'Heavy' Metal - or how to create a big vet bill

I love my barn. It's nicer than some of the apartments I've lived in. That being said, it needs some work.

The previous owners had horses and I'm guessing one of the horses cribbed or was a wood-chewer. "Cribbing" is a compulsive behavior some horses develop. They hold onto a solid object with their teeth, then arch their neck, sometimes also taking in gulps of air. This action releases endorphins which trigger the pleasure centers in the brain, so cribbing becomes an addictive habit.

Wood chewing is just that....a horse gnaws on wooden fences, stalls or posts. 

It's thought that boredom and a diet lacking in enough roughage is the cause of both conditions. Wild horses do not exhibit either of these habits, so it is most definitely related to how we are keeping our horses. There are a number of very serious health issues that can result from cribbing and wood chewing, so putting a stop to these habits is a must! Health concerns aside, these habits are extremely destructive to any wood in a barn!

Any-who, the solution the previous owners seem to have settled upon was covering most exposed wood surfaces with strips of aluminum.  I don't know what these metal strips were originally designed for, but I doubt it was for this.  It's very soft, cheap aluminum in L-shaped strips. They used the strips to cover the edges of virtually every wood surface.

You can see it in this photo across the top of the stall wall. (just below the wire fencing)

Despite the fact that they put a nail in about every two inches and at least four on the end of each strip, you can see that the metal has ripped or pulled up, created jagged edges. Near the automatic waterer, the metal rusted which also created dangerous jagged edges.

 

 

To me, this is a disaster in the making...nothing more than a vet bill waiting to happen.

Armed with a screwdriver and a hammer, I went to work prying up each and every nail to remove the metal strips.  I worked at it for hours! I was paranoid about losing a nail on the barn floor, since I am positive one of the horses would find that nail by stepping on it!  I did end up losing track of one nail, though. I'm going to sweep the floor when I'm done and hopefully it will turn up then.

Exhaustion set in before I was able to remove all of the metal. But I did get rid of the most dangerous parts.

 

There were a LOT of nails!

 

 

I'll finish pulling the rest of the metal off today. 



While I was working on that little project, G.W. was upgrading my feed room. I asked him to put in a work table so that I have a place to mix our horses' various supplements and feed.  He designed it with a storage shelf underneath one side and a space on the other side for the bin of Nutrena Safechoice.  He even notched the top to fit around all of the studs! 

 

 

 

 

Our three horses arrive tomorrow! Yay!  There's still work to be done in the barn and on the fencing, but we're ready for the horses!