Pedestal Revisited - Tools

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Lately, I've been working through a few of the Parelli concepts.  The Keys to Success is such a powerful paradigm.  Key number 3 is TOOLS.  One of the beautiful things about the Parelli program is that there really are very few tools needed, and in fact, key number 6 is IMAGINATION.  Looking around our place, there is a endless supply of materials and items that can be used in a different way to help me on my horsemanship journey.

My mini-pedestal has become a really fun tool, but I decided it needed a bit more stability.  (See original construction post of mini-pedestal here:  http://www.spirit2spirithorse.blogspot.com/2013/02/i-dont-need-no-stinking.html )

It seems like if there is a funky way to step on this thing, Dani will find it.  (At least I have the problem now of her stepping on it!!!  That is progress!).

My LBE, Sky has also found it difficult to position his front feet squarely on it....the top surface of the pedestal is a bit small.  And while these situations have turned into great training opportunities and relationship builders, I want something that is a little more safe.

So I decided to go with a wider base, reasoning that even a bit of an angle on the sides will help with stability and the wood that would be added would also give more weight.



Another scrap deck board made great side pieces.  I cut the lengths so they would extend just beyond the mini-pedestal.

 
I angled the side boards just slightly out knowing that would leave gaps at the corner.  This is a quick and non-professional method of construction, but it worked for my purposes.



After getting the sides on, I flipped the pedestal over and began installing a new bottom using more deck boards. (You can see here how much higher this new pedestal will be).


For my final bottom board, I ended up piecing two scraps of deck boards.  To make sure those pieces would be secure I cut a length of 2 x 4 and screwed it into the board below it, which gave me more surface to screw the final bottom board into.



The result is a much sturdier (and MUCH heavier) pedestal that can now withstand my horses weighting it just on the edge without threatening to tip. 

Sorry for the terribly blurry picture; I will replace this with a better one soon. 

Tools, just part of the program, but a very important part.

Sue, getting the hang of it, in Ohio

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  1. CarolynMarch 15, 2013 at 3:31 AM

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