The show was being held a little over an hour's drive across town. Since I planned to event Cappy and most events in my region would require an overnight stay, we decided to take advantage of the stabling offered for this hunter/jumper schooling show. Cappy might as well experience the whole fun of a show trip, and have a chance to get acclimated to the grounds. Also, it is much easier to show out of stalls than show two horses out of a trailer without a tackroom, and one of the horses doesn't straight tie... and weighs about 1,600 pounds.
We arrived there early evening on Friday and got our stall assignments. While a very nice show barn, the stalls we got were temporary ones erected in an indoor. Very small temporary stalls.
Klaus was 17 million hands tall. He was long. He was wide. We peered with trepidation at the stalls assigned. Each seemed to be about 7'x9'. Surely no bigger than 8.5' x 10'. They had slats for the walls, and they really didn't seem sturdy enough to keep Klaus from bringing the whole thing down if he leaned on the wall a bit.
Oh, dear.
I put hay and water buckets in the stalls, and unloaded Cappy first. He snorted a bit walking into the indoor, but led well enough into his stall, turned around once, then started eating his hay. The aisle up at Marilyn's was eight feet wide and he had turned around in it all the time just fine. He should be OK for one night, although... hopefully he doesn't lean on the walls, either.
I led Klaus into the indoor. He stopped and stared at the shanty town before him, but followed me as I led him to his stall. I walked him in... or thought I did. His butt was still hanging out.
I asked him to step up, and I squished over to the side. He kind of fit, on the diagonal. His hay and water were at the back, so within the reach of his head. I slithered out past his hindquarters, and slid closed the pathetic excuse for a door. He looked at me balefully through the slats.
"Uh, good night guys. See you in the morning."
I see no good from this.
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