On January the 18th my husband and I spent a long and weary day making our budget for the year 2009. It was very difficult, because of my earning quite a bit less than the year before. But our quest was succesful, and while there was no money left for going on a vacation, we found a way to make the numbers meet. Uff.
But then things started to fall appart:
First we learnt that the school our son is going to (it is a school that was funded by us and other parents, based on the insights of great pedagogues like Maria Montessori and Rebeca Wild) is in financial trouble, that other parents are leaving the sinking ship, and that we are supposed to pay 40% more per month to bridge the troubled waters. Of course there is no way we can do that inside of the already rather tight budget we planned on only days before.
Then I was informed that the new owners of my horses stable would ask much more money for the stable rent than I had payed before, and my stable mate (the former owner of the stable, with whom I had the contract) reacted by finding another place for her ponies. She can leave any day she wants. I am so not ready for another stable odysee with my horse, and I am used now to have him close by (the stable is right across the road from where I live). But I can’t keep him alone, because he is a social animal, because of the stable work, and because of the money. So what to do?
Next I got a phone call from the place where my chronicaly ill shetland pony is taken care of – he has gotten worse and we will have to put him down tomorrow, the day of my sons 9th birthday.
Hello? What’s the matter? Why does all of this happen at the same time?
I know all this crises are minor in that they don’t threaten the health and lives of my close family. But they are still having a large impact on my life.
Should we leave our beloved school project behind and look for another school for our son? Or should we dig in and try to make it against all odds?
Should I risk to rent the stable by myself and try to find other people to share it with – even though I know it would be hard to find people that I would be comfortable with? Or should I just give up and let my perfect horse dreams go – by either moving him to a stable far away where I can only visit him twice a week, or even by giving him away to someone who can take better care of him than I do?
And what changes in my life with my pony gone?
Filed under: me as a horse owner, me as a mother | Tagged: arabian horse, budget, crisis, death, horse, money, school, shetlany pony, stable
