Saturday, February 23, 2008
Saturday, February 9, 2008
found it!
This is one of those stories that if I didn't believe in things like fate and meant-to-happen and kismet, I would think I was making it up.
The boarding location has been unresolved thus far, sort of nagging at the back of our thoughts the way maybes do. So far, here's the comparison of the 2 stables we had narrowed it down to, based on the criteria below:
The place where Lindsey currently has her lessons VS. The other place
They both have trail access
They both offer lessons
They both do pasture boarding
One is only 9 minutes away, the other is 30+
The closer one does not have a covered arena, the far one does
The closer one has an indefinite wait list, the far one has space
The plan was to board at the place Lindsey has her lessons even though it's far(ish) away. That 30 minutes is w/o traffic, and we really wanted to just be able to pop by and see him on the days we didn't have hours to ride/train/etc. But we figured we'd stay there until a spot opened up at the place by the house, even though there's no covered arena, making for some wet lessons and training 10 months out of the year. But we thought that was all there was...trust me: I searched.
Then Wednesday happened.
Lindsey and I went to The Grange after school on Wednesday as her lesson was moved to Thursday and she had been wanting to get some brushes or whatever little things we could get…so while we’re back in the horse section, this boy and his dog are on the other aisle…I peek around the corner and he looks at me, and I go, “Oh, I thought I heard a dog.” And he goes, “Do you know if they have boots in my size?” And I go, “I’m not sure. I don’t know your size.” And he goes, “do you guys ride?” We both said “yes” – and he says, “are you looking for somewhere to board?” Lindsey and I look at each other like OH now THAT'S weird, and I say, “As a matter of fact...we might be. Why do you ask?” and he starts telling us about how his parents bought this old ranch/farm/stables and have just finished building everything last year – they opened in October – and are small, word-of-mouth only, don’t have a website or advertise, etc, but that “we seemed like we might like it” --- so we go find his mom, spend a ½ hour talking to her, spend another hour at the stables, and fell madly in love with it. There are only about a dozen horses, the place is stunning without being snooty: brand new stables with a covered/lighted arena, heated tack room – the stalls have little ‘patios’ slightly bigger than the stalls so even the stall-boarded guys have more outside than inside. The pasture areas are divided up into about five main areas, they left plenty of trees on 2 of them for the pasture board guys so there is natural shelter; there’s a wood built shelter on one of the other ‘plain’ pastures, the arena is stunning, it's on 10 acres with a slight incline which provides the most amazing drainage (i.e. minimal mud!) and the horses all look very healthy and happy. And the checklist we have been using? It has it all:
It has trail access
They offer lessons
They offer pasture boarding
There is a covered arena
There are a couple more spots available
And it is 4 miles from the house
We are over the moon happy...this means we can bring Tobbi home SOON...we are thinking April. Just so happens we had a trip planned up to Orcas anyway; looks like we'll return with a horse!
It's all falling in to place, as I really need to remember it will...when things are meant to be, they just seem to fall together naturally.
The boarding location has been unresolved thus far, sort of nagging at the back of our thoughts the way maybes do. So far, here's the comparison of the 2 stables we had narrowed it down to, based on the criteria below:
The place where Lindsey currently has her lessons VS. The other place
They both have trail access
They both offer lessons
They both do pasture boarding
One is only 9 minutes away, the other is 30+
The closer one does not have a covered arena, the far one does
The closer one has an indefinite wait list, the far one has space
The plan was to board at the place Lindsey has her lessons even though it's far(ish) away. That 30 minutes is w/o traffic, and we really wanted to just be able to pop by and see him on the days we didn't have hours to ride/train/etc. But we figured we'd stay there until a spot opened up at the place by the house, even though there's no covered arena, making for some wet lessons and training 10 months out of the year. But we thought that was all there was...trust me: I searched.
Then Wednesday happened.
Lindsey and I went to The Grange after school on Wednesday as her lesson was moved to Thursday and she had been wanting to get some brushes or whatever little things we could get…so while we’re back in the horse section, this boy and his dog are on the other aisle…I peek around the corner and he looks at me, and I go, “Oh, I thought I heard a dog.” And he goes, “Do you know if they have boots in my size?” And I go, “I’m not sure. I don’t know your size.” And he goes, “do you guys ride?” We both said “yes” – and he says, “are you looking for somewhere to board?” Lindsey and I look at each other like OH now THAT'S weird, and I say, “As a matter of fact...we might be. Why do you ask?” and he starts telling us about how his parents bought this old ranch/farm/stables and have just finished building everything last year – they opened in October – and are small, word-of-mouth only, don’t have a website or advertise, etc, but that “we seemed like we might like it” --- so we go find his mom, spend a ½ hour talking to her, spend another hour at the stables, and fell madly in love with it. There are only about a dozen horses, the place is stunning without being snooty: brand new stables with a covered/lighted arena, heated tack room – the stalls have little ‘patios’ slightly bigger than the stalls so even the stall-boarded guys have more outside than inside. The pasture areas are divided up into about five main areas, they left plenty of trees on 2 of them for the pasture board guys so there is natural shelter; there’s a wood built shelter on one of the other ‘plain’ pastures, the arena is stunning, it's on 10 acres with a slight incline which provides the most amazing drainage (i.e. minimal mud!) and the horses all look very healthy and happy. And the checklist we have been using? It has it all:
It has trail access
They offer lessons
They offer pasture boarding
There is a covered arena
There are a couple more spots available
And it is 4 miles from the house
We are over the moon happy...this means we can bring Tobbi home SOON...we are thinking April. Just so happens we had a trip planned up to Orcas anyway; looks like we'll return with a horse!
It's all falling in to place, as I really need to remember it will...when things are meant to be, they just seem to fall together naturally.
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