Sigh

Just when I thought things couldn't get worse...

They got worse.

I thought that I would have until probably the Spring to decide on whether or not I was going to follow my instructor to wherever she was going to go, but she just texted me the other day and told me that she is starting lessons at the new barn immediately.  She said that there will still be some horses at the current barn, but if I wanted to ensure a proper horse for me, it would probably be better if I went to the new place.  And everyone in my lesson is gone too...

Oh, and the new place isn't 40 minutes away, it's an hour away.

And lessons are going to be more expensive.

So now my lessons are ending earlier, getting more expensive, and moving somewhere ever farther away then I originally thought.

Fantastic.

I feel especially bad for the boarders, and my new friend who just barely bought a new horse.  She told me that if she had thought that the barn was going to close, she never would have bought this horse.  

I do have a few options, but none of them are really desirable.  My instructor can offer me lessons until the end of the month at the current barn, as I already mentioned, or else I can go to the barn that is an hour away whenever I want for the increased price.  Lessons would be on Sundays, which as far as I can tell would pretty much be the entire afternoon by the time you drove and tacked and lessoned.  I might try it every so often but I work on Sundays sometimes and I'm not always around on the weekends.  I can't commit to every Sunday.

Another option, which really intrigues me, is riding her retired eventer Koby.  Koby just moved to Walker's barn as a retirement home.  He is a 25 year old OTTB who has one eye, but he is apparently still rideable.  He seems like a handful (since this guy was her big time eventer once).  Also, until I met Koby, I have actually never met an OTTB in person, believe it or not.  Needless to say, he is a little more full of it than my QH.  Unfortunately, my current barn doesn't have an arena - indoor or outdoor - so our lessons would be in the paddock.  They would also have to be on weekends because it gets dark on weekdays long before I leave the office.  So I have filed the idea in the back of my mind for future consideration.

Unfortunately, this transition period is even more difficult because it's Winter.  All these options are outdoor arenas.  The ground keeps freezing and thawing and then freezing again to ice.  The footing will simply not always be suitable. It's hard to drive long distances in snow storms and the short days limit lesson times.

Winter sucks.