COVER STORY OUR HOME IMPROVEMENT Mama Country and I both grew up in Scarborough. We actually went to the same high school. She likes to say that I’m “significantly older” than her; so we never dated until later in life. After we were married, we made some life goals for ourselves. It was a dream of ours to one day live in the country and own horses. So when we decided to pull the chute on city life and buy a farm in Grey County, we went full speed ahead on our dream to own an equestrian property.
The work begins.
But how does one transform an organic hobby farm into an organic hobby farm with horses?
us with the right folks, our dreams of horse ownership and farm life were starting to become a reality.
The first step was to ask around for help, but we didn’t know anybody. We had no friends yet. Well, just one; Reuben McCallum.
Truth be told, we had already purchased a few horses and were boarding them at a facility in West Grey. I was learning to ride for the first time, while Mama Country was getting back into the swing of things after a 10-year hiatus. The cost of boarding was reasonable, but we had the space on our 13-acre property so my inner Sicilian kept whispering (screaming and hand gesturing), “We have to bring our horses here as soon as possible!”
Reuben represented us during our home purchase and became a trusted resource and friend once the deal was done. He helped to guide us when we’d ask questions we never thought we’d ask, like: “How do you build a riding ring?” Or, “Who can build paddock fencing with electric wires?” Or, “Where can we find a run-in for our horses?” Thanks to Reuben and his ability to connect
The Plan: Build 3 paddocks (one with a run-in) and a riding ring.
The riding ring coming to life. 24
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