Role Reversal

For the vast majority of my horse owning life I was a boarder. 

(18 of 21 years!)

Then in 2010 we bought our acreage and I (finally!) had my horses at home.
And now, now we're in a new phase... a role reversal.  We're the "barn owner" and we have a boarder.

Since we bought our place Pie & I have talked about maybe one day have a boarder.  Weighing the pros and cons.
We knew we wouldn't bring in enough money to make money but we were hoping to get enough to help offset some costs. (pro) 
We knew it would mean a little less privacy (con). 
With the right boarder I'd have someone willing & able to lend a hand with some horse stuff and maybe someone to ride with, and sometimes haul with (big pros!)

Late this spring/early this summer we had the perfect situation lining up.  A friend was looking to move her horses.  She was someone that we both trusted to be around when we weren't, that had similar horse interests, and that would be willing to trade off blanket duty in the winter! (I'd ride during the day, put my horse(s) in stalls with coolers.  She'd come out to ride in the evening, put my ponies out with proper blankets, leave hers in stalls with coolers and when I got home from work I'd turn hers out)
Then there were some big changes in her life and she did indeed move... hours away!

This Sunday I got a text from another friend.  She was asking if we'd thought about boarding and if we might have some space.  KD & I shot some messages back and forth "talking" things over.  I had a quick convo with Pie and then msg'd her "When do you want to move your ponies?"
I did some research on boarding agreements, drafted one and emailed it to her to check out (yes she's a friend but best for all parties if we have our butts covered in writing) ;)
Then Monday she showed up with her horses.  We decided that going for a ride around the pasture would be a good way to show her horses where the fence line is, and as a bonus it was a start to introducing Voodoo to his future pasture friends. 
(Voodoo was the one I had the most concern about, after all he is King of the World lol)
After our ride we grabbed a couple drinks, turned Voodoo, Tizzy & Wilder out in the pasture... no fireworks :)  Then we got the rest of my kids and turned them out.  Again no fireworks :D
We watched them for quite awhile.  There was a bit of moving around.  The "No this is MY buddy!  YOU stay over THERE" kind of stuff.  No real skirmishes (although Wilder did show that he can kick his heels up v.e.r.y. high) and absolutely NO squealing.

 The board is low cost and in return pretty basic.  We're planning on getting a shed for her stuff, she has use of the arena and a spot to park her trailer.  Horses are provided with hay/grass, water, salt/mineral. 
KD is willing to help out with little stuff (like turning out horses and I do the same for her).   She also barrel races in SBRA and is interested in going to team penning this winter. 
I'm hoping this works out for both of us, it could be a good situation.