“When we’re done, I need to talk to you.” My heart sank when my trainer said those words at the start of my lesson a few weeks back.
I pushed an uncomfortable feeling of dread back and enjoyed my ride.
At the end of the lesson she said she had been offered a position at another barn and she was thinking of taking it. When she said the name of the facility I said, “YES! That’s only five miles from my house! When can we go?”
The view from Knight’s future stall. The arena fence will be painted white and will have jumps soon.
So in about a week and a half, Knight will be moving to a new stable 5.8 miles from my home. This is a happy proposition for any boarder, but especially me since I have an 80-mile round trip commute to work.
Knight’s stall is first on the left, the tack room (the shed) and cross ties on the right.
The new facility is adjacent to I believe 500 acres of trails. It’s where my husband goes mountain biking. I envision a day when he rides the bike and I ride Knight. . .
Knight’s stall is a bit of a fixer upper. Not sure about the lattice. Meant for shade?
The new stall is very similar to his current one (24 x 24), except the location is prime real estate. I’m happy he’s on the end. If he got injured or was sick, it would be obvious to everyone walking past or riding in the arena.
Why are these in a feed bucket? Ew. Fixer upper.
In addition to our arena, there is a dressage court.
A perfect place to dabble in dressage.
The whole facility is located within a county park. I’m excited about that because there are two gates to go through and this gives me a sense of security. The current barn I have Knight occasionally has random people walking through. One boarder told me stories of people finding candy wrappers in their horses’ feed buckets and in one case people had let horses out and were walking around.
Not that I’m paranoid that would happen to Knight or anything. . . but he did just break a halter and get loose. If he had galloped out onto the main road that would have been terrifying. At this new facility there is no way a horse could escape as the barn area is completely enclosed.
This will be the closest I have ever lived to my horse!
How about you? How far are you from your favorite equine? Have you ever had a super short or ultra long commute to ride?
If you haven’t already, I’d be grateful if you would send a little Facebook love the Saddle Seeks Horse direction. And if Twitter and Instagram are your thing, you can follow us there!
Subscribe and ride along!
Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!
14 Comments
Leave a Reply
Related Posts
I'm Susan and this is my horse Knight. We have been a blogging team since 2015 and we're glad you're here. Tally ho!
Besides the questionable feed bucket accessories, everything else is fabulous! How nice it is to have him so close to home with a wonderful facility!
That’s really exciting !! Hopefully you and knight love the new digs!!
That’s AMAZING! I’m about a 40 minute drive, so totally jealous.
That is SO COOL! Sounds like a great move 🙂
Oh Wow! What a great location! That is going to be so awesome!
That sounds awesome! I’m pretty excited about my horse being 30 minutes away from me – it’s the best I can do and since I walk to work it’s a pretty good deal! Congrats on the new barn and good luck with spiffing up Knight’s stall 🙂
The nice thing about the fixer upper is the price is low and you can tailor things to your own specifications!
Actually, due to this size, this type of stall is more expensive than a traditional 12×12 enclosed box stall. But at least I’ll be saving $ on gas!
Really? You’d think a brick and mortar stall would be pricier… Well, the commute (or lack thereof) will definitely be worth it!
How exciting…congrats and enjoy! My blog makes it obvious that I live, literally, in the barn and manage the facility where my horses are boarded. I can see them out my window so its pretty good that way. But I get it because prior to moving in here a year ago I lived 25 minute drive from here and wished to be closer.
I have a feeling your situation is the envy of many a horse girl.
Great to have him closer! I’ve been very lucky. For the past 15 years my horses have been at a small private barn about a mile from my house. I can actually walk there on the trail system. Sadly, the property will be sold this spring and I will be moving out in the May/June timeframe (whenever the snow melts). I’ve found another place about 8 miles away. Still not a bad drive and with excellent turnout and access to trails. Still, I’m going to miss being so close. Since I’m part of a co-op, proximity is key!
I used to have a 120 mi round-trip commute between work, barn and home. Now I’m down to a total of 80. It’s soooo much better!
Wow. We’re close. Now I have a total of 90 miles. I’ll think of you when I’m sitting in traffic on the 5 Freeway. It seriously helps when I remember I’m not the only person who is far from work. A friend at work is moving this upcoming weekend and she’ll be 70 miles from work her (husband got a much better new job).