Final parts and pieces

The barn went up really fast yesterday morning. Within a few hours all of the panels were assembled. Those guys work FAST.

They of course had to measure and make sure everything was square and to the right measurements. So far, we’re really happy with these guys. They’ve been very thorough and precise. Unfortunately one of them got sick very early on and the weather took an extensive toll on another worker. The remaining three guys worked through the afternoon, even though the temps were 104+. Because they’ve been down two guys, the boss is coming down to help and they may have to finish everything next week. Most of the grunt work is done; it’s the cutting of the arena posts and capping them; it’s the welding and the roof and the sliding doors; it’s the final checks that need to be done. Then it’s a few days for the inspectors to send in paperwork. Which sets back bringing the horses over, but it is what it is. It’s happening, and that’s all that matters.

It’s a 36×36 barn – 4 stalls and a tack and hay room. Each horse will have their own side and as a result a 12×36 run as well as the run of both stalls. The middle area between tack and feed room will be the wash rack, but we can’t concrete anything yet so that may not happen for a few months. But I’m super excited to get the horses here (if you couldn’t tell).

Amber was….horrible. She started off good, really trying. So I did some lateral steps at the walk and jog, something she knows and I knew she could excel at, and it felt like the start of good things. She felt a little distracted but a lot more “with me.” Then a few people walked their horses on the other side of the trees, they were calling, she couldn’t see them passing, and she never came back to me. It’s so so so unusual for that horse to do that. Even the days she’s been a little looky and spooky, she’s always come back to me. Not today.

She wasn’t wild. She’s never wild. She was just completely out of it. She wasn’t even focusing on the poles I’d set out. She was tense and uptight and it felt terrible. Then she kept hearing one of the horses neighing, so she decided she had to add her vocals to the mix. Then she was okay-ish, and I should’ve stopped it there but I didn’t. I thought I’d let her canter a bit, something she’d excel in to end well, and there was no excelling in that yesterday either. I finally got her pretty rhythmic at the trot once both directions, sort of listening to my aids and called it quits. It was just horrible guys. I didn’t sleep well Wednesday night because my ride was bad and I didn’t sleep well last night either. Hopefully it’ll be okay today, but I’m not excited to ride. Hopefully, the barn is all approved by Wednesday next week at the latest. This was definitely our worst ride in a very long time.