When we go on vacation, which is quite frequently, it’s a production to get everything ready. I understand most people would want to make sure the grass is cut and the house straightened up…maybe drop the pets off for boarding. Our house is a lot more involved!
The whole family loves animals in general and Kristen especially loves horses. For as long as I can remember she has always had at least one horse to take care of at the farm. We’ve known each other forever, I think we first met when I was 6 and she was 5…forever! So the horses were not a surprise, my mother-in-law even warned me about the horses with a poem at our wedding. 😊
When we were younger and before kids, there were a lot of vacations that I would go on with my family and Kristen would stay home due to obligations at the barn. As we’ve gotten older, I’ve managed to pry her away more and more but there is always a “prep phase” before we leave. In addition to sitters, you also have to make sure there is enough supply of medicine and all of the different kinds of pet food. At our house we have an older cat that needs medicine each day, a small dog (normally goes with us on camping trips or road trips), a snake (23 year old ball python), a salt water aquarium, and ducks. As you can imagine, this is a lot to get situated before leaving! Luckily the snake is easy, he eats all summer but is fine going a few days or weeks in between meals as long as he is eating normally before/after we’re gone. He also has an extra large water dish and heat lamp that don’t require much maintenance while we’re gone. If we’re traveling in the winter, then he is hibernating and requires no maintenance. The fish are also fairly straight forward, they don’t require special food so while we’re gone they can get by on pellets or a piece of frozen food each day. The cat requires a little more care in cleaning litter box and feeding canned food with medicine. Luckily, we have friends/family that can normally cover the fish and cat while we are gone. The ducks have a large feeder and water, but they usually get let out of their pen in the morning and put away at night (foxes and coyotes are relentless in our area). If we’re only gone for a day or two they can stay in, but anything longer and they need the extra room and the pond. So, if we’re leaving for a week we need someone to watch the inside animals twice a day and take care of the ducks twice a day. Separately, as mentioned above…there are horses to be considered.
Technically the barn is at my in-laws but the horses are 100% Kristen’s responsibility. In addition to the house being in order before leaving, the barn also has to be in order; making sure hay is stocked, bedding is stocked, enough feed for everyone, stalls are mucked, everyone healthy, no fencing repairs needed and electric working, fields are in good shape, and most importantly that there is coverage for the daily chores. Recently Kristen has partnered with some amazing friends for riding and boarding at the barn. This works out great because whenever one of them is away/traveling/sick, there are others to cover the day-to-day chores and feedings. Prior to this it was always a struggle to find coverage from friends who knew what they were doing around the horses and to be trusted with feeding correctly, closing and latching gates, checking for lame/injured horses, etc. A lot of times this meant that Kristen stayed behind on the short trips or maybe she didn’t go to the beach with us every year. I didn’t like it but I learned early on that it’s just the way it had to be.
When married to a barn owner, and maybe even more so an equestrian, the horses are always the priority. Since the kids were born they may be tied for first priority, but I’m definitely around third on the list.😊 I learned this relatively early in our relationship (there were some growing pains at the beginning) but occasionally I forget. When we are home and planning a dinner, or going for a night out…the horses always have to be taken care of. Even if it means midnight feedings or rushing over to make sure everything is ok because we saw something on the barn camera (the camera has been a life saver and great piece of mind for Kristen). Come to think of it, the horses are a lot like needy toddlers; always eating or pooping, need constant attention, get injured often and frequently from nothing more than a stone or playing too hard, need to be checked on during thunderstorms, and always getting into something they probably shouldn’t have. But, at the end of the day, they mean the world to Kristen which means they mean the world to me too and we need to make sure they are taken care of when we go away.
