Now Enrolling for Kindergarten

July 1st Cinder starts kindergarten! I had originally be planning on sending her to an event trainer who has a great reputation with babies and is certified as a young event horse rider and trainer. Then the trainer moved barns and her board prices went up $200/month and the barn was farther away from me. I thought about it and figured I could make it work since show season has gone out the window. Then she stopped responding to my messages and when she did respond she said she's not really doing the young horses anymore, and isn't starting any under saddle. Ok then.

She's going to miss her BFF Scottie

So I posted an add on a local FB page asking for recommendations. I had a few other trainers in the back of my mind but figured I'd see what was out there. About half the replies were for the trainer mentioned above which obviously I disregarded. And even though I stated in the ad I wanted someone within an hour and half of me, I got a few people 3-5hrs away, and two in a different state. But I did get a few recommendations for a local trainer (15mins from work and 25 from my house) and messaged her.  She was great to talk to and we arraigned for me to come watch her teach a lesson last Saturday.

When you can't find a step stool and have to use a chair

Trainer S is also an event rider, but has a h/j background. She's started a number of horses under saddle and had ridden a lot of young/green horses as well. All the horses in the barn looked happy and healthy, and while the property is a little run down, I can see the improvements Trainer S has been making. The lesson I watched was with a jumper rider who has done up to the 1.30m, and I liked how Trainer S explained things and tried to trouble shoot the problems that arose during the lesson. Trainer S was easy to talk to in person and, most importantly, she's a fan of red headed mares!

Tentatively the plan is for Cinder to be with Trainer S for four months, then I'll bring her home for the winter. Once she's going a bit under saddle Trainer S will let me swap out 2 lessons a week instead of training rides which will be great. I'm excited for Cin's next chapter and hope she'll be good for Trainer S. This will be the first time in my life I'll have a horse in full training and it feel weird. I'm going to go check on her multiple times a week since she'll be so close but I'm for sure nervous sending my baby off to boarding school!