What is wrong with ewe?

I was watching the Preakness with my husband last week and as Mucho Macho Man paraded by he said "What is wrong with that horse?".

He was referring to the horse's "ewe neck".   This occurs when a horses is poorly muscled over the top-line and has a noticeable dip in the neck just before the withers.  It tends to make the neck look skinny and a bit odd.

Ewe Neck

Average Neck

It is not just a cosmetic problem, however.  These horses hold their heads high which can make the horse difficult to control while riding.  The bit does not contact the mouth correctly and can leave the rider with minimal steering and "brakes".

This condition is typically seen in young horses (Mucho Macho Man) and undernourished horses where muscles are underdeveloped.  The good news is that is can be corrected with proper conditioning and exercise.

How to Build a Tack Trunk, Part Two

Yeah!  I finally finished it!  Here is what I did:

I started by attaching a chain to either side of the lid to keep it from flopping back when opened.

Then I started a small storage box.  I cut the pieces to size and routered them.

I glued and nailed the box together,  countersunk the nails and filled the holes.

Then stained it.

Next I worked on the brush box.  Again, I cut the pieces to size...

routered...

and glued and nailed.

I used a 5/8" dowel for the handle.  After drilling a hole at either end of the box and inserting the dowel, I countersunk a nail through the top on both sides to keep the dowel from moving. Then stained the whole box.

I added some cleats on the inside of the trunk so the boxes would have a place to rest and...

Voila!  The finished product!

How to Build a Tack Trunk, Part One

My niece is 12 years old and has the horse bug just as bad as I do.  One of her first words, actually, I should say one of her first signs, was horse.  You see she was born profoundly deaf and could only communicate through sign language for the first few years of her life.  My brother, seeing that there was not a lot of early intervention programs for children with hearing loss in our area, started The Decibels Foundation to raise money to help pay for such programs.   This year they are holding their second annual horse show and I decided to make a tack box to donate to the silent auction.

This is how I went about it:

I used some 3/4 inch birch veneer plywood, cut out front, back and side panels for the basic box and routered the edges.

Using some small brads nails and wood glue I put together the basic box shape.

I added some trim to the inside so I would have something to nail the floor to.  Then I cut and attached the floor.

 I attached some 1 by 3 for the base trim and...

 ...a 1 by 2 for the top trim.

Added some corner trim to the sides.  Then countersunk any nails, filled the holes with wood putty, and sanded for a neater look.

I attached some thin pieces of wood to the inside corners as guides for the small storage box and brush box I will be making in part two.

Then using more 1 by 2  and some 1/2 inch birch veneer plywood I built the lid.

I stained the whole thing and attached the lid with a piano hinge.

Added a latch and some handles and the basic trunk was finished!

Stay tuned for part two...