big news!

I am very excited to share some big news with you all.

On the first of July, Lucy will be moving to a new barn, where she will have oodles of grass turnout to run herself silly all day long so that hopefully I won't have to deal with as much nonsense.

As with everything, there are pros and cons to this move:

Pros

-Lucy will have a much bigger space to move around in
-There is grass in the turnouts, so her ulcers will hopefully not return, as she will be living much more "naturally" and eating continuously, which is how horses were designed to function
-The new barn has an indoor that is about twice the size of the one at my current barn
-It's on the way to work for me, so I can easily stop by in the morning
-It's the same price as my current barn
-There is a no loose dogs policy and I will be very happy to never have to deal with people letting their dogs run around while I'm trying to ride my horse, who by the way HATES dogs and uses them as an excuse to act stupid

Cons

-I adore my current barn owner and will be VERY sad to leave my barn
-The barn style is not open and airy like my current barn, and I will miss the warm afternoon light touching the stall doors and warming up the entire aisleway

Giving my current barn owner 30 days notice yesterday was one of the hardest things I've done in a long time! It's the first time I've ever had to give notice, since when I bought Lucy my current barn was the one she went to, a year and a half ago. The one and only downside to my barn is that the turnout is very small, and although Lu goes out for an entire day, she does not have the space she needs to be able to play and run if she feels like it. I've watched her try to run around in her paddock and it's a little scary to be honest. She can get about three or four canter strides in and then have to slam on the brakes. My barn owner is seriously the nicest guy and I will really miss chatting with him every day! I will miss a few of the boarders, too. Some of them helped me a lot with Lucy when the trainer I was working with abruptly left the barn and I had to figure everything out on my own. I had no idea how to feed her but with their coaching and a lot of research, I figured everything out and now feel like I'm pretty competent in that area!

I have tried literally everything else I can think of, short of Regumate, to get Lucy happy. I have spent thousands of dollars on chiropractors, massage therapists, lyme tests, ulcer treatments, saddle fitters, supplements, special grains, etc, and still she acts crazy. After my fall earlier this week I got so discouraged and kind of got fed up to be honest. There's no reason that she should be acting like that, other than she may just need space that she can really zoom around in and get that energy out before I ride her.

I have been casually looking for a new barn with great turnout for a few months now. I wasn't willing to settle for anything less than superb turnout. I was willing to sacrifice the indoor if I had to, but after the winter we just had in New England, I was really hoping I wouldn't have to! It was also important to me that my wonderful leaser be happy with the new location, because seriously, I don't even know how I managed to find someone as awesome as her but I did and I hold her opinion highly. Luckily she loved the new place, and it wasn't much further of a drive for her, so she said I should go for it!

So I made the final decision the day before yesterday, completed a boarding application for the new barn and made them copies of Lucy's coggins and rabies certificate at their request, and gave notice at my current barn.

My friend Claire has also decided to move her horse to the same barn as she has been looking around for better turnout for her TB gelding, too, and I am really happy we're sticking together. We have a lot of fun and we're a good team, since she has the trailer but Kenny and I have the truck! We can't really go anywhere without the other ;)

Here are some photos of the new farm!

One of the pastures

The aisle of the main barn

The indoor (well, half of it!).

Since I took these photos, a lot of work has been done to the property so I will take some more when we move the horses next month. The barn has a lot of history and was in bad shape when the new owners bought it in late fall of last year, but they have put a ton of money and time into it and they are restoring it to its former beauty.

In unrelated news, if Lucy's ego wasn't big enough already, she won "Most Beautiful" in a photo contest my vet's practice was running. I won't tell her if you don't.