Daddy’s Little Girl
January 22, 2009 by Rick Latona
Two hundred years ago women didn’t even ride horses. Now, when I take my daughter to her riding lessons it’s noticeable how there are no boys there. It’s certainly a girl’s hobby these days and probably the most expensive hobby an eight year-old could have.
My daughter has been taking lessons for years and recently my wife and I bought her a horse. Now we are paying for boarding and training of said animal. The total cost is around $1000 per month. Mind you, that doesn’t include the cost of my daughter’s riding lessons. That’s just for feeding and training the horse.
None of this I mind because she is daddy’s little girl as the title suggests. Suddenly though, the plot has thickened.
Two weeks ago she comes home from school and tells me she wants to be in the horse business. She didn’t say she wanted to be a veterinarian. She said she wanted to be in the horse business. The best part was that she didn’t mean when she grew up. She was ready now. I asked my third-grader if she knew how much it would cost to start something like that and she said she already has $220 from Christmas money and piggy banks.
On that note, I decided to take her to the local Barnes and Noble to look for a book that could help. We found a book called Starting and Running a Horse Business. I told her that if she read the whole book and could prove that she understood it when I got back from travelling that I’d put up the money and we’d start a horse business.
Well, she read that book three hours a day over the last two weeks. When I talk to her she talks about effective ways to advertise and accounting techniques.
I guess my plate just got a little fuller. If I had it my way I’d start some sort of online horse exchange to live up to my part of the deal but I have a feeling she wants to actually see and ride the horses. At least land is cheap these days.
Good Luck Rick with your new venture!
You certainly are going to be kept a busy man, It’s great to here about your daughter wanting to get into business at such a young age.
It reminds me of myself a little desperate to start making money from something I enjoyed doing.
Good Luck & Best Wishes!
Regards,
Robbie
Great story. The inspiration is more important than the capital. Your daughter will thank you some day.
Hopefully her next hobby isn’t “getting into the space travel business”.
That’s fantastic, this generation will be the most entrepreneurial of them all.
Great! I wish her success.
Wow, she just skipped right over the lemonade stand stage! Would love to hear what happens if you decide to get into the horse business
All the best with this
Barry
I love it!
“Entreprenuers are the lifeblood of America”… Ronald Reagan
Rick:
Best of luck to your daughter. I look forward to the unveiling of “horses.com” or what ever you find.
Cute post. My daughter has the same passion for horses. And business. She rides here http://www.n49.ca/r/7596. But I think we will stick to our plan for getting a dog this year. Perhaps a horse next year!
Good Luck!
Rick ,
Your in big trouble, when my daughter was 8 she wanted a horse. That was 16 years ago, we now own a barn that does boarding but my wife and daughter specialize in Natural Alternative Healing methods. I must say they do a great job, and have a great reputation in the area . Corri (my daughter) now has two Equine Business degrees and is running our North American distributorship for the #1 animal herb company in England. We have sold the horse and dog herbs for about 10 years but just as she was getting out of college two years ago we were offered the distributorship for North America. She is in charge of setting up dealers and all the retail sale on http://www.TheHealingBarn.com and has just recently started http://www.SponsoraHorse.org (a membership site) to help other rescue facilities during these trying economic times.
Nancy (my wife) has been a nurse for 35 years and loves working with injured horses and even get referrals from Vets when they run out of ideas for strange cases. She has Never let them down, I don’t know how she does it
The original plan was to put boating on the back burner for a few years spend our money creating a great environment for Corri to grow up.
I had a guy say to me one time, ” How do you afford all the horses and everything that goes with them?’ I politely ask him how he was able to afford to send his son to rehab twice and support his teenage daughter that had a 2 year old daughter?’ I think he got the point. Horses are a great teacher of patience and responsibility and although they are not cheap they have been the best investment I have ever made in my daughters future. Good Luck
PS. Corri recently bought the domain name ChocolateSaveLives.com and would like to create a web site ( possibly membership site ) that sells chocolate to the more affluent and the profits would help support horses in need. I’m sure she would love to have your daughter as a partner on this project if she’s interested.
It might not be the type of ‘profitable” business your daughter had in mind. But because of their innocence and selflessness, helping others,especially animals fulfill them in a more meaningful way.
Allen
healingbarn1a@aol.com
Corri
corri@thehealingbarn.com
Hmm, don’t make a promise that you figure you won’t have to keep I guess.
I’ve got an 8 year old daughter too - and I know that as a dad, that is a promise you’d be proud as hell to keep!
Best of luck to Daddy’s Little Girl!
I know a good accountant in Kentucky / horse country that might trade you domains for horse accounting . . .
Wow! You do it big! I have a horse lover too, but Ive kept it on a lower cost scale. She has been to Day Camp at an Equestrian Center a few times, and we take her to Chincoteague Island for a weekend with the horses every year, etc. Im just starting to write about these things here and on Squidoo.
What is your daughter’s Horse Business going to be? I actually turned my daughter’s love of horses into a business too. Though again, took a less expensive path, creating http://www.GirlsHorseClothes.com
I will be interested to hear about her business, every step of the way. Best wishes to both of you (and your bank account!)
Having 8, 9 and 10 yr old daughters are such perfect ages for kids and a huge parrt of the best years of your life. Been there and done that.
Great story, Rick. And kudos for being a great dad! Father/Daughter relationships are so important. However, you may want to try and avoid her seeing the movie “Dreamer” (great father/daughter horse farm story starring Dakota Fanning) or your horse business may get REALLY expensive! (racing thoroughbreds)