Things are ramping up as we finish preparations for moving to the East Coast!
We are permanently relocating to Halifax, Virginia, about an hour North of Raleigh. This is to take advantage of the better weather (mostly avoiding the wind and snow which affect the head injury the most) and to be closer to bigger competition venues. Our property here has sold and is very near the actual closing date. We have containers from a moving company arriving this weekend to transport the house and barn items, and the horses will be shipped in a private load with Equine Express www.equineexpress.com
This is the binder with all the documents required for each of the seven horses to be shipped across the country. I have a photo ID page with identifying marks on the horses, a health certificate for all of them, a brand inspection, negative coggins, and vaccine certificate for each horse.
This book has my moving notes - so far it contains 30 pages of to do lists, with dates, reminders, checklists, appointments, etc. I am very pleased to say that I've checked off nearly everything in the many pages regarding this move, which is incredibly satisfying!
Because of the brain injury I can't do a three day drive, so I'll be flying with a friend to Virginia, while my husband, daughter, and inlaws drive our car, truck, and horse trailer with all the small animals. My four cats aren't going to be very pleased, but we don't leave anyone behind on a big move like this. The dogs will likely think it's the greatest adventure ever, since they all love car rides.
It's a huge undertaking to move an entire stable of horses across the country, but it will be well worth it for improvement in quality of life for all of us. All five of my personal and lesson horses are going, Highboy, Note, Raven, Dewey, and Daisy, as well as Ferriana and Curio. A stunning young cremello warmblood stallion from Canada at Blazing Colours Farm will be joining us later in the summer, and he will complete our barn for 2022!
I'll have an arena, fields, fenced pastures (with actual grass for them to eat!), and a lovely barn to accommodate us in the new place. We have trails through the woods on the property, nearby open space to gallop, and Staunton River State Park is just twenty minutes away with over 17 miles of trails. I'll be building a cross country course on the property with jumps in and out of the water as we have large ponds, as well as jumps throughout the woods and in the open fields. It will be an amazing combined training facility in short order!
Once we get settled and established in the area I'll resume teaching clinics. Several of the riders here in Colorado have asked to be included in the email list for clinics, as there will be plenty of room for out of town guests in the blue cabin/guest house near the barn. That way anyone flying in can stay right there on the property, and those who are coming with their horses can be near them.
Not to mention the main house where I'll be living with my husband and house dog is pretty nice, too!
It's a big job to move across the country, made bigger by the fact that I'm still recovering from the back surgery from just before Christmas. I'm at a ten pound weight limit for what I can lift until mid-March, and then I can very gradually increase my activity and the weight I lift. Because of this we're calling in all favors from friends and family in the area to help with the move, and I'll be pointing and directing rather than doing anything physical for the move.
In the meantime, the neurologist and physical therapist gave me the green light to walk as much as I want, so I continue my daily parade around the back forty with the dogs. Despite it being over 60 degrees yesterday, we still have a little bit of snow pack where the snow had drifted by the west fenceline here. It makes for a great dog racing track!
Here is the video of the dogs running and playing this morning. It's as hard for the border collies to take it easy as it is for me, so I feel grateful that at least we can walk (and they can run) as much as we want!
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