Daydreaming...

Yeah, I know I should be working, but I needed to take a break because my mind was wandering. Since it is, I thought I should try to record the train of thought and see what comes of it. If nothing else, I can see the thought process in print, and maybe I can figure out how to make it happen. I've had this seemingly impossible to reach goal for a while. I say seemingly, as I've made baby steps toward it, but now I've hit a bit of a wall. Anyway, here it is:

I would like to purchase the rest of the farmland near mine, about 60-70 acres. I have 40 acres, 35 tillable, though 13 of that is in pasture, so my total acreage would be about 100-110. I would plant the newly acquired land with hay and maybe oats, fence and cross fence some of the current hay land for more pasture and paddocks, and plant more hops (up to 5 acres). I'd plant more trees for windbreaks, give the old apple tree some friends, and expand the ponds to help drain the muddy-marshy spots.

After that, I would build the new house and horse barn farther back on the property. I have the spot all picked out: back beyond the second hill, past the old apple tree, for a bit of privacy and safety (we're currently too close to the highway for my comfort and the safety of the animals).

The barn so far is going to be a large building, with about 30-40 12x12 box stalls, 4 larger stalls for foaling and/or very large horses, wash stalls, tack rooms, feed storage, a lounge/viewing area, and the office. The stalls will be arranged in a U around the indoor arena, with doors on every wall for easy access and cross breezes. It won't be too far from the house, with the driveway situated so I can see when someone pulls in. A smaller barn for quarantine and storage would be off to the side but convenient for the vet and grooms to get to.

The house is going to be set into the hill, earth on 3 sides, with an atrium in the center and a greenhouse on the south side adjoining my bedroom and office. The main area will be open concept, with all rooms able to enjoy the atrium view. The kitchen will have an island and tons of workspace, plenty of cabinets, a large walk-in pantry, and a 'cold storage' room for the freezers and root cellar veggies. The mudroom will have a toilet and shower, and the washer and dryer as well. The two guest rooms will have access to the atrium, which will have a breakfast nook, a fountain or two, small trees, and a nook here and there to hide and read. In general, the house will be energy efficient, water conservative, solar and wind used wherever possible, and comfortable. We fondly call our dream house 'the Bunker', because that's pretty much what it is!

After the new house it build, we'll have a house burning party! The old house is pretty much un-salvageable, with the basement crumbling, wiring from the 50's, and really old insulation that has settled quite a bit. With the old house gone, we'd pour a new foundation and build a cottage to rent to a trainer, for good reason. Here's where life gets better.

This is what I really want to do with my life: I want to rescue, rehab, and retire horses. Now, I don't want to be a 501 certified type rescue, as there's one right across the street and they're doing a great job. I would focus on rehabbing lay-ups, finding good horses that just need more training (or training in general) and upgrading them, and giving people a place to retire their old show horses that made them so much money in the past. Honestly, I don't think people will pay much for the retirement, but the rehab and retraining aspect should somewhat cover that area. I'd like to attract a good trainer or two, someone that's not breed-ist or discipline-ist (someone like Mugwump would be awesome) to not only train the horses we're upgrading, but who may like to take in other clients for extra cash, and maybe offer riding lessons.

There's all kinds of benefits of this type of operation: more jobs for the area, more money circulating locally (especially at the feed store!), horses that might have had an unhappy ending finding good homes and useful work, and a place for kids to go to learn about horses and responsibility. I'm planning to sponsor the local 4-H and FFA, as well as offer tours and classes to schools and other youth groups.

Of course, all of this is great, but it's a dream unless I can come up with the capital, somewhere between $500,000 an $750,000. I would pay off every bit, though it will take a while, but it would really be worth it to help out so many lives in so many ways. There are 'angel investors', but I'm a bit leary of that angle because they typically want a high and fast return on their investment. Government grants and loans are full of hoops to jump through and tons of qualifiers, and are usually focused on 'traditional' farmers. And I refuse to beg for money. Right now, I'm just trying to save as much as I can while taking care of my oldsters and working with the youngsters. Not easy, but I'm trying.

So, that's pretty much it. If anybody happens to read this that has a lot of money sitting around that they want to invest in an interesting horse venture, I'm working on a business plan that I can send to you!