Looking for a barn near Golden, CO.

Ugh. I have the feeling I'm going to really miss all these pastures here in NC. Kinda wanna re-yell at my boyfriend since originally HE wanted to move back home and go to school here in 2 months later changed his mind and decided I should move up there.

I'm sure I'll find somewhere I feel good about at some point...

I suspect that vast majority of stables in Colorado dry lot their horses, due to the poor quality of the grazing. The one I was at in Boulder certainly did, as did most of the ones I went to when I was showing.

That's what I'd been expecting all along. I hate the idea of it though. My girl was born and raised in the South and she's certainly already going to be knocked off balance by the MUCH colder weather up there plus no grass to graze on at any point during the year? I almost feel like I should just leave her here in NC but going anywhere without my pony is not an option.

Why do you have to move, just curious?

Some barns have limited grazing they use for part of the year. Ours used to turn the horses out at night onto the pastures during the summer and bring them back into the dry lots during the day. That said, I don't think they did that the last couple years I was there, as the weather was drier than it should have been and the fire danger extremely high.

Horses adapt and don't get hung up on these things like we do. My horse has survived moving from Colorado, to the East Coast, back to Colorado, and then to the UK.

She'll adapt that's not my issue. But she drops weight and not just a little bit of weight but noticeable amounts every winter and my main concern is her weight. Plus the idea that the most snow she's really seen is a few inches that's gone by the middle of the day. I'm not sitting here thinking she's going to actually miss the grass or wont adapt but I KNOW she's going to drop weight. She's getting more food now than ever and is still thin while the Thoroughbreds in the barn are getting the same amount and have a healthier weight than she does. I don't want to move her and be paying board on a horse I wont want to ride because she's too thin.

So yes while I'll miss her having actual grazing space (I mean they're grazing animals) I'm just concerned with finding a barn that I feel could keep her weight up and I wont have to worry about it.

My boyfriend is in school in CO and we've been talking about it for a while. We've been managing distance fine but another 3 years of this would really suck. I'm not all that excited about the move and having Bella to worry about with a MUCH harsher winter than she's ever lived through up in CO I'm even less excited. As it is I see him when he can fly home on his school breaks but that's not much. So it's not a necessary move so to speak and if I can't find a barn I feel comfortable with my horse at then it's not happening but I want to give this move a decent shot.

I'm in Boulder, Colorado likely to be relocating to the golden area in the next month or so. In colorado unless your horse is on several dozen acres you won't find much grazing (in most cases). Though I did (in boulder) have my filly on enough pasture during the summer/early fall that she didn't need to be fed grass to maintain weight. Personally, I'm not going to spend 600+ to board my horse, that's ridiculous IMO... I have a family friend who lives and owns a facility near JEFCO county fair grounds (literally across the street) and a few miles from the school of mines. I'm going to see into it, if you would like once I speak to them about boarding, I could give you some contact info...

Any decent barn will give the horses enough hay to manage winters with no trouble. Plenty of hard keepers in Colorado, just like anywhere else. At my old barn in Boulder, they could even keep weight on late-20 and 30 year old horses in the winter.

That's the one I was going to suggest- Dolly Hannon (dressage trainer at that barn) is coming to my area next month to give a clinic.