LOOKING FOR A RENTAL HORSE PROPERTY – oh how Hubby and I disagree… ;)

First of all, I wanted to let you know that the reason I’ve been somewhat spotty in writing these last two weeks is not because of losing MT, although that could have been the reason as it makes me very sad…, but it isn’t.

The reason I have been spotty is because I am working on a job that starts shooting tomorrow – which isn’t that abnormal since that is my livelihood – but what is unusual is that this job is wildly difficult to produce.

The way we describe it in this industry is “rather ambitious” – which in reality means “not enough time or money to do what is required”. So, these are the jobs where the producer really shines, but also becomes severely stressed and haggard. I’m thanking horsegods that you aren’t all conversing with me via FaceTime because my face looks like Father Time right now.

Anyway, that is where I’ve been. We shoot the next two days. This weekend, I sleep. ;)

TRYING TO FIND A HORSE (rental) PROPERTY WITH HUBBY

We have yet to find a horse property to purchase near where Hubby is working (5 hours away from me). And, the drive for him on the weekends is getting really old. Up Friday night and back down in the wee hours of Monday morning.

I worry he will be in an accident. And, I’d like to spend more time with him… after all, that’s why I married him.

So, since we haven’t been able to find a reasonably priced horse property for us in that area (wine country), we have now decided to look at rentals.

Well… last weekend we looked at three. Actually, we were quite surprised to find 3 rental horse properties! We were so excited that we drove down especially to view them on our weekend together.

It was quite interesting and frustrating for the both of us to realize what determined whether we could live in these rental options….

This is what I’d like – and no where near what we can afford…

THE CRITERIA

The criteria for me is that the land is nice. I love the feeling of nice land with clean views – no dead car lots next door or putrid ponds… that sort of thing. The house has to be livable but I’m not as fussy about that. I’d also like a barn, if possible.

For Hubby, he likes a nice house, especially a nice kitchen. I can’t blame him. I like a nice house, too.

THE FIRST HOUSE

The first house was a rare find and most people would think it was ‘perfect’ as a rental. It was 5 acres (surrounded by houses) that had adequate fencing and 3 pastures, with an arena and a small pole barn – basically everything I would need… except it used to be a boarding facility with 35 horses on 5 acres – so you might guess the condition of the land, fences and buildings. But, it was workable.

The house was an odd design for many reasons that I won’t go into. But, the kitchen was nice (and huge) and Hubby liked it.

One large downside for me (besides the condition of the grounds) was that there were two tenants already living there. One was the owner and her daughter, the other was a couple with a 10 month-old boxer puppy.

None of it felt right to me. In fact, I felt oogey while there. But, logically, the part that made me back away was that the owner would be living in a guest house on her own property while I lived in what used to be her house and had 6 of my horses on her property – taking up all of her pastures… and then there was the couple with a puppy – just old enough to probably upset my dominant dog, Scoutypants.

I just sensed trouble down the road and I didn’t want to move 6 of my horses only to have to move again. (I’ve decided to take less horses with me if it helps us get into a temporary rental easier. I will leave the others back with my friends who want to rent my place.)

So, I nixed this place and Hubby was sad.

This place had everything… except it also had three houses with two other tenants – on this smaller property. I wasn’t sure who would get to use what… especially since the owner would be living in the guest house.

THE SECOND HOUSE

The second horse property was beautifully laid out. The previous owners had built a really nice barn, had perfect pastures and perfect shelters…

The house, however, was really in bad shape. The new owners weren’t too excited to put any money into it… and it showed.

Hubby took one look and I could see his heart drop. He hated it. He couldn’t see himself living there. He also doesn’t want a property that was 100% devoted to pastures. He wanted a place for a garden or maybe a porch – and to not look out and only see horses.

So, he nixed this place. I knew he would… and I wasn’t totally sad. But the place was perfect for horses.

This house looked really nice in this photo, but it wasn’t nice at all inside.

The horse facilities and barn were terrific! But, Hubby wanted more than just a great place for horses.

THE THIRD HOUSE

The third house we both agreed upon. It was a huge and expensive house… more than we needed or wanted to pay. But, it was very nice.

The horse facilities were small – unless we had horses in the shape of goats. In that case, there were abundant acreage that went straight up or straight down.

So, this one wouldn’t work well. We agreed.

The house was very fancy… Way more than we needed and more expensive, too.

And the acres and acres of ‘horse property’ was good if they were goats but…

AND SO THE SEARCH CONTINUES…

They say that it will happen in time. We’ve been looking for a year and a half. So, I guess it isn’t time yet… On Friday, as I drive home from Hollywood to Grass Valley, I will stop in Paso Robles to view another property for sale that is just out of our price range. But, you never know.