Shoeing pad

Our barn aisle used to be dirt. Packed dirt, but dirt nonetheless, and with our property being on the bajada, there is a slope to everything. The last time that our horses got new shoes, we wondered whether it would be a good idea to level the area between the tackroom and Buggsy's stall and have a concrete pad poured. It would prevent us from stepping into a hole every time we came out of the tackroom, and it would be a good and level place for the farrier (who jokingly said that he expected to have the job finished when he returned for the next visit on May 18).


Having done a number of concrete footing and slab jobs over the years, Dan decided he could level the site and set the forms himself. We would contract out the concrete work and have them finish the surface. Even with our cement mixer (a huge improvement over the wheelbarrow that used to be my mixer, plus hoe, plus elbow grease), it would take about 3 yards of concrete and that's more than I can mix in a day.


It took about a morning to level and set the forms, a day to add gravel and rebar, and yesterday the cement truck arrived to pour the slab. Today the forms came off and Dan added gravel ramps. What an improvement! If we had known how nice it would be to stand on a level surface getting in and out of the tackroom, we would have done this sooner. We will finish it off by adding 2 stall mats for the horses to stand during shoeing, and build a step into the tackroom.