Country horse, city horse

Sizzle gets around. She's lived in boarding stables in Renton, Ravensdale, Snoqualmie and Issaquah over the past 10 years. What does this mean when you live in west Seattle? Hours and hours of driving, thousands and thousands of miles on the odometer (sorry, John) and hundreds of hours sitting in traffic for so long you get to hear the NPR stories twice. Still, I consider myself the luckiest person to be able to actually live my horse dream for so long.

For years I heard rumors of a west Seattle horse barn. It sounded mythical. How could this be in such a densely populated part of Seattle? Two years ago I finally learned the location and went over to take a look. I drove home and cried. 10 minutes from home, tucked away on a hill, a beautiful little secret island surrounded by houses and apartment buildings, but 3 blocks from a large greenbelt park.

Of course openings are very rare, who would ever leave? But last month a dear and savvy friend (thank you, Lori!) sent me a Craigslist ad for an available stall, and I was incredibly lucky to reserve it. We moved Sizzle 3 weeks ago, and she is settled in nicely with her new herd of friends. And I'm making some new horse friends, too. Many thanks to everyone who made this possible. I'm still pinching myself.