blccwgl55 - 2017-07-12 7:00 AM

Congratulations!! Very beautiful and well deserved. May I ask where that's at? It's so pretty!

Frodo - 2017-07-14 6:56 PM

Exactly what I would love to do.  I'm tired of taking care of animals and mowing.      ....waaay past retirement age.....just afraid to quit working for fear of running out of money.  Go figure.

 

dianeguinn - 2017-07-14 9:30 PM


You know, I worried about that, too, but when I figured the savings I'd have on insurance not having to insure barns, truck, trailers, horses, etc, and the savings I'd have on not buying feed, paying shoeing and vet bills, etc. and when I figured out we could sell our land and pay off this place and not have any debt, I figured I'd end up with MORE money and a lot less work. And when I found this place, I knew this was it. My husband has always wanted to live at the lake and he's spent his whole married life supporting my dream, and I figured it was time for me to support his...plus, I don't hate it! lol I also did want to have to choose between a barrel race and spending time with my family any more.

Chandler's Mom - 2017-07-14 11:11 PM


Have you found you miss the horses at all? I'm not retirement age, but I feel like if I decided to cut back, I'd miss them desperately. . . .

dianeguinn - 2017-07-14 11:30 PM


Not this time. I quit in 2010 and only lasted 3 months. I was miserable and hated my life, and ended up buying everything back and winning a world championship in PAFRA a year later, but this time, I was ready. I was so done with critters...the work in all kinds of weather for 50+ years, and I was riding scared from several injuries in the last few years...and I felt like I'd accomplished everything running barrels that I wanted to accomplish....I felt like I had nothing to prove, and there was no use busting my butt to keep going when I knew I couldn't ride to the level I used to, even though I had the horses to do it....And selling sucks now...I always loved that, but buyers have changed and want ridiculous guarantees for bargain basement prices and wouldn't know a good horse if he had a sign on him (and couldn't ride him either, but, by God, they want to know if he's 1D and they want him for $5K)and they want to hound you for years after if the horse quits running or something....I have really felt such a relief not having to worry about horses getting hurt from fireworks, and having to get up in the middle of the night to check on them, and not being able to go see my friends all over the country because you can't trust anyone anymore to take care of them. I was just tired of it all....if I want to ride or go see a horse, I have plenty of friends close by who are always ready to have someone else exercise one of their horses, so I can fill that need....I love the fact that now I feel like I'm on perpetual vacation and have time to keep my house clean and do things with my family whenever they want because I don't have to be home to feed. I did it for 53 years and so far, I don't miss it. It was time, I think, but as long as you feel like you would miss them, you probably will. I'd gotten to the point where I didn't even want to look at a horse...and that's so foreign for me....everyone who's known me a long time is in shock, but I feel like God was telling me it's time to do other things and he made it so easy....my horses, tack and trailers sold in a matter of weeks; our place auctioned for enough to pay off this place and it was a cash buyer, so we didn't have to hassle with financing, etc. I just feel like that's the way I was supposed to go...but like I said, you have to get to the place where you won't miss them.