The vision for HOM is two-fold; the first is to offer the option of horse ownership and all that it involves to anyone who wants it, making it affordable, fulfilling and educational. Making it affordable will allow hundreds of thousands of households to participate in the human-horse bond who could not be involved before; making it fulfilling will assure that the generations will be nurtured with the love and connection only horses can offer; making it educational will assure that sub-par horse care and neglect will be minimized as these new horse enthusiasts will understand horse nutrition, care requirements, and physiology of the horse much better than the past horse-loving generations.
The second is to create a supportive community of like-minded horse facilities that can earn a profit and keep their farms, and their horses, without risk of closing down due to financial problems. Keeping these facilities up and running is imperative to the longevity of the horse-human relationship, now as well as in the future.
In building this community, what has the opportunity to evolve is the very best practices in horse care, training and marketing. The community will cover all aspects of the horse in our lives – from the breeding farm, to the training facility, to the horse show or race track. It all will be documented and shown as an example for future horse owners.
HOM is intended for horse enthusiasts at all levels of engagement, but really to attract the non-horse owner, a market that is much larger than the actual horse owner, and one that is more lucrative. This is an opportunity to take this targeted market and give them the experience of owning a horse without the actual expense involved in owning one – at least not yet. Giving them a real-life experience that is a safe distance from their pocketbook will encourage this new market to try it out, see what they think, fall in love.
HOM is also intended to create future horse lovers who will buy their own horse and, hopefully, from a farm that is in our community. But not until they have some education, some skills, some understanding of the real responsibility of owning these amazing animals.