Honey - All I Need is a Fence for my Horse
I am so lucky to have Aaron.
We bought our farm Dec 26th 2003. We got possession of it in January 2004 and the first thing I did was run (actually non - intentionally slide on my bum) down the hill to the plateau. I said to my husband "I know we do not have any extra money and I know I am really far in debt but all I need is a fence for my horse." Take note a true horse person does not say want, they say "need" and by only asking for a fence for one horse it sounds fairly easy.....The picture is of Aaron looking accross the plateau saying, "So you want what and where?"
Aaron said "We can't do anything right now as the ground is frozen but as soon as the snow goes I will see what I can do." I was soooo excited that I went down again with many bright orange cones and began trudging around in the snow placing them stategically around the property. As I had in my mind that Aaron was actually standing in my future riding ring, I placed the cones way over on the other side of the plateau. Aaron said, "Why are all of the cones way over there? I thought you wanted them here." Well no honey this area is where the riding ring will be. He replied "What? Riding ring? I thought all that you needed was a fence." Well yes I need a fence but I need a riding ring too. But don't worry about the ring, all I really need is a fence for Mack.
The snow finally went away in the spring and Aaron said that we would get a bundle of rails and a bundle of posts and he would build me the fence. Yippee. Once again very excited I ran down to the plateau, reorganized my cones and layed out the rails where the paddock was to be. Below is a picture of the rails and cones ready for Aaron. Aaron looked at it and said "That is huge! That is not a paddock, that is a field! That is way bigger than I thought." Yes honey it is big - isn't it wonderful. And there is room for more than just one horse in there. Aaron, "More than one horse. What are you talking about you just have Mack." But honey Mack will need a friend when he gets here so the paddock has to big enough for two horses. But again don't worry about that, all that I need is this paddock. When Aaron got closer to the extremely large paddock to have a better look he noticed some extra cones and rails on the ground (see the cones and rails that are perpendicular to the top part of the paddock) and he stopped in his tracks. He asked, "What is this?" I said, that is where the shelter will be. All horses need shelter. But don't worry about that now, all that I need is this fence up so I can bring Mack home.
My husband is a very smart man. My husband is not a push over (anyone that knows him will attest to this). It is not that he did not 'get the big picture' or 'get tricked into anything' he was actually storing this information in his memory and was choosing not to tell me that I was insane. He truely understands the craziness. So that being said Aaron shook his head wondering what he had got himself into mumbled under his breath, "I have got to keep a tight rein on this girl's imagination or I could be in big trouble." He then went and got the 80 pound post pounder and started on the fence. Aaron pounded every one of the posts by hand and hammered up every rail within a single weekend. Soon after he did the fence he built a big shelter, a small pony shelter in the paddock as well as a tack/feed shed right next to the paddock. My husband thought that he was going to get ahead of my imagination.....See picture below. Note: there is three horses........
Now it it 2005 and I have three horses in one big paddock. I really prefer to feed my horses seperately. This was especially important considering how much more feed the thoroughbred would need compared to the quarter horse crosses. So I mentioned to my husband that I needed to separate the horses and it would require just one more fence/paddock for the thoroughbred. He glared at me and said, "I thought you said you just needed the one paddock." Well not now that I have three horses and the thoroughbred eats so much more than the others so I just need one paddock beside this one for the one horse (Notice a theme here???). Aaron went and got the post pounder again and made another paddock. See below - the next paddock is on the left side of the picture.
As I had mentioned earlier that all horses need a shelter one can only guess what I asked for next. Yes. A shelter for the new paddock. New shelter far left in picture below.
Now that I had two paddocks, two big shelters, one pony shelter, a tack shed, and three horses I needed a cover for the hay.......Honey, I need to cover my hay. He said, "I know dear, you do not have to say anything more about this." See below.
Since the hay shed I have "needed" two more paddocks and one more shelter. Aaron also has the holes for another shelter dug waitng for posts......Trying to get ahead of me again .....
During all of this I also started asking him about the riding ring. It started with "Honey, All that I need is a fence for my Riding Ring!" Hahhaha I love my husband. He is the only person that can keep my craziness and imagination under control while at the same time make my dreams turn into reality.
Love you honey :)
