I can relate- we went through something similar with a barn move and our family was broken up! But it will get better! Still in touch with the old, and have lot of new members now.
My only “out from under me” story is way back, fresh out of college and trying to train horses for a living. The people where I kept my horses and taught lessons decided to end the lease. So there I was, had just broken my ankle so was laid up and looking to lose training income, though I still may be able to teach and get a call that they are ending the lease at the end of the month. I could keep my horses there but no one was going to look after/feed them. It was the beginning of the month so I had three weeks to find a new place…unable to drive due to a broken ankle, and on a tight budget since I didn’t know where my next paycheck was coming from…
Luckily, I found a place and managed to borrow a trailer to move the horses and my brother, the non-horsey person he is, helped. That was a stress!
I have only ever boarded at the barn I am at now. Many years under the previous owner, and the last two under the new owners.
I was so scared of the change, many people left before the new people came, but I stuck it out. 2 years on and I couldn’t be happier, some of the old people returned, the new folk have upgraded many things, and run a tighter ship. Change is not always bad.
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Even if people have the resources, this is possibly a recipe for disaster and legal problems. Buying is only the first step, the rest is maintenance, care and feeding, staffing, taxes, and a ton of other random expenses which not everyone would agree on.
To the OP: Thru many years of boarding, I have only been faced with this once. I got lucky, the place I wanted had an opening pretty quickly and all was well.
The good things: You should have some time to look. Horse farms dont often sell fast. Second you have the “soft landing” offer if the above turns out to be wrong. But truthfully its never fun,
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I boarded at a barn for 13 years. When the owner put the farm on the market it took 2 years before it sold. Once there was a serious buyer, things happened fast. The buyer wanted all the boarders out in a month. Of course this was going into the winter months in northeastern PA so finding a place would be harder. A lot of people board over the winter for an indoor.
Their were 12 horses and 10 owners looking for new places. Most of us went to a barn where I boarded at before moving to this barn. Others found barns in NJ. It sucked. We were a close group of people.
I miss the property and the 3 mile drive. But it’s all ok. The barn I am at takes wonderful car of my boy. My older boy retired at my aunt’s farm.
Everything will work out. Just have a plan in case you need to move.
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Oh man, what a bummer! Don’t stress yet, sometimes those kinds of properties can take years to sell! The last THREE barns I boarded at were sold, the first sold to a developer and is now a neighborhood of cookie-cutter houses, the second barn was bought by a client who made the facility private for just she and her daughter to train out of, and the most recent was bought by people involved in a completely different discipline leaving the resident trainer and clients scrambling to find a new facility.
That’s not to say your barn can’t be bought by wonderful new owners! But, definitely have a back up plan in place in case you decide it’s not going to be a good fit and you need to move.
I ended up buying property and bringing mine home, I got so tired of the constant changes in boarding.
That’s about where I’m at. Hubby and I were already discussing the 4-year plan, when youngest is done with HS. So that may be what I do.
Right now, everyone is scrambling, all looking at whatever barns they find, group texting/talking amongst ourselves.
Even if it takes a long time to sell, don’t know if the owners want us staying until it does. Seems they are going out of their way to avoid us all right now, when I wish they’d give us some kind of “something” with a little more definition to it.
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I had to move my horse to another barn: poor care. The place we moved to was on the market but it was the only option within a half-hour drive. It was the perfect place for us. All I could say was i would worry about it later if it sold. I had to get my horse in the hands of someone who was capable of getting him back to normal weight and happy again. An offer came in but the buyer said everything would say the same and they wanted the boarders to stay. The transition was somewhat rocky. Buyer did not make a good impression when she took over. I think she had a revelation after a couple of days. She dove right in and works her butt off. She engaged in an unusual practice: she asked questions, listened to the answers, and then decided what to do. She has kept everything pretty much the way it was. It’s a 20 stall barn, there were 12 when she took it over. It’s full now. No one left.
I was trying to move but there was nothing available. He doesn’t do stalls. I’m glad I stayed. His stall is considered prime real estate. 12x12 and always open to an oversize run. He’s outside most of the time. I picked the south side rather than north. It’s on the parking lot, which he likes to observe. A couple of people said they like to watch him when he tries to lure someone to stop by and talk things over. He has unlimited hay, which keeps him at his ideal weight.
The new owner has done a good job keeping things as they were. I miss the prior owner: she was close to being the perfect BO. She constructed a beautiful facility 20 yeas ago. The care she provided to each horse was carefully tailored to their needs. The new BO is doing a good job and maintaining the reputation of the farm. It can be done.
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