Decorating Horse Farms (w/ pic)

[brad hays]

Hey everybody. I'm in the heart of horse country here in Kentucky and I'm lucky enough to have some inroads to some prominent farms. Basically my buddies on these farms know I'm a woodworker and are saying 'show me what ya got.' Secret thing is...I don't really have that much (shhh). Recently I made the garden obelisk pictured below and put it on my buddy's property.

What I'd really like to get into is making things, anything they might want for the farms themselves. Does anyone have pictures or ideas about what kind of ornamental structures would be appropriate for horse farms? I don't imagine I could provide anything actually functional because all that stuff is already covered (I assume) so the best place for me to aim is 'ornamental.' I brought the below pictured obelisk out to my buddy's farm but the only place it looked right was in the house yard.

I'm def open to your suggestions as to what make and entertain my buddies with.

Thanks a ton!

PS. I think I spoke too soon because I've already had someone suggest great things I can make that actually ARE useful to daily operations. I suppose I'm thinking along the lines of something one farm owner would see and think, hey, I want that on my farm. I'm thinking something unique, but anything that would sell works for me.


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[Mike Chance in Iowa]

Two items come to mind immediately. Boot Jacks and Boot Storage boxes.

There was a place in the UK that made some fabulous wood boot jacks with handles and some had boot scrapers and boot brushes on them too. Not the flimsy little boot jacks or ones with little handles with a knob that toppled over. Try a search on "antique boot jack with handle" to get some ideas.

I have seen some great boot storage boxes in two styles. One was a box with a hinge on the front bottom. You fold the top front down towards you and it turns into a boot jack/puller with 4 curved areas to put your heel into. Once you pull your boot off, you set your boots inside the box and lift the front panel back up. The second style not only had the front piece drop down to become a boot jack, but the top "lid" lifted up too and when it's all in place, you could sit on it.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

How about something for the barn or tack room? I helped a lady organize & decorate her tack room which is more like a museum. Re-furbishing a hand made wooden saddle stand is on my to do list for her. She loves her wooden saddle stands. They were made by her late father in law and her late husband.

[Jim Becker]

You will find that barn most owners are persiankitty people, at least in my experience over the years. Some like eclectic kitschy stuff and some have very specific looks they want for their property. Most of the things I made were more for the patrons, rather than the property. I did quite a few tack trunks and related and a few saddle cleaning stands. For the farms, I did get to build some wall mounted saddle storage stands, which can be challenging due to the weight they need to handle vs not looking like some kind of abomination. :) Things like boot jacks don't get used by folks wearing $500-1000+ tall boots these days...I didn't see a single one in all the barns I got to be in over nearly a decade until we sold our horses a few years ago.

[Tom Bender]

You will find that barn most owners are persiankitty people
In my Experience they usually prefer shorthairs.

[Jim Becker]

In my Experience they usually prefer shorthairs.
LOL...autocorrect. persnickety.

[Tom Bender]

Here's something useful around the barn.
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It's a boot dryer. It contains a blower scavenged from a clothes dryer. Given the healthy fear of fire in barns this provides no heat, just airflow. It just has an on/off switch, would be better with a timer.