Now as for Valie's accommodations, he is in what I call "the perfect stall". It's slightly to the right of the main barn door and has a square shaped opening where he can hang his head out to look at and communicate with his neighbors or gaze at the great outdoors and more specifically, several of the paddocks. In other words, should a horse be on "stall rest", being in one of those "front row stalls' can easily abate boredom. Also, his stall is one that can be converted into a foaling box and the slatted boards of said adjoining wall fits into metal rungs and should you want to convert it for foaling, you can manually slide the wooden slats up and out. It's tedious work but when done it turns into the perfect foaling stall!
As the story goes, I believe that my wonderful horse was in need of some male bonding time with his "next stall neighbor", a beautiful T-Walking horse named Dell. Apparently, hanging his head out of his stall door while Dell did the same just wasn't good enough. And since I imagine that Valie had some secrets to share about another horse named Tank (but that's another story for another time), he strapped on his "thinking cap" and came up with a brilliant idea - "why don't I dismantle the wall between our stalls so that we can hang out together!".
The next morning, when David went into the barn to begin feeding, he immediately discovered that Valie and Dell were in Dell's stall. When he scrambled to look inside, he found that Valie had methodically grabbed each board slat with his teeth (we think!), pulled every one up the rungs and then threw the boards on the stall floor. It was then that David called Liz (who was at work that morning) and when she heard what happened, she immediately thought injury, blood, an emergency vet visit, etc. but there was not a scratch on either horse so....what does that tell you? Well, it tells me that Valie had made a well thought-out plan of action and then put said plan in motion!
This story, a cautionary tale, could have been a disaster! And, as a surprised Mom, I felt that it was necessary to share Valie's newest adventure with you because should one of your boys or girls start showing an interest in their stall walls, you'll be prepared. The truth is that we really don't know what goes on in those stables at night, there's probably a lot of gossip, tactical planning about how to break into the feed room and God knows what else! But, being a practical thinker, I'm beginning to wonder if Valie should start his own demolition business and as such, if he is the success I think he'll be, I'm certain that when I reach retirement age, he will "take care" of me as I have done for him!
The vertical board is where the metal rungs (that hold the board slats) are located.
A view of the board slats on the stall floor.
This is a close-up look at the board slats and note the red salt block holder on one of the boards, it reminds me of what a miracle it was that one or both horses were not hurt!
....and finally, here's Valie, in Dell's stall, looking out the stall door opening as if to say, "what's all the fuss about?".
