Always There Are the Horses: Gainesville

Monday, August 16, 2010

Destination Destiny

Gainesville, Florida. YES, I made it! For those of you who may not have known about it--perhaps wondering about the blog, and where I've been--the move and all it entails have been occupying every thought, idea, and ounce of energy I may have had for the past few weeks! I have moved in with one of my best friends who I've known since my Key West days--which is a bit of time--she is such a great gal! AND, I totally lucked out with my new barn. I had been to two places, liked one, and not the other, but the one I really liked had no openings! I got my friend to drive me to the nearest feed store, oftentimes there are bulletin boards with all kinds of listings. Not so here. All AA circuit barns. And none of them as close as I wanted my barn to be.... I walked back into the store and announced to my friend (who knew one of the employees) that all I could find were super expensive barns, mostly in Ocala which is a 30-40 minute drive. Had I put him in Ocala, I would have boarded him at Karen and David O'Connor's boarding barn! Now that is a neat place! But I want my horse closer than that!!! The young girl behind the counter perked up, and told me about her friend Kathy, who is now my new BO! Her acreage backs up onto State Park land, 7,000 acres worth of riding available! She also is very involved in ACTHA--American Competitive Trail Horse Association-- activities and competitions, and has lots of obstacles set up to practice with. Her husband is a mounted Highway Patrolman and she is very involved in search and rescue which I have wanted to start doing since I GOT Jackson! And, yes, there is a jumping and a dressage arena! Hooray! I have already met the barn instructor a few times--she is from Austria--and she teaches it all. Jumping, dressage, you name it! The best part of this, is the fact that I am totally working Jackson's monthly board off by doing the feeding for all 30 horses three evenings a week. I absolutely LOVE it.

Jackson will be here TODAY (Monday) barring unforseen complications, I am SO thrilled about that I was up all night as if awaiting Santa again when I was five! It is only when I see him getting unloaded from the trailer that I am truly going to believe it though!
I will take you through a limited picture montage here, just the house, and it's surrounding environs, and --of course-- my pets! The new barn pics will come in the next post after I get my boy!