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COUNTRY LIFE DIARY
Three Years in the Life of a Horse Farm
by Josh Pons
This diary originally appeared in The Blood-Horse magazine from 1989 through 1991, and was published in book form in 1992, with illustrations by Ellen Pons. The diary was awarded the 1992 Eclipse Award for journalism.
"Animals are the first inhabitants of the mind's eye. I thought about the animals in my young son's life, the mares he stares at, silouetted at sunset... The boy keeps looking out the window, watching the mares graze. He is transfixed. There is more here than meets the eye. "
Today is Monday, October 6, 2008
But, on this date in the Country Life Diary:|
Friday, October 6: Three lawyers sat around the conference table, discussing
potential new investors in the horse business.
"If he is simply a yuppie, driving a BMW one size too big for him, with a pretty wife who spends his money as fast as he earns it, and a mortgage on a big house, this is not a good investment for him," said the first lawyer. "Don't get gamblers, either. They'll play the ponies in earnest instead of for sport. One final type to avoid is the gal who's never worked a day in her life and has plenty of time on her hands. She'll second-guess every decision. Red-flag that type of person if possible. I've seen 'em all, and everything's fine until the horse deal goes south. Then those nice people can get awfully nasty." The second lawyer studied me intently. "Look," he said. "Just be careful. Use common sense. Any misgivings whatsoever about a person, don't sell him a piece of a racehorse." The third lawyer, a tax specialist, paid no attention. He was mulling amortization aspects and capital gains changes. At the end of the skull session, I was not sure which will be the harder task: Racing the right horses, or raising the right owners. From Country Life Diary, Year One (1989) |
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