Recent content by prosefullstop

This a million times over. Lillie Keenan is the young rider hero du jour on the American circuit, of which equitation classes are an absolutely vital part of coming up through the ranks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVT1JPDZyB0 Whereas pony show jumping is how the kids come up through the...

We have 19 acres, but I fully expect to "hack" on it, as there are two massive hills, a small stream to cross and a "spare" two-acre field, which I plan to load with home-made jumps. We do live adjacent to a 200-acre wood with bridle trails, but I don't plan on using that every time I ride. I...

I don't own him, but I regularly ride a 17.2 hh stocky Dutch Warmblood, and really struggle to wrap my legs around and stay centred. I've never had this problem before, and it's a real challenge, especially as I have tight leg muscles from running. Luckily the fellow I ride is both sound (he's...

I would say that Americans are absolutely fanatical about correct equitation. You don't see a lot of elbow-flapping and "get up" kind of riding. Sounds like you're cleaning up, Firewell. Next year Devon Horse Show? (I've been watching the live stream all weekend--such a fun show!)...

We're building a three-stall barn at the end of the year, and next spring will start fencing fields. The drainage is good to excellent, and I know that I'll need to supplement plenty, as they aren't the biggest of pastures, but how would you do it? Three days on each space, poo pick, and move...

Ha! Very good point. We have an art studio on the property, not fifty feet away, that has a loo, so no trekking back to the house. Our upstairs is going to be similar, too, with a railing that'll run three quarters of the way round. Did the air ever get musty when you hung rugs upstairs?

This is the proposed layout, though the 6 x 14 area will now be the staircase upstairs, and the existing tack area will be split in half for tack and feed. The ceiling will be about 25-feet high. Unfortunately the barn will not back directly onto a pasture, but a circular driveway for parking...

Me, too! Huge takeaway from this: I shall keep with the look the builder has proposed re: solid dividers between stables.

I have a long list of proposed materials, so I'll get it out later and have a look. I know that the material will be majority hemlock, which is very popular for barns, and I know that it's what the Amish use (they are renowned barn builders). In any case, I love doing all the research, and get...

I hear you loud and clear about the wood, Polos Mum, but I think wood is my only choice. Everything is made in wood in Connecticut. Even my house is wooden (and 1770, so it's somehow managed to survive through the harsh winters). You can get metal buildings, but only in specific sizes as far as...

Thank you so much for contributing ideas. I guess all the large barns over this way have the bars between stalls, but one horror story is definitely enough for me to reassess. And I'm going to divide the tack room in two, so that the tack and feed rooms are adjacent, measure 9 x 14 each, and the...

We are due to build a small barn at home later this year. I'm in the States, but English, and am far more accustomed to shed row stables than I am American-style barns. Needles to say we are very excited, but want to make sure everything is right! We have someone building the structure for...

I live in America, and all of my family is back home in England. My husband's family is close by, but small, and only willing to help out in small increments. I currently have no horses, but I do have children--a two-year-old and a ten-week-old--and I have just employed a lovely "mother's...

Well done! I actually had a go at schooling hunters--just a 2'6 and a 2'9 class at my old barn--and I was told that my riding style was "too defensive", meaning I sit to a canter and sit back on landing. So that was the end of that, but I am itching to get out again, only this time in the...

Have you started riding US hunter style, cantering in two point and remaining forwards on landing from a jump? Do you think that might have something to do with his newfound desire to zoom? Horse-keeping is so different out here. We are about to start building a three-stall barn at home, and I...