You Got To Have Goals

#Goals

It’s a new month which means I have new goals. I don’t reserve my goals for new years, I continually have goals throughout the year. And maybe it’s because I have more down time during the winter, but this month is no exception to my goals. In fact, I think this month something has spurred me into a huge goal.

What is that goal, you may be wondering? My goal for the next 6 weeks is to produce a quality set of horse jumps, and trade it for the horse trailer I really want to buy.

I started thinking about horse trailers again because I really want to be able to take my horse off my property. And I don’t want to rely on someone else to do it. I want to be able to do it myself. So if I decide to take Ethan to a horse show, I can do it and I won’t be dependent on anyone else to go hang out with me at the horse show for the entire day.

But that means I need to learn how to drive and haul my horse trailer that I currently have. I don’t know why, but that thing scares me. It is so wide! The last time I drove it, I had 5 cars pass me because I was driving so slow, and that was driving with it empty.

Long Story Long

Another problem, and even bigger actually, is that the horse trailer doesn’t have a good title. When I bought the trailer 4 years ago, I was so excited I didn’t realize the girl we bought it from voided out the title because she crossed off the original owner’s name and signed it herself. This voided the title. She had never registered it in her name, and sold it to us.

When we went to register it, we were told the title was void because of this. And I had no way to contact her. Which didn’t matter, because I was told I needed to contact the original owner, and he needed to come to the DMV with me, and then we could get it straightened out.

I tried to contact him with a letter, and got no response.

So my next option would be to jump through a whole bunch of hoops. Which would start with an inspection, and end up with public notices, and a lot of money. So long story long, I have a useless horse trailer. Well, it isn’t totally useless, I do use it to store my jumps in over the winter. But it was an expensive lesson, because I spent $2000 on a storage shed on wheel basically.

Determining The Goal

Which brings me back to my goals. I need a horse trailer. But I want to make sure it is something I can load and drive. And a long time ago, I posted about my dream horse trailer, and now I think I have a way that I am going to be able to get it without shelling out a lot of money.

I love building horse jumps. And I love it even more when I can sell those horse jumps. So I started doing a little research on just how much a large set of horse jumps is going for now. And I found for a complete set of schooling jumps with 12 to 14 jumps for $15,000. What?!?!?!? $15,000.00???? Holy cow!

So then I started planning out how much it would cost me to build a set of jumps like this, and with a little extra money thrown in for just in case expenses, it will cost me around $800.00 to build a set of jumps similar to the set I found. Then my mind started working, and I wondered about building a nice hunter course, and how much that would cost if I were to purchase it brand new. $22,500.00 for a hunter course consisting of basically 12 jumps. Again, I went to work on what it would cost me to build. And this set is a little more expensive at $1800.00. Still, $1800 is a lot less than $22,000. But I want to play it safe, and will start with building the $800.00 set of jumps.

After I get it built, I will put an add on Craigslist and offer my set of jumps for trade. The set I am going to build is going to be a modified version of the set I originally found. To keep it cost effective, the rails I make will only be 8 foot long vs. the 10 foot long ones. And my standards will be 4 foot tall instead of 5 feet. This will drastically reduce the cost it will take to make the jumps. And honestly, most people don’t have the space for 10 and 12 feet wide jumps. And if your horse gets comfortable going over 8 foot wide jumps, when you get to a show with 12 foot jumps, these will seem much easier for your horse.

So the plan is in place. I have started to buy the wood I will need to make this jump set.

The set will include:

• 18 pair of schooling standards
• 6 gates
• 5 planks
• 48 poles
• 1 wall
• 60 pair of jump cups

This is enough jumping equipment to keep even the most serious horse person busy for a long time. And whoever purchases this set of jumps will be getting a set of new jumps for a fair price, and hopefully I will be getting my dream horse trailer.

Planning and Putting Into Practice

I am doing it in pieces. Right now, I am working on the gates. And I will be sharing with you each component of the set as I build it. Not only to show you how to do it, but also to show you that if you think having jumps are out of your budget, they don’t have to be. You can build them, even if your carpentry skills are less than mediocre, like mine.

If you have wanted to build your own set of jumps but didn’t know how, or think you could, let me walk you through the process. If you take the next 6 weeks and follow along with me, you could have a great set of jumps for your property by the time spring comes around. Or if you are wanting to earn some extra money, you could do that too.

Hopefully in 6 weeks I will have a useable horse trailer to show for my work. Time will tell, but I am ready to get started today! So if you want to build some jumps with me, be sure to subscribe to my email list. Every time I have a new post, you will get an email letting you know, and then you too can build some jumps either for fun, or profit. #goals