128 SIDELINES SEPTEMBER 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
By Jan Westmark
I love a beautiful barn and, many years ago, I actually built my
dream barn. Or my “not-so-dreamy” barn, as I’ve referred to it
since then.
At the time, my then-husband and I were living in South Carolina
and we had two horses. I showed him plans for a beautiful two-
stall barn and we had long talks about the design.
It didn’t take us long before we headed to the local feed store
and purchased plywood, poles, two-by-fours and roofing material
— everything we needed to build the barn — according to my
husband. It seemed shockingly simple and un-dream-like to me,
but the man at the feed store agreed that it was everything we
would need.
While a girl can dream about her perfect barn, practicality won
out and I decided to go with my husband’s version of a not-so-
dreamy barn because winter was coming and I wanted my horses
to have a roof over their heads. We started building the barn and
it looked like it would be finished in one weekend — probably
because it wasn’t really a barn, but more of a lean-to with walls
and a roof.
Then we hit a snafu. Actually, it was more like I stepped on a
snafu. Or a nail. After our millionth trip to the feed store for more
supplies, (where I was becoming fast friends with the man who
owned the feed store) I took off my paddock boots and put on a
pair of tennis shoes. I was carrying supplies to the barn when I
walked around a corner and stepped on a board. That wouldn’t
have been such a problem except there was a nail sticking out
of the board and the nail went right through the bottom of my foot
and out the top of my tennis shoe.
I quickly discovered horse girls are tough — non-horsey
husbands not so tough, even when they act like building a dream
Building a Dream Barn
Can Be Painful
e
The Bottom Line
barn is no big deal. My husband took one look at the board stuck
to the bottom of my foot and the nail protruding out of the top of my
shoe and started to sit down.
I quickly told him that I should be the one to sit down and he
should stay standing and pull the board off my foot. I told him to
pretend he was pulling off my tall boots. Perhaps he was woozy,
but he actually did it and only one of us screamed like a girl. You
can guess who.
Our barn building had come to a halt and we headed to the
hospital, but not before stopping by the feed store to tell the feed
store owner about my accident. I’m still not sure why we did that,
but he claimed a nail through the foot was a minor incident and
proceeded to tell us about his many mishaps.
By then the thrill of my dream barn was starting to diminish
while the pain in my foot — and the incredible swelling — was
starting to increase. We arrived at the hospital and became instant
celebrities as we told the tale over and over again of pulling the
board off my foot like it was a pair of tall boots.
By the end of the weekend, I was a semi-happy horsewoman.
I had taken a fun-filled trip to the emergency room, made friends
with the medical community, received a tetanus shot, some pain
pills and a nice pair of crutches, and I had compared war wounds
with the man at the feed store. Plus, I knew my horses would be
snug and warm all winter.
I’m not sure if it was the joy of knowing no permanent damage
had been done to my foot and I would someday walk again, but
I remember arriving home from the hospital and looking out at
the almost-finished barn and thinking it was the most beautiful
building in the world. Looking back on it, I realize those were some
powerful pain pills — a girl can dream, but only pain pills would
have made me think my dreams had come true.
A girl can dream! This is my real dream barn —
the Stable View barn in Aiken, South Carolina.
Photo by Shelly Marshall Schmidt
