As the Barn Turns...

So we've moved barns. Again. Sigh.

In layman's terms, that would be taking my training and instructing practice, along with the horses in my care (the ones we own as well as the ones in training) to a different facility. That would also include the nine millions pounds of tack, horse gear, and accessories that I have accumulated over the course of way too many years.

This was not a planned move. The managers/lessors of our current barn had issues (kinda scary issues at that) with the owners of the property, so they found another place close by to re-locate to. So we moved on Sunday. And Monday. And today. At the end of it all, I don't really like this new place. The old one was ok--lots of open space and a decent arena to use for training rides and lessons. Good prices for boarding too. We only moved there last Thanksgiving, and had a lot of hope that everything would pan out as planned. It hasn't, and I've spent more and more time helping to manage the facility instead of running my training business. I also found out over the weekend that nothing I was promised at the new place is actually going to happen. Then, when we moved the horses to the new facility on Sunday in the 110 degree heat, nothing was ready for their arrival. No food, no water, no bedding--just empty stalls. The final straw for me was having to stay until after 10 pm Sunday night making sure all the horses, including ones that don't even belong to me, had food and water. It was when I was lugging the umpteenth water bucket across the property (with no help from the facilities manager who was standing around talking) that I hit the "I've had enough" wall.

Fortunately, my daughter ("E" for the purposes of this blog) is a facilities researcher lunatic. She had found an interesting place in the last week or so, and we checked it out yesterday. It's in a different suburban area, but it currently has all the amenities we want, and they're up and running NOW. It is a cooler climate, and they have (insert trumpets blaring here): a COVERED ARENA. With lights! For you non-horsey people, that's like the Holy Grail. It allows us to ride and train regardless of rain or glaring sun. The high there on Sunday was 76. Seventy f'ing six! Not (I repeat NOT) 110.

We're giving notice tomorrow. The good news is that we're really looking forward to the new place. The bad news is that we have to move everything again. But at least we're already packed.