How “Jam’n” Makes Chores More Efficient
by Alayne Blickle, Horses for Clean Water
Horse life at home is all about chore efficiency, and sometimes the simplest solutions are best. One small thing we did recently at Sweet Pepper Ranch, our horse motel and guest ranch in southwestern Idaho, has made our spring rainy season horse chores just a little bit easier.
Our horses have 24/7 accesses to their outside paddocks, so we were getting a lot of dirt and sand tracked in. We installed a simple stall guard (or door threshold), which I refer to as a stall door jam. This is a board placed at ground level at the entrance of the stall, between the inside and outside. The board preferably should be treated wood so it’ll last—railroad ties work great for this, too.
The purpose of this “door jam” is to stop or reduce dirt from getting tracked in and help keep stalls a little cleaner and easier to care for. If you use bedding it’ll help hold that bedding in and not allow as much to get tracked out.
Steps to install your stall door jam:
1. Rake away footing from in front of the stall door in order to clear a good working area.
2. Take one or two pieces of 2 x 4 or 4 x 4 treated wood, which is longer than the door width.
3. Measure the size of your space where you want the board (keep in mind the old adage “measure twice – cut once!”)
4. Cut the board to fit snugly into the space.
5. Secure the board into the door frame with either screws or by toe-nailing it in.
Good luck and happy jam’n!
Looking for a summer vacation or a weekend getaway? Visit Alayne Blickle this summer at her horse motel and guest ranch, Sweet Pepper Ranch in Nampa, Idaho. www.SweetPepperRanch.com
Published June 2012 Issue
Alayne Blickle, a life-long equestrian and educator, is the creator/director of Horses for Clean Water, an award-winning, nationally acclaimed environmental education program that “wrote the book” on caring for horses and land. Known for her enthusiastic, fun and down-to-earth approach, she is an educator and photojournalist who has worked with horses and livestock owners for over 20 years. Alayne teaches and travels throughout North America and abroad, and also runs Sweet Pepper Ranch, an eco-sensitive guest ranch and horse motel in Southwestern Idaho where she and her husband raise top-notch reining horses and beautiful grass hay. For more information contact Alayne at alayne@horsesforcleanwater.com or 206-909-0225.