Barn Research - part 1

So, I spent the long weekend researching and visiting a few barns. All were nice in their own way, but no one place really jumped out at me at first glance.

There tons of barns around here, so that isn't a problem. I was hoping to find one closer to home, under that elusive 20 minute drive mark. There are 2 or 3 that meet that criteria, but their prices are way too high for me. I also excluded a few that were heavy into one discipline or another - ie - eventing, jumping, etc., just to narrow my search. So I went to visit 3 barns that are about 20-25 minutes driving time. And I called 2 others.

I have emailed my current barn owner to see if she would be willing to move Rusty to a new padddock, but she is away until the end of next week. We'll see what she thinks... I'm realizing that I would love to be able to ride over the winter, since I've missed out on riding regularly over the summer...

Barn 1 - a backyard farm - but very nice and well kept. She had lots of paddocks with lusious grass, but the outdoor board paddocks were a long hike from the barn. She works during the day and she kept complaining about how far the paddocks were from the house (far from the barn, but not very far from the house, IMHO). I got the impression that Rusty might not get checked on as often as I would like, considering his health hasn't been 100%. This place might work if it was May and I could turn him out on nice grass for 6 months during nice weather. Since we are heading into fall/winter here (yikes!!!), I didn't like the thought of him being alone well away from other horses and people. The paddock did have a nice shelter and the fencing was in good shape.

Barn 2 - the "we're-a-fun-relaxed-place-but-everyone-has-fancy-warmbloods-barn" - this place is the higher end of the local places. Board is $650/month. I went to look at this place due to the amount of high-quality hacking. They own 50 acres, but have agreements with neighbours and the local hunt to ride on over 500 acres. Alot of this land has natural xc jumps built in. This sounds like a dream! But - the downside (beside the cost) is that it is a busy, busy place. I think they had 30 stalls and the horses are constantly being moved around and turned in and out, etc. They even bath your horse if it comes in dirty from the field! Seems a bit much for me...

Barn 3 - a place where I took a few lessons last winter. Really nice indoor arena, sand riding ring and lots of turnout paddocks. The owner is a vet and seemed to be really flexible with turnout groups. She also believes in feeding the horses alot of grass and hay. Lessons would be included in the board, which is kinda handy, since I could really use some lessons.

Barn 4 - I just called these people, haven't driven out there yet. Decent price for outdoor board, beautiful facilities (from their web site). Lots of hacking, 3 outdoor riding rings and an indoor arena. Owner seemed very friendly. They had a moderate amount of horses. They are primarily a dressage barn and host a few medium level shows every year.

Barn 5 - a lady I leased a horse from before I purchased my first horse. She has moved to a new place and it is worth going to check out her setup. I know from before that she kept the horses in really small paddocks and didn't give them alot of hay - that may have been due to lack of room. She is a qualified jumping instructor and she trained in Germany, so I could take lessons at an extra cost.

I'm going to cut this here for now, since I don't know 100% what to do and I haven't spoken to my barn owner, so I don't want to make any rash decisions...

To be continued...