It has been way too long since I've updated our blog. There have been some changes, and a lot of transitioning, once again. The barn we thought would be heaven, was not. Bad management. We left and found another backyard situation, no pasture - individual dry turnouts, but no cuts, scrapes, or fights. In mid May we were informed that the barn was going to be closed to boarding :( I was very disappointed, as G was getting great care, and we liked everyone. We started our search once again, and a friend of the current barn owner found out about this little backyard situation where we would be the only boarder. We went and checked it out and it was a great situation. Awesome price, great facilities and pastures, and G's two herdmates during the day are both gaited - one Walker, one Spotted Saddle Horse. Yes! It is soooo nice to ride with other gaited horses again.
The situation is perfect. G has his own grassy paddock at night with a run in shed covered in front half way across and shares one fenceline with two Alpacas, and one with his two buddies who have a dry paddock where they can go under an overhang and into a wide aisle of the barn for protection. Each horse has a stall, but they're only put up in extreme weather conditions. So far, they've only been in once when we had a pretty horrific thunder storm. During the day all three horses are turned out in one of two pastures. The grass isn't overly lush like it was at the barn I that hought was perfect. I'm happy to have something in between.
The first few days G was a bit frantic being alone in his paddock at night. When the boys went around to the front of the barn he would lose sight of them. He wasn't bad if the Alpacas were out, but when they disappeared into their barn, G got a little unglued. Thankfully the barn owners were understanding and put up with his whinneying for a few days. Within a couple of weeks he was at least not screaming for his buds. He'd still pace at the fence a bit, but every day it got a little better.
Now after 5.5 weeks, I show up after work and he's in his shed happily munching his hay. He doesn't care that the boys are no where to be seen. The barn owner says he loves his run in and spends alot of his time in there in the evening. Since he has been stalled at night for the past 10 years, I think he feels comfortable being in a structure. He certainly treats it like his stall cause that's where he does all his poops and pees overnight lol. Though I have to say the past week, we've found more piles outside then before.
The board is really reasonable, the only extra is we pay for his grain. She orders it with hers, and on delivery I write a check for our bags. The other things we're responsible for is to keep his paddock/runin clean and when they go away one week in the summer and on weekends between December and March, we feed 1x a day. She has a friend that does the morning feed, so this works well for me.
G seems to really have gotten into the new routine and seems much more relaxed than a couple weeks ago. Tonight I decided to take him for a ride down the driveway, down two driveways and out to the river trails. We only did a 35 minute loop, but it included a return ride on the road. Usually on the way home is when he gets antsy, but tonight he stayed foused and calm. It was the best solo trail ride off a barn property in the past 10 years. The weather was aboslutely perfect, and so was Mr. G - its doesn't get any better.
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