Oh man!! Right now, I board my horse about an hour away from where I live bc: A.) the farm is nice, B.) the trails are plentiful, C.) in the summer, friends can rent farm owned horses and ride with me. However, as mentioned, it's an HOUR each way! If I just want to lay my eyeballs on him to make sure he doesn't have any nicks or cuts or whatever, it's at least a 2.5 hour trip, where only 30 minutes of that is spent with him!! That's a "quick visit", and it's ALL traffic. Anyhow... I just got a call today that a farm that is 10 minutes from my house has a stall that just opened up!! I'm going out to check the facilities out on Wednesday afternoon!! I'm So excited! This can make a world of difference in my life (and my boy's) if it works out!!! We will miss all of our equine professionals, however Especially his masseuse!!
For those who may be interested: Toured the new barn today with the owner, and it will be perfect for us!!!! He was SO friendly, so was the staff!! He answered almost every single question the way that i wanted him to, and some answers were better than what i was expecting. Daily turnout, whether permitting. His stall will be twice as big as the one he's in now. Far fewer horses at this facility. Far less "busy" with daily hustle and bustle at this facility. Private/locked, individual tack "lockers". 70 acres owner by the farm. Access to this huge well known local park with trails (that is very horse friendly) is directly across the street!! I told the owner that we're in!! I'm lining up transport for (God willing) this weekend!
We honestly didn't have any drama where i was, @Flowingfins, I'm really going to miss my girls Biggest drawback, I made a lot of good (and actually helpful) friends out there, not to mention the slew of really wonderful professionals (farrier, chiro, etc), that i will miss terribly!! I dropped off my letter of intent today to the BO, very sad (but happy, too) day
That's good news a lot closer. I hope your horse don't miss all her friends human and equine . I worked at a ranch when I was younger all the border horses were buddies .
That's awesome that there wasn't any drama, barns like that are the best. It stinks having to leave all of your friends though, are you going to have to find a new vet/farrier or are you staying with the same people?
Where we were boarding, there were over 50 privately owned horses, and they had about 50 hacks (it was a riding stable--trail rides). It was always very busy, I certainly won't miss that aspect; this new place has about 40 horses, total I think the less "busy" env't of the new barn will be better for my boy, too. It was literally a life long dream of mine! I was that little girl, that for every birthday, Xmas, and often, just random begging, would ask and pray for a horse. When I hit my 30s, I was like, "wait, I can just DO this now!!" Lol I leased two different horses (not at the same time) to make sure I could commit the time, energy, and finances to it. After two years of doing that, I passively started looking at "horse for sale" ads and when I saw his face, I NEEDED to go meet him. I had 4 different pre-purchase meetings with him before I scheduled a pre-purch vet check, then agreed to buy him when he was issued a clean bill of health. I feel very fortunate!! I know I'm lucky! Even on days when my back precludes me from riding, I just groom him, then hang out with him, and it's so therapeutic! The stable is definitely my "church"
I used to work at a big riding school, the horses sure do have their particular friends, but I'm sure your horse will make new buddies in no time. Sounds great to have so much space!
I would go out no less than 2-3x a week, but I'll admit... There were days that, considering the traffic and the drive, it was a bigger pain in the butt, and I started to not enjoy it as much!! Which is just awful! The drive out, and fighting traffic both ways, was killing the beauty of it all!!
@CarrieFisher beautiful pictures. Thank you for sharing. There are stables within bike riding distance from my home, 5 minute car ride, but I have no idea if they board. Maybe I'll have to take a look.
I'm not going to lie, I'm dying a little with each of these posts. I miss my girl Crystal(half star-snip). Want to ride a real treasure again. (Without going back home to MN!)
Our move went so smoothly!! Being a retired racehorse, he trailers like a pro!!! He did "talk" the whole way, though! Lol He is already making friends with a cute female haflinger across from him named Chunky, lol Anyhow, I'm just beyond happy about this!! I timed it on the way home with the trip feature... 12.4 minutes from my home! It's not one of those gorgeous show barns with chandeliers, it's a family farm, just like our previous farm, but with so much more space and some really great perks. One of the women in my barn already gave me the skinny on the farriers and I may have a really good barefoot guy lined up already
