Visual learner building barn

From: Julie

Dear Jessica, I need some advice for a friend. What I am hoping to get from you is some suggestions of videotapes that will help Ted and Alicia build their place so that they get it right the first time. I know that he can put up a solid barn, but it needs to be built for horses! My barn is a 150-year-old bank barn, so they can't exactly look at it for ideas, plus it was originally built for cows and even though it's solid and huge, it's still not exactly a horse barn, and there are a lot of things I would do different if I could build a new barn! One of the first things Alicia bought when she got back into horses was your book "Riding for the Rest of Us", and it's still basically her "bible". She also bought a copy of the book you recommended about building barns, "Horse Housing", and she says it's a great book too, but the problem is that Ted is not good at learning from books, he needs to see things being done. That's why I thought maybe you would know of some videotapes that would help him, and a tape or even a book that would help Alicia feel that she can take good care of her horses when they're at home with her. The tapes have to be ones that show people doing things, they can't be the kind of tapes where somebody stands in front of the camera and writes on a blackboard or flips a chart!

Whatever you recommend, we'll get. I hope you have some suggestions for us! Alicia is a great gal and her life hasn't been easy. It's good now and I'm just so happy for her and I want to help make sure that everything goes right for her.

Julie

Alicia is twice lucky - to have you for her friend, and to have a husband who is ready and willing to build her the barn of her dreams. She should sit down and read "Horse Housing" very carefully, and then discuss it with her husband. I'm going to guess that he hasn't actually looked at the book yet - because it's not just text. It's full of nice clear photographs, and even if he's a visual learner, he may still find it very useful. However, I'm very happy to be able to tell you that I can indeed recommend a set of videotapes for Alicia and her husband. From your description of them and their situation, I think that the best investment they could make right now would be a set of three new videotapes called "101 Horsekeeping Tips". They're by the very same people who wrote "Horse Housing": Cherry Hill and Richard Klimesh. The first two tapes are ones that you might want to watch with Alicia: they're called "Handling and Grooming" and "Feeding and Health Care". The third one is called "Facilities and Tack", and although it won't explain HOW to build everything that Ted will need to build, it's something that he and Alicia can watch together and discuss, and it should really help their barn-planning process. The videos are very well-made and clear - they are quality productions, much like the book. In fact, if you're buying a "starter set" of information in ANY form for a first-time horse-owner or barn-owner (or barn-builder!), here's MY shopping tip: If you see the name "Cherry Hill" or "Richard Klimesh" on something, be it a book or a videotape or a CD-ROM, you can be sure that it's a good product and well worth the money.

For other videos, you might suggest that they contact some of the companies that market stalls, fencing, etc. Most such companies have low-cost videotapes that help viewers understand what's involved in building those structures - and I know that sometimes (often, I suspect!) the people who order the videotape "just to get some ideas" turn around and order the products once they've understood just how much time and effort they would need to produce something with similar quality. More than once, I've heard someone say "I ordered the tape from X company just to see how they built their stalls, so I could do mine by myself" and then, later, heard the same person say "That tape was impressive - they really know what they're doing, and we just went ahead and ordered our stall kits from them."

In any case, if Alicia and Ted have the "101 Horsekeeping Tips" videotapes, the "Horse Housing" book, and your telephone number, it sounds to me as though they'll be starting off with ALL the advantages. Wish them "Good luck" for me.

Jessica

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