Building a Home for the Family Herd: Living With Horses at Home

After the fire threat passed, a new strong desire emerged in me: finding a place that could finally stop changing. 

This chapter of the story settles in Reno, at the permanent Home I created for them and for me: Peace Ranch. 

I believe a home is something collectively built (between the land, the house and myself). The landscape matters. The air matters. The feel of a place matters. There is a particular kind of peace in a high desert valley when the light is clean and the wind is fresh, and the days have a rhythm you can trust. You wake up and the world is the world, not an emergency. 

As I hunted for that forever place, I had a mental checklist of things that it needed to have. Sufficient land, sufficient water, horse infrastructure (which includes fencing and a number of other things), a home that could house my horses, myself and my other four-leggeds. It was bittersweet for me because I was selling and leaving a home I lived in for 10 years and where my boys lived for the longest time. Leaving that home was heartbreaking. But, it was time. The house was too big and it was not in a place where my horses could join me. 

 My realtor and I were at the drawing board. She put together a list of properties to show me. As I was driving home, I drove down a cut through street I’d never used, saw a for sale sign and sent her a note. Next thing I know, she has a viewing schedule for me and this new one was on the list. 

The first property that we saw was the one I saw on the drive by. When I got the list and looked it up, I learned that it was a little over an acre. I was surprised it made it to the list because our checklist was that the property had to have a minimum of two acres. I was going to tell her to cancel but she has an incredible instinct for matchmaking people and property. I decided to just check it out. 

When I walked into the house, it was like walking into a place where my entire body exhaled. I had never felt that kind of energy or had that experience before. Ultimately, I chose this property and this property chose me. I won’t go into all the details on how I know this to be true. Suffice it to say that the moment my friend sent a text with an offer on the property, she received a text within five minutes later with an offer on the property I was selling. I knew then that I was moving to a place that I could build and call home for all of us. 

It was, and it is.

I didn’t plan on (and didn’t want to) build horse infrastructure. I had zero experience on how to do it. Thankfully, we rise to the occasion as best we can. I was able to build something that integrates into the land and landscape. Every part of it considers what’s best for both the horses and the land. Even something as mundane as what to do with the manure became an opportunity to learn and engage. Who knew that there are local composting organizations where you can haul it to be reused with the land? Who knew that instead of a traditional barn I could repurpose a shipping container (which can be painted/etc.) for hay, which is not only cost effective but also a better choice in fire prone areas?

Each conscious choice has created a home, our home. Bringing Trey and Divine into our Family Herd has called on me to approach decisions with a broader lens and a broader context. What is harmonious for all? What “feels” like the right decision / choice? I spent so much time learning to “listen” to what Trey and Divine were trying to tell me. It was not a leap to then consider what the house and/or land might be trying to say. 

The result? We live on a sweet, humble property. Lumina and Silver are no longer with us but they are honored with plaques on the Herd’s run in. We have a geese family that believe we are tenants to their home and that Mocha, Trey and Divine love to watch. They also love to watch and try to engage with the neighbor’s pig and cows (or more recently goats) that tend to wander by or onto the property. Every morning I look out my windows to see where they are and find them looking to see where I am. 

Our home is aptly named Peace Ranch.

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