The biggest issue with having the horses home is what to do when we are away. In the last four years I have traveled all of zero times and even if I had been traveling, it would have been a non issue with the horses boarded. I suddenly found myself with travel plans and a problem on my hands.
Farm sitting for us isn’t really a big deal. There are no stalls to clean, no horses to catch and bring in or put back out. Just fill the feed pans and toss hay twice a day plus keep an eye on the water trough.
The bigger issue is the dogs, three cats one of which is in kidney failure and is special needs, fish and guinea pig. Its a zoo, I tell you.
When I made plans to go to this work conference (not a true vacation, I seem to be unable to take one of those), I immediately became concerned on what to do with our horde. Finding someone to house sit isn’t so easy. Thankfully I came into contact with the exact right person: a young college student who has a part time job working at a local barn. She can drive, is mature, doesn’t drink or smoke and wants a week out of her parent’s house. Perfection.
I had her come over on Saturday to take the tour. She was really nice and seemed to take everyone in their stride. I had already typed out a semi anal retentive list of instructions and plan to create a more general “how to work the house” type list as well. I’m generally not very concerned about our pets when we leave, but this time I find myself being very, very nervous. Mostly because my wonder cat, Scrabble, is really, really sick and I am worried something will happen when we are both out of town.
We debated all week about saying goodbye to him before Dusty left town on Saturday, but it didn’t sit well with me. It wasn’t time. Scrabble will tell us when it is time and just because we were leaving doesn’t mean it was his time as well. So, I am going to hope for the best while we are gone and plan to see my main guy greeting me at the door upon my return.
The Roaming Rider 
Deep breath. The girl you got sounds exactly like any of us at her age. Everything should go well and she will keep a close eye on your boy for you.
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She reminded me of myself when I house sat at her age. Honestly I wouldn’t be nervous at all if it wasn’t for Scrabs.
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Yeah having a sick animal definitely complicates things. Hopefully the conference isn’t too long and you can get back to personally taking care of him fast.
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We’ve had our horses at home for 8 years and leaving never gets any easier! I haven’t been able to find anyone who is regularly reliable except my mom, so she usually watches our place and then I pay someone to watch her place. Not an ideal system, but we don’t leave very often, haha.
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Creative solution though! We rarely travel anymore although I love to do it.
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I OWN the nerves for travelling and leaving horses behind. And my farm sitter is awesome. She has learned that I will text multiple times a day and panic if she doesn’t answer, imagining the worst possible scenarios. She knows that it’s out of my control and humours me. It’s normal.
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This made me laugh 🙂 I’m the same. This girl better get used to being bombarded with texts
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Scrabble will wait for you ❤
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I hope so. He is the best one in the entire herd.
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I hear ya on that one. The horses here aren’t a big deal either, but leaving the dogs is pretty much impossible for more than a day or two.
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I get as separation anxiety from the pets. I don’t want them to think I’m abandoning them. It’s hard having a furry family
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I struggle even with finding a cat sitter (<3 Scrabble!) and can't imagine the nerves of leaving a farm behind. Tho usually once I'm gone I can sorta rest easy and put it out of my mind knowing I did everything I could and that the odds are in my favor that everything is fine. I'm sure your herd will be great with the sitter. Enjoy the conference!
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It didn’t used to be this hard.
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