We listed our house for sale in March. We had been contemplating our future, considering that Kris had been "commuting" between Vermont and Virginia for over three years. To stay in Vermont? Or to move back to Virginia? It seemed pretty clear that his job wouldn't bring him back to Vermont, so the decision was made to move to Virginia. Full circle - Virginia > Vermont > Virginia ... even a return to the condo we lived in when we were first married!
An offer was made on the house in mid July, with closing scheduled for early September. In the intervening weeks, we packed up, got rid of some stuff, did a few summer fun things, scheduled movers, and did all the other things that come with a move. That was all easy; time consuming but easy. My main concern was Bestie.
On the recommendation of a friend, I checked out a barn in northern Virginia that I ended up really liking. Unfortunately, it was undergoing major renovations and the manager couldn't commit to taking on new boarders until early September ... too late to fit into our plans. Kris suggested calling a high school friend of his, Laurie, who has horses at her home in the DC area. She had actually moved from Charlottesville, which is where we planned to look for a house, so could fill me in on area barns that might work for Bestie.
Amazingly, when I explained our situation, she offered her empty stall to Bestie. And even more amazingly, she offered to trailer Bestie down to Virginia. Laurie was planning a mid September visit to her parents in Connecticut and could "swing over" to Vermont. As I write this, after all these weeks, I am still blown away by Laurie's generosity.
To make a long story short, I left Vermont to drive to Virginia after closing on September 6. Bestie stayed in Vermont until the weekend of September 17 and 18, when I flew back and Laurie drove up via CT so that we could meet at Maple Valley and travel back to Virginia. Between September 6 and September 17, trainer Paula rode Bestie a few times, and the kind folks at Maple Valley worked to make sure she would load with no problem on D(eparture) Day, September 18. So many awesome people helped make this work!
The ride down was uneventful. Bestie was comfy in Laurie's big rig, and we stopped a few times so she could rest her legs and so we could water her and refill her hay net. Luckily it was not too warm because she didn't drink very much. 13 hours later we arrived at her new home. More thoughts on prepping for our trailer trip.
It's a cute little four stall barn off to the side of Laurie's home. Bestie is in the second stall from the right. The tack room is in the middle. The pastures are in back. Super laid back atmosphere, and she seemed to take to it right away.
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| Bestie looking contemplatively out her front door. The little bit of hay hanging out the side of her mouth makes me laugh. The first few days, she was on day shift turnout while the other three horses were on evening turnout. She love/love/loves her front half door and back window. |
The horses' back windows look out to the two pastures. Even when I bring her in to groom her, she gets a bite of hay to munch and then promptly goes to the back window to make sure she isn't missing any excitement in the pastures.
It's been absolutely awesome at Laurie's; I'm so relieved and happy that Bestie settled in well. She's turned out with another mare, and these two alpha girls seems to be getting along. Today, after I rode, I turned Bestie back out and she whinnied and cantered over to where Mia was grazing. Later there were a few squeals, but when I checked on them, they were grazing the fenceline together. I think there's mutual respect. :)
I'm so incredibly grateful to everyone who helped to get us moved and settled, especially to Laurie for her generosity.
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