New Barn Intro

I mentioned a few things about this barn previously but wanted to do a proper barn tour now that Katai has been successfully moved in.

The barn is in Western WI and about 50 minutes from where I live currently which has increased my drive by 15 minutes one way and half an hour round trip. The extra drive time sucks and I'm not looking forward to that piece but for all of the benefits I think it will still be worth it.

Outdoor Spaces First:

It was/is a working farm (corn and beans as well as producing hay and oats) complete with farm outbuildings and lots of property. The pastures are expansive, split between mares and geldings, and nice and hilly.  My only other reservation is how Katai will handle the grass but I'll get a grazing muzzle if I need to and I'm hoping that with the increased work load from last time she was on grass and all of the running up and down hills that she will be doing with her new pasture mates she won't turn into a pony tick.

Out the field road there is a way to get into an expansive trail system through other properties. It sounds like the owners of those pieces of land are more than happy to have horses riding through (around crops of course) and there are trails cut through the woods, around fields, through meadows, etc. These are exactly the type of trails that I grew up riding on and I am SO EXCITED to get to introduce Katai to proper trail riding.

There is also plenty of space to ride around the property itself including a long driveway and field road/paths around the barns. Even this is way more than we've had before and will be a good way for us to safely dip our toes into trail riding along with lots of potentially spooky things to look at which will be great for desensitization.

There is an outdoor sand, regulation sized, arena with white rails that I'm so excited to ride in and it sounds like they set up ground poles around the outdoor in the grass along the tree line and even a couple of jumps when the footing is dry and safe which will be fun to work on with Katai.

Indoor Areas:

There are two barns (upper and lower which is the main barn) and one overflow barn. Right now Katai is in the upper barn that just has stalls but I'm going to hopefully be able to move to the lower barn at some point. At any rate, both barns are ours to use.

The lower barn/main barn, has all of the grooming spaces including four wash stalls with heat lamps, tack lockers, saddle closets, lounge, and indoor arena. I should have my own tack locker (once things shake out) and get to use a saddle closet in this barn. Currently I'm in the fancy tack room so no complaints! Both barns are heated warmer than what we've had which is nice and the lower is kept closer to 40* during the winter which will be AMAZING. Both are bright and extremely well ventilated so that you wouldn't even know that horses live there.

Pretty sure she's punishing me for the move by blinking

The indoor is actually slightly smaller (shorter) than Jane's but has really nice footing that has some rubber in it. I really like it and Katai seems to as well so far.

Other Stuff:

Turnout times are similar to Jane's with the horses possibly staying out slightly longer during winter. They also go out more days including in snow and appropriate rain (unless it's really cold) which I love. Katai being able to have group turnout with grass during the day and friends to run with is going to be amazing for fitness, for her mind, and very likely for her sometimes ulcery tummy.  Hopefully the grass just doesn't cause any issues.

Tons of hay including alfalfa is also fed and it sounds like (and I observed when I was there) that horses eat their hay before their grain which speaks highly to the quality and palatability. There's also enough of it fed that they're eating constantly which will also be good for Katai's ulcery tummy.

The barn feeds a good ration balancer and will feed supplements. They have Barn Buddies which is great since my now more limited SmartPaks were no longer qualifying for free shipping and I hated paying for shipping on them every month.

The barn manager/owner (S2) lives on site and does some natural horsemanship training as well as being an accomplished dressage rider and competitor with her Silver Medal. She's currently showing Prix St. George. She is also able to give IV meds which is great just in case there's ever a colic situation that would call for it. Having met her and the other people who work at the barn I trust them completely with Katai's care. S2 runs a tight ship and has been showing for a long time so she has the infrastructure to do it well.

The large, fancy, show trailer

Blanket are put on and removed each day which is fantastic. They are also willing to mess with neck covers so I'm looking forward to having Katai fully body clipped next year.Also, my friend who rides her pony at 4th level currently boards there and helps with things like full body clips and will help with mane pulling if needed. I'm looking forward to potentially having her clip Katai with her MUCH nicer clipper next year so that Katai doesn't look moth eaten.

There are also a few big name clinicians who clinic there on a fairly regular basis including Ann Cizaldo which will be amazing both for auditing and riding opportunities.

I'm really hoping this is my last move for a long time. Maybe the last time until I'm able to afford my own property!

The Move

At this point Katai and I should be REALLY good at this. Unfortunately the spring weather after being locked up all winter between her barn and her paddock, the lack of trailer loading practice since last summer, and the lack of even much ground work since last fall combined to make for a very fractious beast. That added to my stress which was also made worse by the fact that I was moving Friday evening, had afternoon plans on Saturday, and was flying out on Sunday.

I knew that it was going to be really tight to get to the barn Saturday and Sunday and still be ready to fly out. Luckily this is a short trip and I'll be back on Tuesday morning but the timing just really sucked.

Then, as if I needed more stress, Friday was one of those days where nothing went right. I'd blocked off my calendar at work to leave early which I normally have the ability to do but something came up last minute that I needed to take care of which meant I got to the barn late.

I'll spare you all the little things that went wrong but let's just say it involved nearly running out of gas, almost getting lost, lots of being stuck behind red lights while the trailer wasn't, and a stubborn pony that took almost an hour to load.

In the end Katai got in the box stall on the trailer after trying to load her in the two horse straight load at the back (before I realized there was a box stall option) and she had a nice safe trip. I also made it safely to the barn if a bit later than the trailer, and she settled into her amazingly clean stall to munch on tasty looking hay while shooting angry mare faces at her neighbors.

After getting her settled in at her stall in the upper barn I went to the lounge to do paperwork with S2. Since it was late we decided to try to find space for my tack the next day since they're still over full and don't have a locker for me yet. I checked on Katai one more time to find her still happily eating her hay, drinking her water, and making angry mare faces at her neighbors.

Saturday morning I went out early and had happy tears in my eyes when I saw her out in a huge pasture with other mares, in the warm sun. She looked so happy and ever after our disagreements the prior day she came trotting up to me and walked politely with me to the lower barn for some exposure to the new grooming space. I'll admit that ample peppermints were involved.

She was nervous and stressy standing in the cross ties but perfectly happy to walk nicely around the arena and then acted as ear perking motivation for M's gelding who was getting pictures taken. She always impresses me in situations like that even if I'm slightly dismayed that she still doesn't want to stand nicely in the crossties in a new space. I ran out of time on Saturday to ride but that wasn't a bad thing. She got to stand tied twice and got groomed as well as getting to see the arena so that was good and we were able to find a temporary solution for my saddle, bridle, helmet, and grooming stuff.

Then on Sunday I went out in the morning again and had a tight schedule since I also had to get Veggie dropped off at the sitters and get to the airport by 1:00. I not only made it to the barn and managed to get Katai standing well enough to get her tacked up, I actually rode! I was a short ride but she felt amazing and behaved really well so it made sense to keep it short and sweet. That ride really enforced for me that I made the right decision to move her. After being out in the pasture with the other horses she felt loose and forward. She didn't have the stiffness that we have been dealing with off and on and although she was still a bit tense she was very rideable. I'm really looking forward to having a better baseline of fitness on her as well as the looseness that comes with her being able to be out running around in a huge pasture. Plus hopefully happy pony will be better behaved pony.

I still need to get some more pictures and do a barn tour post but it'll have to wait since I'm in Cleveland tonight and flying back tomorrow. I'm planning to get out the barn tomorrow night after work and I can't wait to see my pony and ride!!

New Barn Brag

I ADORE my new barn. It is so wonderful here and just so much more friendly than the last barn. I didn’t even realize how cold and clinical that place felt until I moved out here. The other improvement that I’m most happy about is how everything at this new barn is set up how it should be for horse owners. Nice big strong clips on all the gates (rather than having to mess with a chain getting wrapped around the gate and then clipped), Convenient cross ties, handy muck buckets, saddle racks everywhere, and the ability to leave a little bit of a mess if your safety requires it.

 

Everyone has been so welcoming and it’s so nice having other dressage riders around!

 

Katai is in a semi private paddock with one other small Arabian mare. That mare is most definitely in charge but Katai is good in situations like that because she reads other horses well and is sensitive enough go get out of the way and not enrage boss mares (sounds like her owner). Apparently this Arabian mare has had some issues getting along with other horses in the past but she and Katai seem to be doing really well together. There is also some talk about moving her to a different stall. I’m both happy and slightly concerned about this since the new stall is much nicer, closer to the tack room, and has a lower front so Katai won’t have her head craned around to see out all the time. The negative is that it’s pretty much in the busiest part of the barn which means either Katai will thrive with that much going on, like a good tv show sometimes, or not. Basically as an owner it’s a nicer stall but not necessarily as a horse.

 

The footing has also been getting nicer and nicer. At first it was a little packed, opposite problem of the last barn which was always a little too deep, but now a little has been added and it’s been ridden in enough that it is getting way nicer. 

 

The ability to ride outside and around the property is also really nice. It reminds me of when I was growing up and we would go on adventures. Katai and I have gone out once but just for a short trail ride and it was so much fun! None of the craziness that was the busy biking/walking/running/rollerskating/baby crying/icecream stand trail that was the only place to ride outside at the last barn. Here I feel comfortable going out alone which is nice especially since I usually end up at the barn at odd times so it’s tough to consistently have anyone else to ride with.

 

I’m so glad that I made the decision to move and, knock on wood, hope to be here for a long long long long time :-)

Movings In

This is just a short update post but I'll write more soon and share more pictures once I have a chance to settle in a bit.

The move went really well despite the horrible heat and humidity that made it tough to breath while walking much less do anything actually taxing. It was up to 95 with 82% humidity by the time we were getting ready to load Katai and I think the news said that it felt like it was over 100.

Katai was a rockstar and loaded right into the two horse straight load without batting an eye. I think she loaded in about 5-10 minutes and other than a couple calls she rode really well. When I went to unload her though she was soaked in sweat despite the fact that we left every possible window and vent open. It really was extremely hot to haul but without having a trailer I'm at everyone else's mercy and this was my last option.

Once I had her in her new stall and eating a nice pile of hay I unloaded my stuff and then went to get her rinsed off. I rinsed her, scraped her, and parked both of us in front of a fan. She was a little too quiet and was almost asleep so just to be sure I rinsed her and scraped her again and then back in front of the huge fan. I kept turning her so that all of her would dry since leaving that water on in that heat and humidity wouldn't have been helpful. She did perk up a little and was more interested in her hay so I finally left with instructions to call me if anything seemed off.

On Sunday I went back to check on her, thankfully there was no call the night before, and had no plans of riding. I was pleased to see that she seemed like a slightly tired version of her normal self and other than being a little afraid of the slightly crabby mare she's turned out with for now she seems fine. I stuffed her with carrots, organized a few more things, stuffed her even more with carrots and then headed home.

     #MareGlare

     #Handsareforcarrotsnotpictures

Tonight I finally went out to ride and she was SOOOO good! She was speedier than she has been recently but otherwise she was brilliant. Not spooky and giving me the same quality of work that she was at the previous barn. She felt strong and ready to go and I blame the speedy on the change from full pasture to stall, new place, and a few days off. I'm going to plan to ride Tue, Wed, Sat, Sun so with my ride today that's five rides in seven days and after that I'll get back to my normal proposed schedule.

I can't wait to ride tomorrow!!'