Help! I Wrecked My House

I am an HGTV fan. Sometimes, I hit record, move on to something else, and then come back just to watch the big reveal. Those shows give me a sense of empowerment, especially since so many of them feature women who can swing a hammer. I am pretty handy myself, so when I saw what Izzy had done to his fence, I figured I could fix it myself.

The bottom of the fence is no longer attached.

Since this paddock was built for Dollar the stallion, the fence stands close to six feet tall. It's also lined with no climb wire all the way around. Dollar lived there for at least a decade, so the fence has started to show some wear and tear. Izzy is not helping.

Izzy recently started pawing at the bottom of the fence when I am in the tack room or hanging out cleaning tack. He craves constant attention, and he quickly realized that pawing at the fence makes all sorts of entertaining noises, including me yelling at him to QUIT IT!

He has pawed at it so much that it came loose which provided him with even more fun. Over the long weekend, I bought a heavy duty staple gun, and asked Reggie, who works at the ranch, for help tidying up the fence. I cleared away about half of the dirt and leaves with a stick and rake before Reggie told me it would be faster for him to use the leaf blower, a shovel, and the tractor. 

Reggie had it cleaned out much faster than I did.

I always hate to ask him to do jobs for me, but he always seems happy to help. And really, it is his job to take care of those kinds of projects, but I hate to heap more work on him. I always jump in as his assistant, but I am not sure if he finds that helpful or not. While I rode, which kept Izzy out of the way, Reggie dug out the rest of the dirt and set to work reattaching the fence. He quickly abandoned my stable gun in favor of much heavier duty nails.

Once I was done riding, I kept Reggie company and jumped in when I could. I am particularly good at opening and closing the gate. Once the fence was reattached at the  bottom, Reggie used the tractor to bank the dirt back against the bottom of the fence as well as pack it down. The dirt provides a bit of a barrier to the fence.

Much safer!

By the time Reggie had finished, the fence was securely fastened, but as we were putting Izzy away, Reggie spotted another section of the fence near the gate that he thought needed more repair. He promised to take care of it after lunch. I thanked him and let him know that whenever he got to it, it would be much appreciated. He did, and it was.

Maybe we can get a show on HGTV: Palatial Paddocks, My Barn is a Wreck, or The Mess that Horses Make. I'd watch any of them.