Remember the lady I had called earlier about boarding near Hillsborough? She called me last night. Her daughter is going of to college so she’ll have space for one boarder? Well she called me. Originally I had told her that what she wanted would be too much and that I wanted to check around. (And I have not… Her rates were about par for the course, but no one else had the type of cameraderie I was looking for.)
We had a really good talk. Her daughter will be leaving in about 1-2 months for college and will be taking her horse with her, as planned. Because of the recent rains, the cost of hay this year is projected to be less than it was in last year with the drought (think $15/bale when it’s normally $5/bale). The original price increase in board had been partially based on the cost of her other boarder (a draft horse!): 4 pounds of grain a day plus beet pulp and hay. Isis eats 1 pound of grain a day and about 10 pounds of hay. A 50 pound bag of grain goes bad before she finishes it. I also offered to help out with barn chores and give a hand when needed.
The lady said that she really wants to get her mare started over fences — I told her that’s precisely where Isis is (told her about the show Isis and I went to in July 2007).
She has her instructor is giving a lesson at the farm — I’m going out to watch.
On top of that, there is a club she belongs to called “Horse Masters,” it’s part of the U.S. Pony Club except it is for adults. The meeting for Horsemasters is on Thursday (2nd Thursday of every month). You can guess what I’m doing on this Thursday evening.
The local Horsemasters group tries to have a workshop once per month plus they host an annual fun show. It’s geared towards adults getting back into showing who are having fun but not crazy riders like some of the kids. One over fence class is called “Fossils over Fences.”
This Saturday is the monthly workshop dealing with natural horsemanship — building a relationship with your horse.
So all of this sounds absolutely perfect. And with any luck, things will coincide so the house will sell and I can bring Isis out here some time after Susan’s daughter goes to college.
How’s that for some good news? Basically this is the exact kind of situation I have been looking for for years.
I was giddy driving home last night with this news.
