Retirement?

So I mentioned retirement in my last post.  So potentially the person taking care of Haji right now might be selling his place or moving or whatever in the Spring.  Which means Haji needs to either move in with Cody and Axel at the boarding barn or move out to Canby.  If he moves to Canby he'd be alone so obviously we'd need another horse out there.  But moving just Cody or just Axel seems unfair to Cody and Axel so maybe they'd both move to Canby with Haji.  Which means no horses nearby for me :(

Enter the gal who's been riding Cody for a while.  She'd like to own a horse one of these days but taking the financial plunge is always a big decision plus the thought of having a horse 30 minutes away is a little less than ideal.  So we formulated a little plan (much to our husband's dismay).  Send Cody and Axel and Haji out to Canby and buy a new horse that I then lease from her.  Sort of a reverse of her leasing Cody from me.

I'm thinking I can keep my budget about the same, I'll have to buy feed for the boys at the farm and then pay half the board on the new horse.  I think that should turn out to be about the same (not counting grass hay from the inlaws).  I think Cody and Axel's old owner would maybe lend a hand and grain them since they will be right down the block.  And since we visit the farm usually 2 weekends a month (at least), I'll still be seeing them about as often.  Plus Daniel can start riding Haji and I can still ride Cody.  And even take him out to the cows and do a little cow work.  While I won't be able to rush out there in an emergency I think there's enough family and friends that would be willing to lend a hand if necessary   Of course now I need to find a farrier out there.

So we're on the hunt for a new horse.  This could be interesting.  Oh and fencing, there needs to be a bit of fencing done at the farm place before all of this can come to fruition.  I think there might be a bit of overlap with my horses and the "new" horse so maybe we'll get to ride together a few times even.