My horses had lived with me for many years before I had to move to another property which had no barn on it. We were going to have to build one, and in the meantime my horses would have to board elsewhere. This was going to be hard on me and the four of them.
When your horses live with you, as their owner you can be flexible about their routine. You are also automatically more generous with hay, more solicitous about clean stalls, fresh available water, and enough grazing. If it is cold, you bring them in. If it is warm, you take off their blankets, so they don’t sweat and become uncomfortable. If the flies are getting bothersome, you bring them in…. You get the picture—you take much better care of your horses than most boarding barns.
I’d found a barn willing to take all four horses, i
