Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Caveleggies

Brita had her husband Tim build me some things called Caveleggies, or Cavelettis. We're not sure, she's the only one who can pronounce it. We have 4, but one is still "in the shop" due to a construction set back... not my fault! I spotted them in the arena as soon as I was led out of the barn. I have done ground poles, but these things looked a little dangerous with their scissor-like ends. Brita is pretty non-confrontational, so when she saw my hesitation, she just turned me loose to investigate by myself instead of trying to "train" me to do something. She's pretty sneaky. She snapped a carrot, and stood in the middle of the "Leggies" munching....

"Here Horsey...horsey...horsey...."



She kept moving around, and before I knew it, I had stepped in the middle of those stick-people critters trying to get my share of carrot.

Then she put me on the longe line and got me circling.
And aimed me for the middle....


Now I'm a pro at it.





I forget... were these supposed to be scary?

I continued my gymnastic exercise, learning to watch my feet and adjust my timing so I wouldn't trip.

We have another scary wooden object that landed in the lawn. This one is called a "picnic table" but the first time I saw it I thought it was a bright red alien. I didn't want to get close to it, but Brita insisted on sitting in the shade.

Each time I see someone sitting at it, I lose my focus and have to look over there to make sure they aren't being eaten. If it moves, I'm outta here!



2 comments:

Leah said...

awesome! I have been thinking about building some caveletti- was the construction difficult? how about the materials, what did you use?

I see Grey had no problem with them, he's such a champ (as long as there are no cows involved? lol). Nice photos too!

SmartAlex said...

I didn't think the construction would be difficult, but.... we had, shall we say, "issues". It's just htat my husband is cursed when it comes to wood construction.

We used the 8 foot landscape ties from Home Depot (on sale) and had the bolts lying around. So, they only cost about $2.50 a piece.

Cut 2 foot lengths. This way you get ends for 2 cavelletti out of one 8 foot length.

Measure and mark the centers, and make an X. Drill through two holes at the intersection. This makes it so you won't have to notch them and they won't collapse.
Bolt, and cut the ends with a sawsall.

When you get two ends done, put the pole across. We left about a 4" overhang outside the X for easy of carrying. Drill through the pole into each side of the X. I can post photos some time if you dont get it. Really, you could put just one bolt in instead of two.

The hassle is getting a long enough drill bit. We ended up having to counter sink some of them just to get our "free" bolts to reach.

Of course, my husband loves to over build, so everything has washers and lock washers in addition to the nut. I guess I ought to snap a picture when I get hoime. The 4th one is still there... warping in the rain! LOL.