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!

The Beginning...

Well, I've resisted this as long as I can, but I think it's something that I have to do. I'm not a huge fan of blogging, though I do enjoy reading certain ones. I just don't think people will be that interested in what I have to say. So, I'm not doing this for attention, or to inform, or anything like that. I'm just using this as a journal to log our progress and to measure the distance to my goals.

That being said, let me introduce the characters:

Me: short, pudgy, and haven't really truly ridden in quite a few years (I've hopped on now and then, but no shows, trail rides, lessons...). While I was never one of those kids that was fearless in the saddle, I could hold my own and stay on. Over the years, while I've gained knowledge of horses and riding, I haven't really put it to use. I still have a pretty good seat, but that's about it. *S*

Sketch (AHA registered name Etched n Stone): a 15 yr old out of shape chestnut Arabian gelding, about 15.1 hands or so, mostly Polish http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/etched+n+stone (I know he's the product of a father/daughter breeding, I'm not thrilled but he's a good boy anyway, and he's gelded). I bought him in 2005 from a lady who was selling him on behalf of her daughter. Said daughter had wanted a show horse specifically so she could win top honors at a particular show. After she did, she lost interest in him. *sigh* I saw a picture of him at the feed store, under saddle and moving out well. I had images in my head of dressage, so I called the lady, went to see him, and arranged a payment plan ($1500 in $100 weekly installments). I brought him home, and since winter was quick approaching and I don't have an indoor arena he got to rest and adjust to me and his new home.

The next spring I saddled in up a couple of times to find out what he knew. He seemed hesitant, but not uncomfortable. After the third session, though, I noticed that the bare patch on his girth (that the previous owner warned me about) seemed to be bubbling up. When the vet came out to check teeth and do Coggins tests, he biopsied it and it turned out to be a sarcoid. It kept getting bigger so I took him in to get it removed. It was gross and fascinating and I took pictures. The vet stitched him up and sent us home with a topical spray and instructions to take it easy. I put him in his paddock to rest, and go to work for a couple of hours. I check on him at supper time, and the doofus had ripped out every one of his stiches! I put in a call to the vet, who say he can come out and re-stitch him, or we can just let him heal the way he is. Well, I chose the latter, and it took more-or-less a year to fully heal (with a bout of proud flesh to deal with).

Spring of 2007 comes and I'm ready to try riding Sketch again. The day before my day off, a tree falls onto the fence separating Sketch from Rho-Dawn, a stallion I had gotten the year before. I can only guess that Rho went after Sketch, chased him through the fence to the mare pasture (thank goodness I have electric rope instead of smooth wire!), and then mostly left him be to court the mares. The poor boy had a huge bruise and gash along his back, either from the rope or Rho. So, more rest and healing.

Now it's a new year, 2008, and I'm ready to try again. I don't have a lot of safe places to ride, as I live near a county highway with a lot of logging traffic, but I'll find a way. I have a small round pen that I'm going to be renovating (expanding to a 60 foot diameter with wood fence instead of corral panels), so that will help. I've had the saddle and bridle on to check the fit, and I've hand walked him to get used to it all. So I guess we'll see what happens!