As some of my family and friends have already heard, I put in my 30 days at my current boarding location. They sent us a letter at the beginning of August saying that they are shutting down the pastures where Calvin is located. They apparently got fined around $40,000 and given the option to either shut it down or to fix the problem & pay the money. The boarding place where Calvin is was fined by the city for not having permits for horses or the land, I'm not savvy about permits so I'm not entirely sure what permit they did not have. The stable owner does not own the land Calvin was on, he only leases it and he wants out of the horse boarding business. Therefore, we were given the option to either relocate to smaller pastures, relocate to stalls that he owns, or find somewhere else. I decided to move Calvin somewhere else. In a way I'm relieved, Calvin will have shelter from the rain and I won't have to shovel poop anymore. As my mom put it, "you're taking care of him like he's in your backyard" except that I was paying over $300 a month. Out where I'm looking board is less expensive, but it's a drive and I'll miss the beautiful oak trees from this location. The hardest part will be moving him away from Graf, they are such good friends now and really do love each other.
My friends I've made at this new barn are also leaving in the fall, which is a huge reason why I decided to look elsewhere. Also Graf, Calvin's new pasture buddy, is also leaving in the fall because his owner bought horse property. With no reason to stay, I decided to look in another area for horse boarding. I asked on facebook to see if anyone knew of pasture boarding and I actually got some offers from private boarders. I went to look at these properties a few weeks ago and found a place I really liked. The owner feeds the horses 2x/day in stalls and then turns them out on her 1 acre property to roam the rest of the day/night.
I was excited about the fact that Calvin could now have an entire acre to roam on with other horses. He would also get good orchard hay (grass hay) and not the alfalfa cubes which he's eating now. Side note, I'm not a fan of the alfalfa cubes because C. has found dead mouse bones and barbed wire in them before, plus long stem hay is healthier for them anyway. I am disappointed that he won't be free-fed anymore. He has gained weight and looks absolutely fabulous with a shiny coat! The thing is that free-feeding is so rare with boarding facilities, most think that free feeding will cause horses to gain weight. If we lived on the East Coast or somewhere with grass pasture, this would be a non issue because he could munch all day on grass and then get hay on top of that. Yet on the West Coast we have lovely "dry lots" with no grass, so most people only feed 2x/day and that's all the horses get. I had to decide between two less-than-ideal options: keep Calvin in a stall and free-feed OR keep Calvin in a pasture and get 2x/day feeding. Due to his young age, I opted to keep him in a pasture. They will feed him separately at the new boarding location so at least he will get his fill before being turned out again with the other horses. Since I already paid for Aug at the current boarding location, he won't move to his new boarding location until Aug. 31st. I'll make a new post of him in his new home after that.
I was excited about the fact that Calvin could now have an entire acre to roam on with other horses. He would also get good orchard hay (grass hay) and not the alfalfa cubes which he's eating now. Side note, I'm not a fan of the alfalfa cubes because C. has found dead mouse bones and barbed wire in them before, plus long stem hay is healthier for them anyway. I am disappointed that he won't be free-fed anymore. He has gained weight and looks absolutely fabulous with a shiny coat! The thing is that free-feeding is so rare with boarding facilities, most think that free feeding will cause horses to gain weight. If we lived on the East Coast or somewhere with grass pasture, this would be a non issue because he could munch all day on grass and then get hay on top of that. Yet on the West Coast we have lovely "dry lots" with no grass, so most people only feed 2x/day and that's all the horses get. I had to decide between two less-than-ideal options: keep Calvin in a stall and free-feed OR keep Calvin in a pasture and get 2x/day feeding. Due to his young age, I opted to keep him in a pasture. They will feed him separately at the new boarding location so at least he will get his fill before being turned out again with the other horses. Since I already paid for Aug at the current boarding location, he won't move to his new boarding location until Aug. 31st. I'll make a new post of him in his new home after that.
Calvin and Graf getting into trouble knocking wheelbarrows over!
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