On The Move

As you may remember, we moved with our trainer to our current facility a little under a year ago. It was a little longer in the car to get there, but provided a less crowded space with some really beautiful rings and amenities.

The indoor ain’t bad

It’s been a good experience, and the facility has been getting a lot of attention, especially for the state-of-the-art fitness center it has onsite. Fortunately for the owners, but unfortunately for us, this means that someone has decided to lease out the whole operation and we all need to be out of there by the end of the month.

I have Thoughts(TM) about giving 20+ boarders less than a month’s notice. They are not kind thoughts.

My trainer has 10 horses there, and is now in the fairly impossible position of having to find a barn with the amenities her clients are used to, in a location everyone is willing to commute, that she herself is able to commute to, and has 10 stalls available NOW. I do not envy her.

But thankfully she displays more resilience than I do, and is somehow not panicking. She knows most people in our area and has been keeping us posted on the search for a new home. I trust her judgement, and my leasers and I have been staying in close communication about where Francis will end up.

She loves the Frankfurter almost as much as I do

Worst case scenario, he’ll head back to the old barn where he lived happily and healthily for 6+ years. Like, that is the worst case scenario, and that is still a very excellent scenario. So I’m not worried about Francisco being put out on the street. I also have enough friends I could call who would happily house him for a bit while we figure things out. His meals and naps will go uninterrupted no matter what, and he will remain under my trainer’s vigilant care and training program that has kept him thriving for so many years.

I should have more to share in the next few weeks about where we end up! Never a boring moment in the horse world.

On a more delightful note, we’ve started letting Lina do some pony rides more independently, and she is LOVING it. She can tell us most of the basic pieces of tack, she’s learning about grooming tools, and beams like the sun every time she gets to sit on a pony.

Sweet Stormy Pony is her mount of choice, and she has been a literal perfect angel. On our last ride I didn’t have to spot Lina at all, she held the reins the whole time without needing to brace her hands, tackled some ground poles and kept her seat when her pony tripped, and stayed so focused for the whole 10 minutes.

As much as I miss my saddle time, getting to watch my little girl giggle with glee as we pull into the barn is incredibly gratifying. Time will tell if she falls in love with the sport as much as I have, but in the meantime I love getting to share this all with her!