Why I’m Selling the Farm The reason for selling the farm is familiar to many people in the middle stages of their life By Becky Henley Maria Hubbard had to make a decision in 2001. Would she get her doctorate or live on a farm and own horses? She has her Bachelors and Masters degrees from the University of Memphis and works for ServiceMaster Corporation as Manager in Training and Development. She began her saga by doing lots of research, including visiting many horse properties, and developed a plan for what she wanted. After a three-year search, she found acreage in Marshall County, Mississippi about thirteen miles from Collierville: 25 acres of raw land, which had been leased for hunting and only accessed by 4-wheeler. So much had to be done to simply make the land accessible by vehicle. Poles were set to run electric lines, a well was dug, water lines were run, fences were built for three paddocks, a 30 x 24 barn with a tack room was built and wired, an area was leveled for a round pen, and, finally, a house was built. The farm house style home, after an addition, now has 1800 square feet, three bedrooms and two baths and features an open living area, porches and stone trim. There are two 30 x 24 open front barns. She has a 40 x 20 vegetable garden and can harvest timber for a cash crop. Maria has lived on her farm for five years. Her four horses include a half-Arabian and her half-sister, both Tobiano bay paints, a sorrel Quarter Horse out of Zippo Pine Bar, and a blood bay American Saddlebred. Her favorite aspect of living in the country is starting her day looking out the windows at the horses grazing. She loves the wildlife, the quiet and the stars at night. She loves being situated where there is no through traffic. Her dogs and cats enjoy every corner of the property and her horses must surely believe they are in heaven in such lush surroundings. Maria had many interesting stories about living on her farm. Here’s one: “There are so many stories! One morning while I was looking out the front windows of the house drinking my coffee before heading out to work, I watched my horses walk past on the gravel driveway, stopping occasionally to enjoy clover. I thought, “Wow, how awesome is this?! And then it dawned on me that they were walking past the house instead of being in the paddock! I ran out of the house with my dress shoes on and called for the herd leader 'Spud.’ He turned and looked at me, as did the mares following him, and then they all took off toward the unfenced 50 acres. I came back in the house, changed shoes for boots, ran to the feed shed, got a bucket and a lead rope, and ran out to the open field. All I saw were horse butts disappearing into the distance. I ran after them until I was out of breath and then walked calling out their names. Finally, I caught up with them. Spud lifted his head when the feed was in nose shot and started walking toward me. The four obedient mares followed him and the six of us paraded back to the paddock where I discovered how they are gotten out. Yep. They had walked through a weak spot in the tensile fencing. I patched the spot, tightened the wire and within a week, I got the fence guys back out to stretch horse-friendly fencing around each paddock. No more unplanned field trips for this group!” The reason for selling the farm is familiar to many people in the middle stages of their life: the need to care for their parents. Maria’s mother is coming to live with her and wants to be closer to town. Plans to actually put her farm on the market have to be put on hold until a dispute over a section of the easement is resolved. She has not been able to take on any boarders or host regular trail riding events because of the dispute. The horses may be sold with the farm. Maria plans to move to Collierville or Piperton when the farm sells. Maria’s church family, at Piperton United Methodist Church, is very important to her. The church came to the rescue of her family members, suddenly displaced by Hurricane Katrina, when nine people came to stay in the (then) one bedroom, one bath home. Life happens. The farm is not for sale yet, but you can contact the owner at mariahubbard@yahoo.com for information.