Monday, September 27, 2021

Goodbye Trailer

After a lot of thinking and internal deliberation, I made the decision to list my trailer for sale last weekend. 

Getting hooked up to the new owners' truck

There must have been a trailer scarcity going on or maybe my timing and price was just right but my message inbox exploded overnight. I think I got around 40-50 offers in less than a week after posting. It was rather overwhelming to field all the messages coming in and decide on which buyer to go with but in the end, I went with my gut instinct and I think I made the right decision. My trailer went home with a young family who will be giving it a complete make-over and a new purpose. I'm excited to see how it turns out. 

I am definitely feeling little sad about selling my little stock trailer but with everything going on in my life at the moment, it was too nice to sit in a field when it still had years of use left in it. I don't regret buying it when I did 5 years ago and it was really nice to have around. But my immediate goals and needs have changed over the past couple years and I'll probably be trailer-less for the next few years since our new barn home (more on that in a little bit) will take care of our needs. The husband has promised me a nicer trailer when the time comes so we'll be mobile again someday whenever that is. 

As for the new barn...it was a quick decision that my husband and I made together. Baby C has been an amazing little roadtrip companion for the past 10-11 months and has weathered long drives with little issue. However as he's getting older and more opinionated now, the 2-hour roundtrip drive to the barn on the weekends was exhausting for everyone and I feel very pressed for time when I'm out riding with Quest. To his credit, husband has never made me feel guilty and actually 90% of the time he's the one doing the driving however I want to be cognizant of how he feels (even when he doesn't say it out loud). The current barn was tough to beat in terms of board cost but greater was the inevitable realization that it was time for Quest and me to find a new barn closer to home.  

The smiles! 

From just being a part of the local horse community, I knew full well going into this search that the toughest part would be finding something that would fit my location/drive distance radius AND have ample pasture turnout. But I had to hope- so I posted a causal ISO in the local horse FB group and crossed my fingers. 

I got a ton of responses from folks wanting to help (and solicit business) but nothing really quite fit the bill- until I got a private message from a lady named T who offered to have us visit her farmette located about 30-35 minutes away from home. We chatted extensively through FB and set up a time to stop by later that weekend. My little family came along for the visit - they are a part of this horse adventure as well and it was important to have T get to know my family if she was opening up her home property to us. The farmette has a stall for everyone for feeding 2x a day and semi-private pasture paddock attached and a larger main pasture for turnout. For riding, there is an outdoor arena with jumps, panels for a round pen if needed, and direct access to 5-mile ballast-footing trail in a WMA with lots of other forest trails. T often hauls out for shows and hunter paces so if we ever wanted a ride, she has already made her rig and herself available to us. All in all it seemed like a good set up for our current needs but I still gave myself a couple days to think it over before making the decision. The move will be in a few days time and I'll get some media to share after the dust has settled.   

As for the mareface, Quest is doing well and we have been getting in lovely arena rides when I have the time to fit them in. I've wanted to try other bitless options with her for a very long time and finally got the little-S hackmore set up exactly the way I want. Best mareface took it it in stride in our first arena ride testing it out with no drama or fuss. I'm hoping to do more rides with it, maybe take it out on trail later when we are moved into the new place. It'll be really nice to have Quest closer to home again, I really missed seeing her around.

Forever my happy place <3