Hi, everyone. Haven't commented in a while, tho I've dropped in occasionally to keep up with everyone. So....since December my guy has been at my old trainer's barn, 22 miles from where I used to keep him (add on another 9 miles each way to home.) A bit of a drag in terms of truck/gas consumption, plus commute traffic is so horrendous that I have only been riding him 3 days a week - usually Wednesday and the weekends - weather permitting. Unfortunately, this means, some days, having to ACE him for the safety of both of us because of the walk only exercise regime.
Now for the good news! A barn less than 5 minutes from my old barn of 30 years, a barn where there has been minimal turnover, has an opening. It's a pretty quiet place (good!) with a lighted covered arena. He will have a 15 x 18 stall (an old foaling stall) with a 15 x 40 paddock. There is no turnout, but since he can only have limited turnout anyway, the stall/paddock being large should be sufficient. The only negatives are it is more expensive than either my old barn or my trainer's place, but the difference isn't a lot and certainly more than compensated for by the fact that I won't be using as much gas. The other negative is, come good weather, I was going to seriously work on convincing him that he CAN be a trail horse. Trail access from this barn is approx. 1/2 mile away, along a paved road. Fortunately, it seems to be a fairly quiet road, so this may work, but it's not as easy access as from my old barn, or my trainer's barn which has access directly across the street with a horse/hiker specific bridle path.
Now I'm struggling to find someone to move him. I sold my old, needed too much repair trailer to someone who likes "projects," so I have a truck but no trailer. When I moved him in December it cost $100+ (to take him 22 miles, but, to be fair, I was paying for hauler's time, too), but that does stretch the budget, so hoping I can rely on friends. The phone calls start tonight.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)