September 11th is a date that always stands out to me for many reasons. On 9/11 I always remember exactly where I was and who I was talking to when I heard about the terrorist attacks. However 9/11 also stands out to me for much happier reasons as well. We began moving the horses to our new (at the time) farm on September 11, 2010. We moved the last group of horses to the farm on September 11, 2011.
We purchased the farm in January 2010 and moved the first group of horses nine months later. When we bought the farm we bought bare land. There was no fencing anywhere, no buildings of any sort, no water lines or electricity, no driveway – nothing. We had a completely blank slate to work with and, although I am heavily biased, I think the end result is pretty fabulous. All of the credit for our farm layout goes to Jason. He designed it and laid out all of the pastures, barns, run-ins, etc. on paper and then we built his vision. We had a total of five moving days from September 11, 2010 to September 11, 2011. We built the farm in phases from front to back. We would get a pasture (or two) fenced, run water and electricity, build run-ins, build a barn and move another group or two of horses.
It took us almost four years of searching to finally find a property we both wanted in a location we both wanted. We searched out of state as well and even made a trip to Lexington, KY to look at farms. I will say again that farms, fully built out and finished farms complete with board fencing, residences and beautiful barns, are shockingly affordable in Lexington as compared to our area of middle Tennessee. However I balked at the marked difference in winter weather between here and Lexington. Jason still peruses real estate in the Lexington area and we still occasionally discuss moving there. The real estate prices make it so incredibly tempting. But not tempting enough to deal with more winter and deal with relocating all of us so we look at the prices and fantasize about what we could buy.
People often ask us why we didn’t move everyone all at once. If you understood how much packing and planning it took to pull off moving a group or two of horses you would never ask that question. I would spend days packing up blankets, feed and supplements, feedbags, medical supplies, grooming tools, medications, buckets, manure forks, scissors, feed containers . . . all the things you take for granted because they’re always there. Moving the horses was the easy part.
So today I reflected on many memories ranging from watching the Twin Towers fall to the excitement of starting and then finishing moving the farm. I took a walk down memory lane and found a few pictures from various moving days.
Jason holding Thomas and Homer as they wait to load on the trailer
loaded and ready to roll
arriving at the “new” farm
unloading
Murphy looking very interested as he unloaded
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Calimba and MyLight
Renny, Johnny and Africa
Some views are not meant to be captured in a picture; the sky was really pretty this morning but my pictures certainly does not show it.
Sebastian and Lighty
Dutch and Murphy
Bruno, Lightning and Lucky
Fabrizzio, Duesy and Merlin
Griselle and Timbit
Lily and Maisie
Johnny and Walon
