Barn Search: Chartier Stables

This is an unfortunate post. While we were in Michigan I had been recommended a boarding stable that I was subsequently excited to check out. I'll just add in my hindsight thought process as I write this. It might be easier.

It was hard to get a hold of anyone in charge of the boarding situation. They had just added a new website and had an information form. I submitted a query there. Never heard a thing. I tried emailing the addresses listed on the website and my emails were bounced back. I tried calling. Never got called back. Finally, I messaged them on facebook because at least there was activity on their page.

This should have been my first big clue that maybe things were off. And honestly, I was annoyed that it took so much effort on my part to get a response, after all, wouldn't they want my business? (HA) We finally arranged a date on 12/26 in the morning to meet at the barn.

The 26th started off horribly. I was coming down with a cold, but with no medicine in the house where we were staying, I tried taking an Emergen-C to ease my symptoms a little. Turns out I am extremely sensitive to Vitamin B12, especially when it's 5000% of your daily value. I could. not. sleep. It was awful, I was crying I was so tired and exhausted.  As a result, I was in no condition to drive the next day so we all went.

When we arrived, no one was there. Flag 2. I tried calling but didn't get an answer. We decided to tour ourselves. We had been expected, so I didn't think like that would be out of turn.

The outdoor arena. A little soppy but not flooded.

We toured counterclockwise around the facility. From the aerial views I had seen on google maps I could identify most everything. What I thought was a super nice round pen had a horse turned out in it and was crazy muddy. There was a smaller round pen and mud everywhere.

The viewing room/party room that they rent out.

There had been a car in the driveway when we arrived and I thought it was the person we were meeting but I never saw them and by the time we made it around the property that car was gone. The indoor arena was nice enough and there was an indoor bathroom and kitchen in the lounge room.

Indoor arena.

Horses on pasture board. There was one run in shed that was 36 feet long (guesstimate) and lots of trees but nothing else

The farm sits on 300 acres and apparently the pasture boarded horses are out on that acreage. There was a ton of farm equipement in the field and the field itself looked muddy as well. I know mud sometimes can't be helped, but I thought they could probably do some better pasture management.

Apparently, they grow their own hay across the street and just feed the horses from that and will, in the winter, just loosely collect the hay and not bother baling it, and just dump it into the pasture for everyone to fight over. That explained the skinny horses I saw. There was no consideration for feeding all the horses, it was just a free for all.

Skinny pasture boarded horse, another flag.

Stalls with runs. They were gross and muddy (and on the north side so no sun in the winter)

Nicer stalls with runs that would get afternoon sun.

When the girl finally arrived to show me around (as we were bundling back up into the car) I learned some fun stuff.  The barn that I liked the most, and would have paid more for, was only available to the Chartier Family. They used to run a livery stable and have over 100 stalls. Now they keep the farm to stable the family horses and the boarders are an afterthought. I'm not assuming on this point, mind you, she outright told me that they only have the boarders to cover the taxes from the other businesses the family owns. They have their own barn so they can 'get away' from everyone and have a private space.

I think I was too exhausted to really grasp what was going on, at this point. I was just walking through the barn in a state of disbelief with this nagging feeling that I couldn't trust that Gwyn was being taken care of at this barn.

Nicer stall on the nicer run.

Chickens in a nice stall.

Price list. They nickel and dime you.

Strange stalls that weren't in use but could be 'day use' for pasture board clients.

Because they are in terrible condition.

The boarding barn stalls. Decorated for christmas.

None of these stalls were clean. None of them. The excuse was that it was the holidays and don't I understand? They only clean stalls 6 days a week and give their cleaner the 7th day off and the family turns up to do the 7th day. But...  then which day off was the cleaner on, and technically this wasn't the holiday anymore, so shouldn't they have coverage for their stall cleaners?

I was out at Shadows on Christmas Eve helping them clean stalls so that they could go home and celebrate with family. Shadow's staff is out there EVERY DAY regardless of holiday, to take care of our animals.

Stall out onto the awful runs. Nothing is cleaned at 10 in the morning.

Cinderblock large stall.

The barns available for the boarders were awful. They had low ceilings and were in a crazy state of disrepair. I thanked the girl who gave me the tour and left and told Eric that I was not going with them.

I had this sinking feeling the whole time I was on property. If Gwyn was there I'd be out there every day making sure she was getting fed and being taken care of. I guarantee I'd end up cleaning her stall too because I obviously don't trust that it's going to get done after seeing what I did. And then, what am I paying for? She'd be ankle deep in mud there, and she isn't now, in the PNW in the middle of winter, when mud reigns supreme.

I sent a text to my barn owners telling them how much I loved them, and visiting other facilities really made Shadow's shine.

As we drove around the area, doing more things, I finally realized why I was so uneasy. Chartier does not put their customer first. The customer is an afterthought. They don't matter. The newest building was for the family's use. There were no obvious improvements made to anything. It all looked run down. It was worse than Charlottewood (my first boarding experience), which is saying something.

Either way, I'm not bringing Gwyn there. I'd rather have her thousands of miles away under the care of people I trust.

WW: Gwyn Horsehair Bracelet

First Ride of 2015!

We flew in from CT last night and today Kaylee was back in school so I was out at the barn! It was lovely. Not too cold (42 F) and not raining. The sun was evening making attempts to clear away the clouds and fog.

Gwyn seemed happy to see me, I had been gone almost 2 weeks so I can't blame her. I groomed her, noted a lost shoe on her front right hoof  (figures) and decided to hop on anyway since I didn't have that much time to ride at that point.

I lunged first, since the horses had all been kept in yesterday and she was on her best behavior. Seriously good. We had lovely cantering, no bucking, both directions on the lunge line. That's usually my best mood gauge for her and when there's no frolicking I know she's going to be pretty steady under saddle. And generally, even if she's spicy on the lunge line, we just do some more work listening to me and then she gets pretty good for riding.

I only rode for about 20 minutes, and most of that at the walk since my boobs REALLY hurt at the trot.

Mileage estimate since my GPS did not start working is 1.3 miles, so entered for the Distance Derby.

My friend Jen was there to play with Gwyn's pasturemate, a big belgian named Callie. For a while Jen thought she might have to put Callie down due to persistent lameness but she's gotten better! I'm so happy for Jen, she was seriously down about the whole thing so to know that her heart horse can still get around, and better than before, is really heartening.

I took Gwyn out and found her lost shoe. I have a Goober of a horse.

The Goober Pony

Frustrating things that are out of my control

I took a look at a barn on Friday as a temporary place to keep Gwyn after we move to Michigan.

You know how sometimes you get a vibe, whether about a person or a place? This place had a vibe. It was not a good vibe. So that's a setback. But as we've been driving all over Michigan looking at the houses on our Zillow list, I've been noting potential boarding barns.

Worst case scenario, Gwyn stays with people I trust until I have a house and land to support a horse and I deal with a severe horse withdrawal (Eric has promised me a YMCA membership if this arises).

It would also be a big bummer for the Distance Derby because that's potentially months where I'm not putting in miles on horseback. I didn't intend to be competitive mileage wise, but I was hoping to at least make a good effort and be held accountable.

Everything is still so up in the air it's frustrating. I want to know how much our house sells for so I can really search for houses out here and potentially buy so I can get Gwyn out ASAP.

I did get a quote back from Bob Hubbard. The trip from WA to MI routes through California, which makes frustrating sense because the passes are awful this time of year on I-90. But it makes the price about 2500, more than when I moved her from Florida. Ugh.

The place I used 3.5 years ago has since gotten some negative reviews online and it makes me hesitant to use them again even though I had a good experience. What would you do? I might still get the quote.

Reindeer!

I went out to ride today and found a reindeer!

It was crazy raining today, thank goodness for the covered arena. Gwyn was very wet but I dried her off and hopped on with the bareback pad. We worked on more seat aids with transitions and responsiveness to leg aids.

Gwyn has an issue where she's nice and light when asked to do a turn on the haunches but if I try and ask for a turn on the forehand she just backs up and backs up, or moves her front end, and gets supremely frustrated but she does everything except move her back end while leaving her front end still.

Knowing this, I did ask while riding for her hind end to move but got off a bit early and did some ground work trying to move her back feet and not her front. I can do it if I'm in front of her with just a bit of energy directed at her hip, but moving that to an under saddle cue has been difficult.

I stood at her side, on the ground, and held the reins in one hand and just pressed in with a finger behind the girth line, where I cue with my leg and only released when her hind legs moved. If she side passed, backed up, or otherwise moved her front end I didn't release the cue. She did have successful movement on both sides so I called it a day at that.

It was nice to ride. She got early dinner and I helped the staff bring horses in so they could go home and have their holiday celebrations with family.

She knows there's someone in the hay loft about to drop down her hay. 

I took out the braids.

And brushed her mane! She's back to looking more like a Friesian!

And here we have Gwyn know exactly where her hay comes from.

Happy Holidays to One and All!

She'll wear the hat, but only certain ways. Otherwise you get a "not impressed, mom" look. HAHA

Lightbulb Moments

It can be hard to get out to the barn for me. I've got a 2.5 year old to contend with and who needs supervision. I don't feel safe letting her run around yet while I ride. When I found out that the barn owner's daughter could be present for the wednesday night clinic, however, I jumped at the chance to get out and ride and have my daughter watched so she doesn't fall through a hole in the hayloft in a horse stall, or something.

But this isn't about my daughter. This is about Gwyn. Lately the clinic has had two professionals on hand. The barn owner, and a lady who I'm not familiar with but has always given excellent advice and explained things well when I've seen her teach in the past. The clinic is about building blocks and basics and applying that eventually to under saddle work.

Tonight, we worked on getting our cues as soft and subtle as possible from moving into a walk from the halt, to halting, to turning with little to no contact on the mouth. I was bareback, as I've been since October, and I really felt that was beneficial to me tonight (aside from keeping me warm). Gwyn and I have a pretty good rapport with one another and Jim has long had me practice a soft halt off just seat aids with reins only as a "hey LISTEN" reminder. So for that portion, we worked on refining that.

Then we moved on to turning. We've got broader turns pretty much good, but it was the tighter ones where I'm still seeing some resistance. The second trainer suggested that I look across the shoulder opposite the side I want a turn, rather than looking in the direction I wanted to go like I was always taught in pony club.

Oh my god. Holy hell. Suddenly I had these gorgeous, soft, relaxed quarter turn on the haunches and could do tight spins around the horse ball in the arena. I would sit straight, look left, apply left leg slightly and boom, swing to the right and it felt SO RIGHT. But it's going to be a pain in the ass to break that habit, let me tell you. Then I just practiced swinging Gwyn all over the arena and it was fun and it was like I experienced a moment of freedom and clarity in my communication with her. Just remembering it makes my heart feel like bursting. Those are the moments I live for when I ride!

Another thing I should practice, is riding with one eye closed and then switching, to keep Gwyn straight. It changes my balance EVER SO SLIGHTLY and she responds to it. This horse is amazing and I love that even with how well we get on, I'm still learning to make it a better partnership. I want to be a rider that can bring out the best potential in her and tonight we took a step closer to that goal. Riding bareback also allowed me to focus just on my seat and feel my balance and how she moves. As much as I want a saddle so we can work on some more canter stuff, this is all good foundation, I need to keep reminding myself of that.


I love this horse so much. She gives me everything and more.

Arena ball playtime with the kidlet!

WW: Gwyn after the recent snowfall

Washington Trail Riders Distance Derby

This is Gwyn. This particular blog will be chronicling all the details of our riding sessions and participation in the Distance Derby. The link to that can be found here,

Gwyn is an 8 year old Stonewall Sporthorse. She is half friesian, quarter percheron and quarter appaloosa and 100% spunk.  Her nickname is the Goober Pony.  I bought her from my friend Cheri in April 2011 and shipped her out to Washington State from Florida. I have known Gwyn since she was a yearling and have had the pleasure of doing a lot of the training of her, especially with the initial groundwork.

We have a great bond, one that I treasure and I look forward to documenting all the miles we ride for the distance derby. I'm also hoping that, like with NaNoWriMo, having a bit of competition will encourage me to get into the saddle more!