Saturday, November 24, 2007

The Shed is Up

The new shed. It took over 5 hours to set up.


More Than Five Hours Later

My friend Mark came over to help me put up the shed. Thank goodness. It would have been impossible to do it by myself. As it was, Mark and I had quite a time with it working as a team.

With me the weaker link. Mark did most of the heavier lifting and the ladder climbing construction. He also organized the parts and did the bulk of the figuring out the instructions, though once I saw how the thing was shaping up, I added a good number of useful alternatives and did manage to contribute to the brains end of the operation.

We really did work well together, so that was good. The shed is 20' long, and 10' wide so we left both ends open. That way any horses inside could escape from either end. I do have end flaps in case I eventually want to move the thing to another spot to store either hay or my tractor.

This is a Coverit building I bought about 4 years ago at a Horse Expo. It's been sitting in my garage waiting for a use since then. It has a rounded top and a fabric cover. The frame is made up of steel tubing that had to be bolted together. That's where most of the work was. Then, the cover is pulled over and cinched up at the front and back, and laced to the frame inside. The only thing we did not do was anchor it down. We had an issue with the anchoring system supplied because it just didn't seem to work in my ground. I need to come up with an alternative that is not dangerous to the horses, yet will hold the structure down in case of heavy winds. It will be OK for now, and Mark suggested should heavy wind be forecast, I could drive the tractor inside and tie the building to it for now.

I have no idea if any of the Boys have gone in it yet. Chance and Toby were free to during the night, but Tucker was locked in his stall. I'm going back out to turn him out in a little while, so when I do, I will report more and perhaps get a picture.

Scenes of "Discovery." First, Tucker says, "Hey, I'm not going near that thing!!" Moments later, the "Gang" starts to check it out. Tucker's in! Then, the scene from the far end of the ring so you have a sense of perspective about the size of the area.

The Boys reminded me of my cats in a paper bag or their "cat tunnel." Once they decided the shed would not really eat them, they ran through it several times, playing.

The novelty wore off in about a half hour and they were off to eat the hay I had put out in the pasture.

The shed has 8 feet of clearance, so Tucker might have to keep his head down, but he seemed just fine about it.

3 comments:

  1. wow. i've seen those, i think, pretty good.

    can't see the picture "from the far end of the ring" - seems to have gone off the side, can you lug it downwards so we can see?

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  2. That looks good! It'd be a mile away by now if I'd put it in my field and not tied it down!! Even a two seater bench blows away down the field :-)

    Great solution, by the look of it. You see - you buy these things because you know they'll come in handy one day :-)))

    C

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  3. Hey thats an excellent alternative to building a shelter!
    Yes it would have blown away in our field..this weekend has been really windy and cold,but dry so not complaining.

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