New Adventure: Part III

Deciding to sell our farm was quite a difficult process for me, and then selling Savvy had me on the fence of what we were doing. The next phase of preparing to move off-farm brought a glint of sunshine to my stormy mind and reminded me of the long-term picture.

 

Next would be determining the future boarding home for Shiraz and I was pretty excited about this part. Having grown up on a farm with horses and then having a farm again as an adult, I have never had the need to board. I must admit I am a bit worried about not having full control over my horse's care. To offset my worries, I tried to make the best choice possible to find a good fit with my personal interpretation of ideal horse care.

The basics I was looking for that were non-negotiable included an indoor arena, safe fencing with shelter, safe hay and friendly owners.

And this would be nice...

After all of these years trailering out to arenas, I am really looking forward to the perk of an on-site arena. I am not sure how all the driving part will pan out as we do not know where our new home will be yet. The only time I consistently ride currently is during our short three months of summer. As long as the ground is dry, I would ride every day. During the winter that is cut drastically to random toodling as I just do not feel safe doing much in poor footing (big horses fall hard and my knee will never forget).

If my new boarding barn ends up not being terribly far, I anticipate being able to ride more than I currently do on a regular basis simply because of not having to deal with outdoor snow or rain and ruined footing. On top of that, I hope to have regular coaching year-round because honestly, it takes a village to get this lady's ass over fences.

My search area consisted of a relatively small area surrounding Birds Hill Park. This area is considered horse country, full of everything from the large boarding businesses to the small hobby farmers. I made and list of every stable with a riding arena and started calling each one for the cost of outdoor board. This reduced my list by half due to cost or facilities not offering outdoor board. I made appointments with the places that were left on my list.

Some of my options in pink. My chosen barn is blue.
(will probably/maybe be living somewhere across the river west of East Saint Paul which is about a half hour's drive)

I had way too much fun looking at places. I love seeing paddock layouts and different barn styles so having personal tours of a number of nice barns was better than a school fieldtrip for me. Some places were surprisingly dumpy while others were over-the-top perfect.

I visited a hunter/jumper barn and was given a tour by the owner who also gave all the lessons. She ended up giving me a 15-minute ground lesson of the 'five hand positions' and, well it was intense. Beautiful place though.

So clean. Note the rubber tile flooring so no one slips.

Another barn I visited was just across the road from the park and was busy with recreational riders getting ready for a group trail ride. Everyone seemed so nice and it was easy to imagine joining that group for a ride if I chose this place. But, the fencing was sketchy and they fed the outdoor horses roundbales (which I know all to well can be dusty because I feed them currently and only fork it in to my horses after hosing it down if I see any dust). I wavered on it for a few days but health and safety trumps fun trail riding potential.

My top contender was a small barn that was really just getting started. The husband who gave me a tour was a sweet older guy who rides dressage and studies natural horsemanship. (WUT?!) The fencing was amazing white poly with electric. (YASS!) There were shelters. The indoor arena was new. (where do I sign?) Problem was, they did not actually have a spot available but *might* have one opening for April or May. (sigh...)

Shiraz' future home.

After many texts and another visit to meet the wife, I have managed to secure a spot for April 1st! (Should I worry that is April fool's day?) It is a damn good thing I will soon have somewhere to train with a bit more intensity as I am signed up for a stadium jumping/xc clinic with Ian Roberts on April 21/22. He is an Olympic level rider. Shiraz and I trip over ground poles and haven't jumped anything since January. We'll be awesome, lol.