I interrupt the usual Equine 101 post with a very important announcement regarding the future of The Green Horseman.

From childhood my younger self was obsessed with horses.  I grew up writing stories, collecting horse toys, reading horse books.  At 10 I began riding lessons and soon after that started helping on the farm in exchange for riding time.  Even as a preteen and early teens I spent hours using graph paper and designing countless horse farms.  What can I say besides that I am a dreamer and have always known what I wanted (at least for this).

Almost 20 years later I’m an adult, I still work for rides but I own a horse and have some great friends in the horse community.  I have the best most supporting boyfriend and a job that pays the bills… Well, despite being super tight on money all the dang time…horse people, the struggle is real and we all know it.

I began The Green Horseman recently in September with the intent to guide the new horse person or non-horse parent/partner.  I’m not a high level competitor (actually I’m not a competitor at all I’ve never shown) and I’m not a professional in the business; I have a non-horse career.  Horses are my passion and I do have a bit of experience with them of course.  Through experience and personal educating/research I am a confident and competent in many aspects of the equine world.  Most horse wisdom simply comes with time and true hands on experience…but as with a lot of us we always have more to learn.

Yesterday I made a step into an entirely new part of my life.  This won’t affect The Green Horseman immediately but it will in the months to come.

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Yesterday morning my boyfriend and I became homeowners.  We are the proud new owners of a stunning 13 acre property with an old but well kept farmhouse.   It’s still so surreal it hasn’t even sunk in yet.

We had our very first meal together after the closing on the floor of the living room.  We took our very first sigh of relief since the start of the buying process.  The process itself went very smoothly but it had it’s nerve-wracking times.  Making sure that we did everything we were responsible for was the easy part.  Waiting for others to do their part was the tougher part.

In all we had a fantastic team that did right by us.  The person I give all the credit to is our real estate agent who knew exactly what we liked in a house.  We saw 5 or 6 properties together and she was always on the money with getting us what we wanted.  This house was the final one that took our breath away.  She found it, she put in extra time on nights and weekends to answer questions, put in offers, and do a bunch of running around.  We are first timers to home ownership so she acted like a mentor and guide.  If you’re looking for a home in Upstate New York let me know and I have a great agent for you.

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The house is everything we want and love.  There were so many subtle signs that had our names written in the cards.  You know…when you see some small coincidence and you say “that’s a sign.”  The day we first saw this home we pointed out at least 6 of those “signs.”

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So what’s the future for us?  It might be obvious…

Land + Equestrian = Farm

The land is cleared, but much needs to be done before the farm experience can commence.

We need fencing.  I have a plan for where and how the paddocks will be dealt with, and we need to block off some apple trees that will be in the way (no horses gorging themselves at mama’s house!).

We need shelter and storage.  This means that we plan to build or purchase a pre-fab shelter.

This is going to be a major undertaking as we try to find the money to do all of this. It won’t be cheap, it won’t be easy, and it’ll be a lot of work.  Regardless I am very excited about our next step.  We have a lot planned so far and I’ll spare you the details for now.

Stay tuned for more information as we move in and begin the horse property mission.

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