Nothings ever easy

[joflasher]

I just got a phone call from the barn .5 miles down the street, saying "we have an opening, you should tell that other barn to sod off and come here". Now I don't know what to do. I suck at decisions like this.

One side, I already told the one barn I was coming there. I have the contract but I haven't signed and delivered it yet. They are $225 dollars more than the close barn and 20 minutes away. They also have an indoor arena, the close place doesn't have even have a ring.

The far one has dirt paddocks, the close one lots of lovely pasture. The far one is full board, the close one they supply hay and grain, you have to supply shavings and clean your stalls. With the far one, I can ride all winter. Close one, I can see Tisa every day and just walk to the barn.

Dumb game. I'm sick of this.


Update on kitties - going well. Banichi hasn't made any more bathroom mistakes. He's tried twice and we caught him before anything happend. The last two days, he hasn't tried. I did get another big litter box but he seems happier throwing litter all over the place by using the ferrets' boxes. Either way, he's not peeing on the funiture, so I'm happy.

The ferrets have started trying to get the kittens to play with them. Tira has been pouncing the kittens toys while the kittens were playing with them. Midori went bouncing and chuckling after Banichi this morning on the bed. The kittens, however, don't seem to understand what's going on. When Tira grabs a toy from one of them, they flatten their ears and back off. Banichi looked horrified by Midori ... you could almost see him thinking "its making noises, they've never made noises before, SHIT ITS COMING AFTER ME!!!"

Still, things are going well on the monster front. We aren't quite trusting the kittens to be out unsupervised yet but we aren't following them around like hawks anymore either.

Comments

What a diabolical choice!

[tg2k.livejournal.com]

Go through this door to save the man you love, or through this door to protect your long-lost sibling, and the other one DIES!

Well, at least it ain't that bad.

But yeah. Ahh, tradeoffs. I think this is one choice you have to make for yourself. Nobody's advice is likely to be too helpful. I will only ask a few questions of curiosity and/or discovery:

1) $225 more for the far barn...is that monthly? Yearly? I don't grok these things.
2) Cleaning the stalls...you have to do this how often?
3) How easy is it in either case to go on vacation and leave Tisa in someone else's care?
4) With the close one, can you ride sometimes in the winter anyway, or is it really impossible or too unpleasant with cold weather and snow?
5) How much riding can you do in an indoor arena, or is it more for training purposes?
6) I can't remember...Are you into things like horse shows where a ring is particularly useful?
7) Can't you just drain your swamp and build your own barn? ;-)

That's all I can think of. Good luck.

Re: What a diabolical choice!

[flasher.livejournal.com]

1) Monthly. Thats for food, bedding, a stall, pasture and someone doing all the work. At the close place, the pay is for food, a stall and pasture. I'd still have to do all the work.

2) Its a lot like having a cat. You pick out the worst every day and do a good thourough cleaning once a week. Daily work is about 10 minutes. Big cleaning about 20.

3) That's one thing I don't know. If she's at the farther place, its not an issue.

4) You can ride as long as the weather permits. Last year, it iced up and stayed icey for about 2 months straight. Can't ride in that.

5) Basically everything you can do in a normal riding ring. This one is HUGE and is attached to the barn proper so it stays heated during the winter.

6) Yep. I really like trail riding but I also like teaching my horse new "stuff" like jumping and such and rings help.

7) Drain it, no. Fill it in, maybe. I don't want to though. For all this fuss, I'd still rather have Tisa at a nice barn with other horses (herd animals don't do well when alone) and my swamp just like it is ... only with less mosquitoes.

Re: What a diabolical choice!

[starherd.livejournal.com]

...I think the far barn will save you, but that's just me... and you, it looks like... ;-)
(You may not see her every day, but she'll be better taken care of when you're not there, and that sounds better to me. That, and inertia.)

Re: What a diabolical choice!

[tg2k.livejournal.com]

Wow, I remember my parents renting out a 2-bedroom apartment in upstate NY in 1990 for about $200/month. You pay more than that for your horse. Whoa...that's perspective for you, I guess. Or maybe just MA.

[msde.livejournal.com]

I think you'll be happier with the far barn. You've had enough hassle because of people trying to skimp on maintenance costs.

[pancua.livejournal.com]

seems it would be best to invest in the added security for Tisa. Both for your own emotional well being and her physical one.

*Hugs* Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

[flasher.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure I'm going with the far one, if for no other reason than I told them I was coming already. I hate going back on my word, especially if the "reason" is for my convience.

I'm really just moaning here. I was all worked up about finding a new barn which included being pissy for not being able to find the close barn's owner, finally found one, made a decision, got the weight lifted off and then I get this call which sent me into a nice tizzing spiral again. You'd think I was looking for a reason to scatter or something.

While there are ups to the close place, the far place is probably better all around for the winter at least. If he'd called yesterday, I would have probably still made the same decision.

[lysystrata.livejournal.com]

Not barn related, but horse related nonetheless.

I've (finally!) had the leisure to watch the equestrian jumping in the Olympics. Yum. But I haven't had a chance to sit down and do so since '88, and I've noticed an odd change. In the '88 games, most of the horses were straight out-and-out thoroughbreds, (though didn't Big Ben have a drop of Belgian draft horse in him, magnificent boy he was!). This Games I have yet to see anyone described as simply thouroughbred- they're all "Belgian warmbloods", "sou-francais", or Holsteiners. I know that "warmblood designates some thoroughbred/Arabian ancestry, but when did all the mixed breeds take over the event? I've never even HEARD of a sou-francais before.

[flasher.livejournal.com]

Warmbloods are actually draft horses (cold blooded) crossed on a hot blooded breed, either arabs or thoroughbreds. Some of them are ancient (friesans and andalusians) but most are fairly modern breeds that still allow you to cross a mare out on a hot blooded stallion and register the foal as pure blooded.

Right now, they are the big fad in the jumper and dressage world. You get a more even tempered horse that is as tall as all anything AND is light enough in the body to actually jump decently. In dressage, the big rage is the arab crossed warm bloods. Arabs give the high stepping, fancy action and refinement to the draft's big body and even temperment. Of course, sometimes you get the warmblood who got the worst of both worlds ... flighty as all hell with the draft's stubborness and a short, chunky body.

[flasher.livejournal.com]

What I liked most about the Olympics is that most of the horses in it are well into their teens. People here think once a horse is over 10, its useless and the announcers the other night were marveling at the extremely young 8 year old competeing. I blame the fact that New England has so many race tracks and a racing horse is broken down by 5 or 6. Back home, people didn't bat an eye at buying a healthly 20 year old and up here, you can't give them away.

[lysystrata.livejournal.com]

I was also impressed by one horse an American was riding. Most of the horses I saw were lean, tall, lanky- like college baseball players. And then there was this one boy. Next to the rest of then he looked like an ox! And jump! Wow, what a beauty...but he was at least half again as wide as anyone else out there.