Tiaribbon

Well firstly I must say hello to my old friends on here that I haven't spoken to for many moons. Nice to see you are still "fighting the cause", so to speak! I gave up long ago.

Secondly, it did take me a moment to figure out how to use this forum again after such a long sabatical.

Thirdly, it appears not a lot changes on here......however the good news is that a lot does infact change in real life.

I became slightly drawn back to this forum because I was contacted by a member on here who was asking for advice......then I remembered the real reason for the existance of this forum.

I've said it before, I'll say it again; Canada is not for the weak-hearted, but for those willing to take a small risk then I doubt you could be truly disappointed. Maybe with small things like the locality, the scenery, the feeling of being....well hey if you don't find this initially....move! Canada is vast....there HAS to be somewhere for everyone.....you just have to find it.

Anyway, for those of you who may remember me from the good ole' days; I am fine. Life is great, business is booming and I, and my family are very settled. We have often wondered whether Ontario was really this place for us, our household joke is that Ontario is the "dollar Province", this appears to never have changed, however perhaps we have? I don't actually mind living in such a Province; infact I might push the boat out to say, it's really not so bad. My little part of Ontario suits me just fine!

My husband is finally living here pretty much full-time now, although he did return to England yesterday, however he will only be there for a month this time. My business is getting a nice reputation and is keeping us well.

If you have a dream and you really want to move to Canada - just do it! Keep a safety-net if necessary (we still have ours just incase!) but really life here is just as good as it is elsewhere.

I'm not really too sure of the point of this post, but I just felt like posting so there you go.

stepnek

Keep a safety net if possible is more like it because I'm not sure it's always an affordable option. It certainly wasn't for us even though I'd have felt better in leaving open an easy return.

Steve_P

Welcome back stranger.

I am glad to hear that things are working out well for you and your family.

All the very best
Steve
(formerly Hangman)

mkmurrays

Glad to hear I spurred you to return.

I'm very grateful for the insider knowledge, and drawn to take a diversion to check out Ontario.....

Thanks again, and welcome back.

bananahammock

Hello stranger ....... long time no hear!!
Great to hear things are working out so well for you & your family

Craftybanshee

Welcome back Tia Thanks for posting, it's nice to hear how you're getting on.

pennyhp

Hello Tia

great to hear from you again.

What is it you are actually doing on your farm?
was it just trail rides ir do you do lessons too.
Glad to hear it is going well.
We are finally going out for good May 7.

Yes I have my concerns about how I will feel leaving all that is familiar.
But I love NB and have made some really good friends already.

When I have the inevitable (or not) home sickness I will go and stand in the middle of my 26 acres and tell myself that in England all I could afford would be a small house with a small garden and still have a mortgage on it, whereas the 26 acres in NB plus 4 bed house is bought outright.
That should put things into perspective.

Penny

steve666

Steve, in a few weeks I'm expecting to see your avatar as a photo of your fetus.

steve666

If you don't mind me asking, which little part of Ontario is it??

TrishP

Great to hear from you Tia and that everything is going so well for you and yours!

iaink

Nice to see you are still alive Tia, dont be a stranger if you are in the neighbourhood

flashman

Hi Tia,

Welcome back.

I'm still thinking about paying a visit and riding a slow friendly horse with a good suspension.

Steve_P

That's not me.

Tiaribbon

Aww thanks guys. Really nice to hear from you all again....really it is .

I don't have the time to be on the computer as much right now....we have some foals due, one any time now, so life is pretty much geared around them right now. If any of you remember my daughter's little pony that we flew over here with us? Well she is due to have her foal any day now. Very exciting for us all.

I seem to have found a little niche in the market - I do horse boarding here as a sideline to the hay we produce, however the horse boarding is way out-stripping the margins on the hay sales. I have a number of local people boarding their horses here......however, I've managed to get a number of long distance boarders who have sent their baby horses here to live a nice babyhood before they move on to their training elsewhere. This was a bit of a result actually and we are in the process of making more fields and building more field shelters as this is really something I enjoy doing and there will be more babies moving here later in the year when they leave their mothers.

We had a great hay crop last year and once again sold out with ease; and a lot of our customers were ones from last year so nice to see that our time and effort into producing something better than your average has not actually gone un-noticed.

The trail riding did good business last year and it was a lot of fun....however I have decided that after this year I will likely stop doing it for the general public. Unfortunately it eats too much into my family time. Last Summer the phone rang constantly all Summer-long. I honestly hadn't expected it to be anywhere near as busy as it was. It was very time-consuming and very very tiring but I've done it now, REALLY enjoyed it, met some terrific people and for them I would continue to offer them rides when they come up to their cottages....but there just isn't enough of me to keep this madness up for too long, so I made the decision that something had to change on the farm....and the one being canned had to be the trail riding.

But THE biggest money-maker was in horse sales last year. They did absolutely terrific and I was so, so pleased to see my horses all selling to discerning buyers whom I know will take good care of my girls and guys. Having spent the last 2 years with most of them it is very mixed feelings when you have them from babies and spend so much time training them up to be wonderful horses it's nice to see them transform into great guys and it's lovely to find the right owner for the horse.....but it's always a bit sad to say goodbye to them after all that time. But I guess that's what I get the big-bucks for eh?

For Steve - I'm midway between Peterborough and Belleville in a really beautiful area of rolling hills and forest - I love it here.

Anyway - you guys keep at it. Hope everything is all well with you and for those who have finally made it over here....."home-sickness" isn't always a given; I never had it. In fact I think if I were to go back to England now, I may be home-sick for Canada.

Well I have to go now as I am on Foal-watch yet again tonight; mare needs to be checked every hour throughout the day and night so it does get a wee bitty tiring. So I'll bid you goodnight but hopefully after this is all over and done with....and inbetween harvesting the hay, I might just be able to come on and spend some time here. Take care guys and thank you for the warm welcome back.

Voyager970

Hey stranger welcome back to the fold

Glad to hear all is well and hubby and yourself are finally together, and glad to hear the farm is a success

Dont be a stranger Tia, you are one of us oldies on BE

Did you ever find the equivalent of quilted velvet !!!!
We had a conversation about this item many many many moons ago

Keep us all up to date and dont be shy !!!

Eddie ( finally a PR of Canada )