Day 08 – 30 Day Horse Challenge – Your Barn

Oh man. I should really be reading these ahead of time so I know whether I should be taking pictures or not.

Well I've been at my new barn for a week so far and I love it. It's about 30 minutes from where I live and about 45 minutes from where I work. Not sure what the acreage is but it's VERY big--people are always around, and there's at least 50 stalls. Midnight is in the lower bank barn (which is still huge), which has a hayloft and an apartment above it where the farm worker and his family live. This has desensitized the horses to the sound of little kids running above their heads!

The upper barn is much more fancy--higher ceilings, more light. Fewer stalls though. It has these fancy U-shaped grilles on the stalls:

Kind of like this. They look VERY nice

There are two outdoor arenas--one is fenced in and the other (the jump arena) is kind of up on a plateau with no fence. I haven't ridden there yet since I think I would always feel like I was going to fall off the edge! There's also a lighted indoor and XC jumps, from small logs to coffins to a coop that's practically as big as I am. Faaancyyy!

Apparently it backs up to some nice trails but I haven't explored those yet--maybe the weekend after this one since it is wet and muddy here in Maryland right now.

Speaking of trail riding, that brings me to the people at the new farm. The owner's trail riding buddy contacted me to see if I wanted to come ride with her and get to know the trails, which is awesome. This is exactly why I thought riding at a big farm might be a good idea. Because left to my own devices, I will just socialize with the horses and avoid human contact as much as possible. Here I have a lot of opportunity to meet new people in the area if I just make the effort to actually talk to people. There are even a few girls who look to be around my age--though I have to admit, I'm somewhat more intimidated talking to them than I am to older people. Even when I would go to parties with my family when I was young, I always wanted to sit at the "grown-up" table if the alternative was playing tag or hide-and-go-seek with a bunch of little heathens my age. I guess I have always had an internal age of like 80.

Another cool feature of the farm is that they have a list-serv for boarders.  I've already gotten a few emails, including an announcement that the farm is hosting a CT show and a dressage "fix-a-test" clinic. I'm going back and forth whether I want to do the dressage clinic or not. I feel like I should get a couple months down riding Midnight before I go out and do anything with him, but it's not like he's green and it is an on-site event. And it's more of a practice/learning thing than a show. Am I trying to talk myself into this? Because it sure sounds like it. I think the price is going to be the deciding factor of whether I participate or not, but if it's expensive hopefully I can audit.

I'll leave you with your dose of kitten for the day. This weekend a friend of mine is coming to watch me ride so lucky for you, that will probably mean more pictures of Midnight :)

Sleepy little cheese