Riley's new home: Option C Farm (OCF)

Well, I picked Option C -- the barn 15 minutes from home and work, and literally two minutes from Harv. The pictures included in this blog entry are Option C Farm. Yes, it's toney digs, but the critical thing is that this barn has what Riley needs. If you don't recall the choices I blogged about, this barn has a worker who lives on the premises to help with hand-walking and hoof care.

A tour of OCF and visit with Riley


It's clean, well-managed, my vet boards there, and it has paddocks of varying sizes (starting at .3 acre) in the event Riley does get paroled early. But what's the real reason he's there?

Stop stalling!
My horse will spend most of the next two months in a stall. OCF's stalls are larger than the other options, the windows to the outside are larger, and they have grates all the way around so that the horses can "talk" to their neighbors. Also every surface is covered in metal -- two other cribbers at that barn don't wear a collar, so Riley may not have to either. We'll see. If it doesn't help him psychologically, it'll help me psychologically, anyway.

Anyway he is all moved in, and although I had worried about his behavior after all that confinement, he was a champ from hauling to stalling.
He settled in great, made friends with his neighbors, and was eating and drinking in a few minutes. I was made to feel welcome by staff and boarders, many of whom are older female dressage riders just like me. The dressage trainer asked me about Riley's breeding, and it turns out she bought her horse from the same farm Riley came from :-).

Okay, there was one bad moment. There were two empty stalls at this facility, and he ended up in the one where both buddies on either side were on night turnout. Riley watched them get turned out -- actually saw them running in the pasture out his window. Bob and I were a few stalls away talking to another boarder, and we heard a loud crack -- he kicked the stall pretty hard. Jesus. Riley, stop torturing your hooves! This morning he was moved across the aisle so he won't have a view of the pastures, and his buds on either side go out during the day, at different times.

I told a friend of mine about Riley's hoof, the mysterious cause, and the long road to recovery. She said "I know from experience, you are going to have to make some people unhappy in the process of getting him what he needs." Ahh, wise words. The vet is coming back next week to re-radiograph the hoof. Think some good thoughts in our direction!