Driving to & from the boarding barn - this is how we do it.
Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2019 7:47 pm
At the beginning of March, there was an opening at a boarding facility that is literally a 6 minute drive from my house, so I jumped on it. It has a lovely indoor and a grass-ring outside ring that is used for jumping seasonally (it’s buried in snow right now). So, my Third/Fourth level gelding, Jet, is there now along with my daughter’s QH pony, Sawyer.
Once the grass comes in, Jet (who is insulin resistant and needs a dry lot, and the facility only has grassy fields) will come home and my rising 5 yr old Hano/Shire gelding, Finn, will take his place there. I normally *only* board my horses for the winter months, but this place is SO close that I want to keep my foot in the door. For that reason, I’ll keep two there year round now. It gives me access to an indoor and I am welcomed to ship-in with any of my other horses if I want to use the indoor.
Given the proximity, this is how we “drove” there on Sunday!
That’s Finn hitched up to my marathon carriage. He isn’t in top shape so we did a mixture of walking & trotting to get there. It took us 45 minutes each way. Once he’s in shape, I think we can trot the majority of the trip and whittle it down to 30 min, which is just 5 min longer than the car drive we had to the previous boarding facility!
Once at the facility, we gave Finn a chance to roll and stretch his legs, which he did with glee.
We had a lovely ride on Jet & Sawyer including a lesson for my daughter with her coach, then we hitched Finn back to the carriage and drove home. My daughter, who is a budding photographer at age 11, took this cool photo of our shadow.
Fun!
P.S. scroll down to the next post for a cute brother/sister photo
Once the grass comes in, Jet (who is insulin resistant and needs a dry lot, and the facility only has grassy fields) will come home and my rising 5 yr old Hano/Shire gelding, Finn, will take his place there. I normally *only* board my horses for the winter months, but this place is SO close that I want to keep my foot in the door. For that reason, I’ll keep two there year round now. It gives me access to an indoor and I am welcomed to ship-in with any of my other horses if I want to use the indoor.
Given the proximity, this is how we “drove” there on Sunday!
- 4FF8E2E9-1E28-4CA3-AF1B-943CFD599D01.jpeg (195.28 KiB) Viewed 9813 times
That’s Finn hitched up to my marathon carriage. He isn’t in top shape so we did a mixture of walking & trotting to get there. It took us 45 minutes each way. Once he’s in shape, I think we can trot the majority of the trip and whittle it down to 30 min, which is just 5 min longer than the car drive we had to the previous boarding facility!
Once at the facility, we gave Finn a chance to roll and stretch his legs, which he did with glee.
- 78AFB378-0EBC-4482-9C44-89408DBD2B1F.jpeg (87.51 KiB) Viewed 9813 times
We had a lovely ride on Jet & Sawyer including a lesson for my daughter with her coach, then we hitched Finn back to the carriage and drove home. My daughter, who is a budding photographer at age 11, took this cool photo of our shadow.
- 7EF9D93A-CA39-406B-BB0E-537A856F9B35.jpeg (161.66 KiB) Viewed 9813 times
Fun!
P.S. scroll down to the next post for a cute brother/sister photo