husband's a pharmacist, and we swear by them when we start feeling a cold or flu.) Or, try my Spaniard friends'treatment: mix some hot milk with cognac, "chug" it, then hop under nice warm sheets and covers and sweat it out. Or, my late father's suggestion: put a raw egg under your bed (theory being that it will take your illness and curdle the egg instead of you).
Feel better.
Great news! What a nice hubby you have. I am sure this will make horsekeeping a little easier. So the mares can either be locked in their stalls, locked in the paddock, or locked out of the paddock and stall, or just have all three open to them? The options, the options! :)
I am sorry to hear you aren't feeling well...that flu can knock one on their hiney! Take good care of yourself!
FEEL BETTER SOON!! Hopefully you Do Not have what I did- which had me wondering if I was *ever* going to be healthy again....
WHOOHOOO on the GATE! ;)
Take care up there, and I hope you and your lovely mares enjoy the gate to the fullest!!
Now, that's love. What a sweet man you have there.
Hope you start feeling better soon.
Sending good thoughts for quick recovery from the flu!
What a relief this is going to be for you, every single day.
Our barn is set up so that every stall opens to a paddock, and the paddocks have gates to the front field, the back field, and on one side of the barn, the arena. All we have to do is open the gates we want the horses to have access to, and the stall doors are mostly left open (or closed, if we want them to stay out of the barn during the day or night, depending on the turn-out routine)
But there is no haltering/leading necessary and it is SO easy. I'm glad you woke up to the magical gateway to less work! :)
And I bet the girls will love it too.
I am all about maximum efficiency with minimum effort. The changes this little miracle is going to offer you! More freedom for the horses, more freedom for you. Amen!
Oh what joy!! Nothing like a more efficient system!
I just spent the weekend creating my very own Pony Habitrail to do just what you described...it is heavenly, isn't it?
Amen for Pony Habitrails, may they flourish on every ranch and make all pony moms (and ponies!) happier :)
Hope you feel better soon!
Awesome, I suspect first that it's because he loves you so much, but feeling and looking pathetic may have helped! hehehehe
I had that same malady a couple of weeks back -- no fun at all -- I can sympathize with you. The gate is going to make your life a lot easier. Incredible how something so small can make such a big difference. And to have gotten it done in the time it took for you to rest! He will probably wonder why he did not just do it a long time ago.
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