Moving Barns

So unfortunatly I've moved barns a few times. I thought it would be interesting to share the basics of each set up, the main reason I moved each time and what I am doing to get ready for my next, and final!, move.

Barn One:

In my backyard! The woman I was renting a room from at the time actually allowed me to keep Katai there for free. It was nice to have her out there but there was no safe place to ride, it was kind of junky, and I bought my own hay which added stress every winter as we tried to keep track of who had bought what.

When I moved into a new apartment I needed to move her since the woman I had been renting from wasn't interested in boarding so then I moved to...

Barn Two:

This place was really nice! The guy fed supplements twice per day, that I provided, fly sprayed them twice per day and as you can possibly see in the back of the photo above there was even a fan when it got hot. There was also a stall available if I had wanted to stall her. This was for the price of $150 per month during the summer and $200 during the winter with hay provided.

The main reason I moved was the lack of safe space to ride, no space to ride in winter if it were slippery, and no one to ride with. So then it was on to the...

Third Barn:

This place was good initially but not only did Katai loose gads of weight over the first winter, and she's a chubby pony!, but the footing was almost worse than riding on gravel and it was so dusty that people had to wear masks when they rode. It cost $200 per month with hay included. 

It was so nice to have a covered arena, people to ride with, and the price was reasonable but nothing else was great including the 45 minute drive. On top of that the owner was speaking about selling in the next year so it was time to move on. Right to the...

Fourth Barn:

I LOVED this place and still miss it. Boarding there was the most fun I've had with horses and horse people in a long time. Everything about it was great from the people, to the footing in both arenas, to the tacking space to the incredible pasture management. At $300 a month the board was really reasonable as well and lesson packages were extremely reasonable with a huge savings over paying per lesson.

I felt like both Katai and I were improving in leaps and bounds at first but then I started to see how cruel the owner/trainer was and knew that I had to leave quickly despite how much I loved everything else. So then it was on to the...

Fifth Barn:

I really do like this place. It's huge and there are a lot of people but they've all been great. The arena isn't bad but the footing isn't always looked after and in the evenings there are so many people riding that it's easy to get in traffic jams especially with a greenie that still occasionally loses steering. I've decided that I love stall board and the set up with tack lockers in the stalls is amazing. There is also amazing access to trails and three outdoor arenas that would be awesome in the summer however this was always a short term solution while I looked for a really great dressage instructor and now that I found one at an amazing barn I just can't wait to move there and stay there! The stall board here is $315 per month and I pay extra for a shared paddock so $340. 

In preparation for the move I've started putting some things together for the new barn. At the previous barn we had tiny lockers plus a space to store a saddle. At the current barn we've got nice big tack lockers with space for two saddles, a shelf and tons of hooks. Now at the new barn there's a smallish shared tack room and I'm guessing that space is at a premium so I've put some things together that I feel are the most necessary, at least outside of regular tack items like saddle and bridle.

I narrowed it down to two small storage containers.

The current barn isn't heated so I can't leave any type of liquid but this new place is so I can finally leave those things at the barn. I've got first aid stuff, grooming things, boots, and some odds and ends. Now I just need to figure out how much space I have for things like blankets and extra saddle pads and then I'll get those things figured out and packed.

I've also got two other exciting pieces of news but those will have to wait until my next post!