More boring barn stuff

[murakozi]

There's yet another new pony at the barn.  Cindy is a 7 year old, heavily dappled grey pony with a black mane and tail..  She's so wide and round that I half expected to be told she was pregnant.  She's beyond cute.  She's being leased 'for the winter.'  I'm not sure what's up with that

Comments

[wingywoof]

Leased? What does that mean? A pre-owned pony?

[murakozi]

It's like leasing a car or apartment or something. The barn doesn't own her, but is allowed to use her for lessons and such in return for some kind of compensation. Odds are in this case that the owner doesn't have to pay any boarding or vet fees while she's there.

It's not an uncommon practice among individuals. Often someone will have a horse but don't have the time to spend with it, or it may belong to a son/daughter who is off at college, so instead of paying a chunk of money to keep a large animal that they don't really interact with, they'll lease the horse to someone else, who rides it and cares for it as if it were their own.

[chefmongoose]

Gooses are handsome but dumb indeed. *toothgleam*

[kakoukorakos]

Sounds like Don might be doing someone who is on hard times a bit of a favor or something. Or does the stable actually operate and have riding lessons all year round?

[murakozi]

Don retired a while back. Sandy owns the business nowadays. She's been obtaining horses via a broader range of sources than Don did. Don mostly went to the big auctions in MD. He had a real talent for finding good horses in that environment. Sandy, on the other hand, has a lot of contacts who tell her when they've found a good horse she might want.

The barn does lessons year round except during the horse vacation and some holidays. Even the Sunday trail rides operate throughout the year, unless the weather or trail conditions are bad.

Oh, and I didn't mention that her official name is Princess Cinderella. Nobody is going to call her that though.