Preparing to move

I really hate moving to a new barn.

There is so much crap to move. Every time I move I try and think of what I can do without, but really I need to have all of the stuff I cart around with my horse. Brushes, blankets, bandages, all the first aid stuff, supplements, shampoo, buckets... the list just goes on and on. With every move I take more junk home to be stored in the basement. This time I'm sure I'll have lots to take home, considering the tack room situation at the new barn.

See, the last few places that I have boarded, including my current barn, gave each horse a large tack locker that was built into the wall. There are shelves, a saddle rack, bridle racks, hooks, and plenty of room for blankets and plastic storage bins to organize everything. The new barn has no such lockers. It does have a community tack room, but it's a quite a mess at the moment. I stopped by last week to scope out the situation, because I wanted to see if there might be room for my portable tack locker. It's big and it's on wheels and I figured I'd have to clear a space for it. But the first thing I think I'm going to have to do is move some stuff out of the tack room.

I'm just going to be a boarder there, but I'm also friends with the owner, Marge, and her niece, Susan. Susan does a lot of work around the barn, and Marge has been tapering off her business. She really doesn't want a lot of boarders and is happy that her barn is half-full. Unfortunately the place could use a little TLC. The arena is badly uneven, will probably be dusty, and the tack room has trunks in it from one boarder who hasn't had her horse there in two years and another boarder who owns a 33 year old retired Morgan gelding who hasn't been ridden in probably five years (but still going strong, despite being short of teeth and living on soaked alfalfa cubes).

So I need to go in and do some tack room cleaning, because I'm certain nobody else will do it. Marge and Susan won't mind (I don't think) since it's just one less thing they will have to do, but it's going to suck. Marge said she'd call the old boarder who left her stuff here and either get her to pick it up or allow it to be donated to the local therapeutic riding program. In the meantime I'll get it moved out of the way and give the tack room a good sweeping.

Then I can get my tack locker in there, which Craig will be thrilled to have out of the basement. Personally I don't know why it's such an issue, as my horse stuff takes about half of the room that his comic books do. Anyhow, once the tack locker is in place then I can start moving my stuff over a little at a time.

Yippee.