How to Tone Those Abs

When moving to a horse place, the very first thing is to get the horses in so one can stop paying horse board, no matter what people tell you needs to be done in the kitchen.

The barn originally housed miniature horses in Western platform framing-- all 2x4s; the largest stalls were 12'x8'. Horses require at least 10'x10'. Our remodeled stalls are 12'x24', because of the thin framing. If we had divided it there would just be giant holes everywhere the horses kicked through. The larger stall has proved to be great for bad weather weeks, and was extra roomy for our geriatric, Miss Charlotte.

Demolishing the old stall partitions was no biggie. Putting in stall mats to reduce stall maintenance and the gradual "pit" horses make proved to be more exciting. First the strange nationwide run on stall mats in fall of 2007 meant that I couldn't get all of them at once. So I settled for a heavy 12x12 set that could deliver before Christmas--trying to get Dublin in at least the run-in for the opening of the new far away hunt territory January 1st. Linear Rubber took the order for the custom cut mats for the run-in, but we would see them in February. Around March, I finally found Mighty Light mats for a 12x12 stall through Smart Pak because of their flat rate ship-all-you-can policy. All the other vendors were out.

The thing about stall mats is that they work best if they have a really level base. 1/4"minus limestone works quite well. What no one shares is that it's really heavy if you are shoveling it all by hand. It took 4000 lbs of limestone to do the dry indoor 12x24 stall. By the time we had all the materials in place, after March's record 21" of rain and one bad horse fight, the atmosphere was 89 degrees F. And humid. Did I tell you it was humid?

Miller and I shoveled until the sweat came down like rain.  We found out gravel was really good for the abs. I offered the workout to friends. Sadly, we had no takers. Even the screeding proved to be great for the hamstrings. These are hard to target muscle groups.

Eventually we succeeded in getting it all into the stall and then laying mats. The run-in was next, only now it was hotter. When I called for gravel delivery, I asked for 3500 lbs, since the stall was 21' x 11'8". They said they would do their best, but normally went by the ton.  About two hours later the same driver as last time appeared with a large truck. He was smiling broadly. He said " I knew it was the same place where this gravel went last time for horse stalls, so I made sure the Loader guy gave you extra gravel!"

I said thank you just like my Mom taught me. I was crying inside.