Decorating Horses Stall?

I am taking my buckskin morab gelding to the county fair this summer. I want to decorate his stall and make it look good. His name is Maverick. I want to decorate his stall though im not allowing anyone to pet him. Hes not a mean horse but i just dont want diseases spread. Any Ideas? The color of all his stuff is green.

Also i want to make him look cool and like braid little braids in his mane (which is like a ruler and a half long) and get a hair spray and spray it green. Any ideas for anything? Thanks

Decorating Horses Stall?

Hmm, metal all the way up. That is going to take some creativity. As for the end or middle stall the end stalls are always better, gives you more decorating room.

What I would do is get some fabric that is either a shade of green that is complimentary or a design that has colors in it that are complimentary to the green that you have. It is really not a good idea to use the same color on everything. If you do it just will look like a big green glob. You want to find colors that go with the green that you use. I am hoping that you use hunter green and the easiest color to trim it out with is tan or gold metallic.

There are two routes to go with in order to make some stall curtains for use at the use really inexpensively. The first is to go to Home Depot or Lowes and get some cloth (thick) painter's drop clothes. Get these in a size that is either the same or larger than the area that you will need to cover. On average the stalls at shows are 10 X 10 X 8 feet tall. At a maximum they will be 12 X 12 X 10 but that is hardly ever found at shows. These drop clothes cost about $10 or so depending on what sizes you need to get. For the front of the stall since the doors open out, you will either need to get a separate piece for the door or plan on cutting what you have purchased. After you get the drop clothes DO NOT wash them. These clothes are going to be creme in color. You do want to unfold them and iron them using a heavy starch. After ironing them, fold them into big folds that are loose so that they will not wrinkle or get tons of lines in them.

These are going to be tricky to hang up since the stalls are all metal, but you can do it. The best thing to do is to figure out how to attach a 1" thick X 4" wide X how ever long the stall is board to the top of the stall very securely. You can go to www.sstack.com and find the stall drape hangers that will hold boards that are 2 X 4 over the top of the stall walls without having to use rope or nails or tape to attach the board to the top. Make sure if you order those (about $2 each and you will need 3 per wall) that you get the ones that will fit over the width of the metal at the top of the stall at the show. If you dont know how wide it is and the show grounds are close to you, go and measure all of these things on the stall before you start buying things. It will take no more than a week to get these shipped to you if they are in stock. Once you have the wood up, then take the clothes and staple them at the top side of the board. If you have any extra leave it at the bottom. Hang them up so that the stitching is vertical and not horizontal. Start on one side and then work your way to the other side. Pull the cloth tight every time that you staple it. You want the finished product to be tight and no wrinkles. Since you have metal under them you cannot staple into that, but you can use double sided tape or duct tape to make it stick down. Again start on one side and work your way down then go over a few feet and do it again. At the bottom take the extra and fold it under or trim it with scissors (dont cut it if you want to use it at another show as you may need it then).

For the top of the stall clothes that you have put up, use the colored fabric that you can find at the fabric store. Look for fabrics that are on sale usually they have a $1 a yard area. You can also find heavy fabric there to use for the stall walls in the sale area. Go for whatever you like best and whatever you can find the cheapest. Once you get the fabric, soak it in the kitchen sink or in a bucket with 2 cups of salt and hot water. This makes the color stick to where it will not bleed if it gets wet. Then wash and dry it. Then you can make what we need to make for the valance. The valance to look the best needs to be fairly wide at least 1' wide (meaning it hangs down that far). Usually a valance that is 18" wide looks the best but it really depends on what you get. Solid colors look best. Again, the heavier the fabric the better, but do not do the same color as the stall walls. You do not have to have a lot of sewing experience to make the valance. Mark the fabric in a straight line for the width that you want. Mark it a little wider so that you can make a finished edge. Then cut the fabric. You can stitch them together to make a longer piece in order to accomodate the length of the stall. Once you have the length and the width handled, you can fold over the edge a little and stitch it to make it look more professional. If you really want to get fancy and have used the plain colored fabric, you can buy some trim from the fabric store and attach it either by sewing it (will last longer and handle humidity) or glue it on it. The trim can be fancy or a plain tape type. You will want to do the trim around the top, bottom, and sides of the valance. If you really want to get carried away with it and have measured the stall length, you can take it to someone who does embroidery and have them put Maverick's name on the center of it in big letters for around $20 or so.

If you only have the front of the stall to do, and there is plenty of air for your horse, do the part where the door is not like above. Then for the door, trim a piece of the fabric to fit on the bottom part of the door, usually is about 3 feet by 3 feet which will leave some of the door still showing. Use tape to attach. Make sure that the door can open easily no matter what you do with it. The valance can go over the top of the stall door no problem as it may take just a time seeing it for your horse to get adjusted to it. The stall door if you have done a smaller piece can also have trim put all the way around it. If you cannot put the stall drape hangers over the door area, no big deal, you can cut the wood to fit in the wall area that you have and only do the valance on that part of the stall.

For the stall door to customize it, you can do a sign up for Maverick. It is always good at shows to have your contact information in case of an emergency. If you are handy on the computer it is easy to do, but if you are not then you can design it by hand. If you have some time and some extra money you can also go to the hobby store and get an unfinished piece of wood. This can be done in many ways. We personally take the wood and finish it with a sealant/stain, then put a stall plate holder on the top of it (ours are big ovals), have a plate done for the horse's name and owners name, put a bridle hook on it for their halter, and have a plate at the bottom of it with our emergency information (name, cell phone #s). These would be hard to hang since you are dealing with metal again.

For the paper one, the best thing to probably do is put a really good picture of you and him on one side of it, put his name at the top in bigger letters, his breed, his age, color, height, and other information that you want people to know on the other side, and then put your name and phone numbers in case of an emergency. This can be printed off in color and needs to be laminated (about $1 at any office supply or printing place) in order for it to last. If you have done the door drape, put it in the center of the cloth or where it looks better at on it.

For the other decorations that you can do, flowers are always best. You can do this pretty cheaply again. Go to Home Depot or Lowes or Walmart and get what is called a landscape border. This will be plastic and will be individual pieces (usually the box has 20 of them) to where you can make it whatever length or shape that you want. It is easy to deal with and keeps everything looking nice. We normally make a shape that is scalloped looking and have the landscape border around the entire area including next to our stall drapes so that they do not get stained. Next you will need some mulch (get the big hardwood pieces as they will take less to make it look good and black looks better than the lighter brown about $4 a bag). You may need 2 bags depending on how big you make the area. We usually make the landscaped area stick out about 18" to 24" from the stall wall. If you have the end stall you can start the landscaping at the far corner of it and wrap it around the front of the stall. You will not be putting anything in front of the stall door, so if the door is on the end and not on the other end of the front, you can either stop the landscaping there or restart it on the other side of the door.

Once you have the mulch down, then make some holes and sit plants in their containers in the mulch. You can also use silk flowers. Since your color is green, you can do green plants (ferns work out great just take off the hanging part or you can get standing ferns) and little flowers like petunias or pansies work great too. Just cut the little 6 packs down into 2s and use them at 2 in each location unless they are really full. The great thing about using live plants is that you can plant them at home when you are done with them, and with silks you can use them in a trail course or for flower boxes for jumps, and both of them help decorate your barn at home. Remember to water any live plants that you use. Your family may have plants that you can borrow too.

Since you are afraid of germs and your horse, it is hard to keep people from petting them at shows. People wander through the barns and you will not be there every minute. It is really hard to tell a little kid that they cannot pet your horse either. I would suggest putting a little table in your landscape area that has a basket with some papertowels and a bottle of Germ-X (the liquid sanitizer) in it. You can also place a note by it that I would rather you dont pet Maverick, but if you must, place sanitize first. Most people will do that. You can also place in the basket or in a different basket peppermints, carrots, apples, or a combination of them for people to feed him or to feed their own horses, or even people food like candy that wont melt in the summer heat to give people a chance to admire your stall as they snack away.

I hope that this has helped you out. You should be able to do everything listed above for under $100 and if you really penny pinch and look for deals you can do it for under $50.

As for the green in his hair and braiding, if you want to braid him that is great, but dont use the hair coloring. Some judges are traditional and in normal shows things like that are not allowed. It would be better to be on the safe side then loose a ribbon because of being color coordinated.

Always remember to keep things very tidy at the show grounds it will make it look better. Dont leave your saddle and other things in the barn aisle. If you need to have your tack right next to you and there is not a breezeway behind the stalls to put that stuff in, then get a tack stall. It will make things look better. If you do that then you can just landscape in front of that and do the stall curtains on it, then you can do the door panel only for the horse's stall.

Also, you can make the landscaping as dramatic as what you want to, including water fountains, etc. Playing music that is people friendly, ex- country, will give people a good atmosphere around your stalls. If you have lots of area, you can also set up a table with chairs at it for you to sit at and talk to people about your horse. Really the sky is the limit. When you win ribbons you can hang them up on the top of the stall curtains. That is what big barns like me do at shows. If you are in a warm climate, dont forget the fan for your horse, and make sure that you bring extension cords and bungee cords or other materials to hang it up with. Make sure that Maverick cannot get to the electrical cords either.

Good luck at the show!!!

Decorating Horses Stall?

well make awsome clovers and do whatever u want!

Decorating Horses Stall?

You could tie white and green ribbons around the outside of his stall, for starters. I wouldn't dye him green or anything, unless you are going to be in parade, and everyone else is dyeing their horses' manes too.

Umm, I would take a toy for your horse to play with, maybe a lickit or something like that. You can get a green one like this(http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/produ... to go with youe theme and keep your horse busy.

You could braid green ribbon in your horse's mane and tail.

IF you have a green halter, that would be cute too.

Have fun!!

Decorating Horses Stall?

Okay county fairs are for fun so go crazy. When I was child they had contests as to who could create the most wild stalls and so forth. So anyone who should frown upon your fun was apparently never one to have fun as a kid. At any rate try these:

1. You can temporarily dye hair, make sure you get a washable costume kind like they have at Ricky's NYC, some drug stores may have them too. They are spray or gel (gel is best around horses) and you can even get some that are horse specific with glitter (statelinetack.com). Just make sure its all non toxic and washable with shampoo.

2. Quarter marks of checks, sharks teeth, bolts etc on your horse's hindquarters. You can solidify these into place with horse hair gel, vaseline or horse glitter gel again.

3. Braids and such can be really fun if you take one of the strands in a french braid and colour it with horse hair coloring and plait it through.

4. Most horses don't have manes that are 1.5 ft, you may want to pull it unless it is breed specific (arab, andalusian etc) in which case the breed org may suggest braid patterns. Or try a Cherry Hill book which details some of these, such as her book on horse grooming.

Stall Decor:

1. Craft stores sell wooden plaques that are carved witha beveled edge, you can get these and paint them with your horses name, or glue on foam/wood letters. You can even says one that says something like, "I'm a little overwhelmed by the fair, please don't pet me" Hang them with metal mug hooks screwed into the plaque and some chain, you can paint the chain too if you desire.

2. Get folding directors chairs and paint them in green if that's your colour. Paint your name on the back or use iron-on letters

3. You can use fabric and a staple gun to create swags and such on your stall front, but make sure you don't leave staples on the ground where they could cause trouble.

4. Take a wood quilt box or plastic box and paint it to match, use it for your tack. Make sure it has a lock.

5. I love the idea of using drop cloth fabric and flowers from above. The landscaping with ferns would be beautiful and a table full of goodies is particularly nice. The drop cloth is smart, much cheaper and easier to clean than other fabrics and could be nicely accented with some green silk cording from a fabric store!

Make sure all of your decorations are removable and horse friendly. Beware of plastic and tinsel and things which can cause choke. You can also use crepe paper, ribbon etc but again beware if they can be eaten...

Just some of the things we used to do as kids, have fun at the fair! Best of luck.

Decorating Horses Stall?

For his stall maybe you could paint maverick in green and dot the I with a little four leaf clover. Decorate his stall with ribbons he has won. When you do those cute little braids use green yarn. With a little imagination you can come up with a great stall. Your lucky that your stalls are aloud to be decorated!

Decorating Horses Stall?

This is a fun and creative project. Many of my students have done this, and won the best stall award. Pick a theme and go with that. Green is obviously the color. Green themes could be leprechauns, shamrocks and pots of gold (his buckskin color), green eggs and ham, Kermit the frog, eat your greens (fruits and veges), alligators, turtles, whatever.

Most importantly, make sure that Mav cannot get any of the objects, paper, etc. in his mouth, or he will injure himself or get sick. Remember, if a horse is bored and can grab something in his mouth, he will.

Make sure your name and his name are posted. Make a poster board about his breeding, age, history, your accomplishments, what clubs you belong to, etc. You can also post a sign that says "Please don't pet me".

Wood is the best thing to use for that and you can use craft paint, as it is not toxic, and keep it well below or beside the stall door so he can't get at it. Don't use crepe paper, too easy for him to get at. Some of my students have used felt, or some other fabrics, but again keep it out of his reach. Staple guns work good, just make sure the staples are pushed in all the way. Also, you can put things up while you are there monitoring him, and take down when you go home at night.

Actually keeping your gelding clean and looking natural is the best way to go, but if you use a color in his mane and tail, test it on his skin first according to the directions, to make sure he is not allergic to it.

Also take a green wheel barrow , fork and rake to clean the stall. Take a green bucket and hose of your own for water, and clean green buckets for feed. Get some green patio chairs and a small table to match.

Good luck and have fun!

Pro trainer and instructor

Decorating Horses Stall?

Try getting some green fabric and useing staples or tacks to pin it onto the stall door. Make a stall sign for him out of card, with a picture of the two of you on it, his name, and your name, then laminate it. You could also get some sparkly pretty wrapping paper to cut out shapes and staple onto your stall. Also, look for green tinsil (like you put on your christmas tree) and use that to outline your stall or something.

I wouldn't dye his mane green other then for maybe like speed events, or a parade. It will look kind of silly otherwise. to braid your horses mane it depends on what you are showing in, if it is speed events, then do whatever you want to it. For showing hunt seat braid it in a french braid going down your horses crest (this is the correct style for an arab and a morgan), for western leave it down. I am not sure what other fairs are like, but where I live our 4-H is very competitive, everything is done traditionally like if you were at a breed show. other fairs may be different, watch what other people are doing to figrue out things like how to do your horses mane.

I agree with the not letting people pet your horse thing, it can get overwhelming and annoying to your horse to have tons of new people petting it all day, but you don't need to worry about people petting your horse spreding diseases, that is really unlikely, your horse is more likely to get sick from being in a stall where a sick horse has previously been, or something like that (but it is not likely at all for your horse to catch a disease if he has been vacinated). I would always let people pet my horse if they asked, but I would put a sign on his stall saying not to feed him treats (little kids will try and feed anything and everything to horses).

Decorating Horses Stall?

YOU COULD MAKE IT LOOK LIKE HE IS IN JAIL. MAYBE THE BLACK AND WHITE UNIFORM. OR THE HUNTER ORANGE THAT MOST HAVE.

Decorating Horses Stall?

A 'ruler and a half long' is like a foot and a half... Are you blonde? And you really shouldn't spray him green, that's just stupid and real horsemen (or women) wouldn't do that...