New Hoop House for the horse! (pict heavy)

[canesisters]

I highjacked another thread to get info about how to build a hoop house, but thought that I would start a new one to post picts of the finished project.
My ancient old horse has had to walk through a nasty, muddy, mucky mess to get into the barn where her feed was.


I got the materials together and started putting it up this afternoon. 2 'cattle panels' 16'x4', a very large tarp, 4 t-posts, a little wire and a BUNCH of zip-ties.
Gail was curious about all the activity in her yard.


Since I work by myself, I figured it would be easiest to attach the tarp first - then put up the arch.
I laid out the tarp and panels, and then wired the panels together.

I wrapped the edges and zip-tied them.


Then flipped it over and put the first 2 t-posts in to keep the north side secure.


Then heaved-hoe-ed the middle up and secured the other end with two more t-posts. I added a bunch more zip-ties to tidy up the edges. And then added a string of solar Christmas lights up in the middle ('cause she knows that she's a princess and expects some sort of luxury).


The blue barrel will be cut in half to become her new out door feeder. Now the BIG question... will she see it as a terrible horse eating monster?

Nope! She walked right in as if it had been there forever.

 

[digitS']

Yay!!!

from Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

Hey! Nice job Cane! Gail is obviously a horse of superior intelligence, probably due to her Royal Heritage.

Thanks for posting pix of the process, very interesting.

 

[Smart Red]

That is a fine shelter. Can you tell the finished height and width of the shelter? I am guessing it is 8' long. What direction is the opening?

 

[PhilaGardener]

That looks great! Glad she took right to it!

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Good idea and a very nice setup!

And a nice looking horse of course.

 

[baymule]

I know she appreciates her new shelter. No more wading the mud just to get something to eat! That's a great idea!

 

[ninnymary]

Cane, is it big enough? Looks like she barely fits but it could be the angle. I can't believe you did it by yourself. I could never do it. Very proud of you!

Mary

 

[canesisters]

THANKS Yall! I'm pretty proud of it. It was not as hard as I thought it was going to be.

Red, the covered space is roughly an 8'x8' square with the top just above 6' high, and the openings point East/West.

Mary, it IS a tight fit and she wouldn't be able to raise her head in there, but it's purpose is to keep her feed dry, not necessary to be a shelter for her. She had some sort of stroke-like event several years ago and now she acts like she's got an equine version of dementia. It takes her hours to finish 10lbs of feed. She’ll eat a little, then wander off, then suddenly come back to the barn and eat a little more…..
Also, you could certainly build one of these if you needed one! Nothing to it. The hardest part was getting the hump in the middle started.

 

[Nyboy]

In the spring are you going to change out tarp for clear plastic and use for greenhouse?