Wow...that happened fast...

After my last post, Richard and I sat down and had a look at our household budget.  I needed to take a close look at our expenses and see if I could swing board on two horses - Rusty and Dolly.  I haven't actually purchased Dolly yet, but I expect she will be mine by the end of week.  We decided that we could do it on paper, but it didn't leave alot of extra disposable income for trips or house repairs, both of which are things we like/need.

That left me in a bit of a situation. I didn't really want to sell Rusty, but he just wasn't working for my riding needs anymore. That sounds kind of selfish, but as a boarder with a somewhat limited budget, I have to be realistic about what I spend my money on.   I would love to have my own little farm where I could keep Rusty as a cute pasture ornament, but that just isn't in the cards right now.

(Side note: I just wanted to give RuckusButt a HUGE thank you for letting me talk all of this horse stuff out over the past week.  RB met me twice at work last week and we talked about all of my options.  It is so nice to have a horse person around in real life (as well as all of the great support and advice from everyone online!)

Rusty is still healthy and sound at 19, so I felt he still had a few more years of riding left. I decided to put an ad on our local message boards and see what happened.  I posted the ad Thursday morning and 24 hours later, I had a lady book an appointment to come out and see him.

She wanted to come out with her truck and trailer Friday night and take him on the spot. I told her I needed a couple of days and that Sunday would work better for me.  She is a certified coach and runs the barn/riding program at a barn in the east end of our city.    Her web site and the barn's web site looked really legit.  Selling an older horse to a riding school wouldn't be my first choice, but the more I talked to her, the more I knew it would be a good fit.

This barn:

• has a couple of horses over 20 that they still use for walk/trot classes
• she told me Rusty would be used for beginners only
• they are willing to call me if and when he is ready to retire
  
  and the best part...??
  
• the lady coaches one of Rusty's old owners!  

The former owner (not the girl I bought him from, but one even further back!) saw his ad online and told the riding school about him and how he would be a perfect fit.  Hearing that made me feel better - they were so excited about getting to take care of him again, that I figured he would end up ok.

I am  feeling ok with my decision - on paper, it seems to work well for everyone.    I expected to feel really sad about letting him go, but I'm ok. I think both of us need to move on.   It was a bit hard to see his little spotted face looking out through the bars of the trailer window this afternoon, but I have an open invitation to come out and visit him and even ride if I want to.

We went out for a last short hack this morning when it was nice and cool - it will be a bit strange seeing the world through little bay ears, instead of the white/brown speckled ones I know so well...

So, here I go on to the next chapter in horse ownership...