Today, my husband, Ken, and I decided we would not enter any of our three horses in this year's Breeder Cup races--mainly because one of our two year olds came in 6th in a $30,000 claiming race, our three year came in 4th in a $30,000 claiming race and our other two year old just came out of layup. I mentioned the Breeder's Cup solely for the purpose of enhancing the possibility that someone with ties to the horse and/or publishing world would stumble across this blog.
In my first entry below, I noted my skepticism about blogging--but admitted I need all the help I can find locating a publisher for my book--which I have tentatively called "A Diary of a Crazed Horsewoman." It is 75 pages long so far, and other than having no idea how it will end, is coming along nicely. Even slow horses can provide some rather entertaining material. However, as I feared, so far, the only ones to find my blog are my husband, my sister, my daughter-in-law and me--under a different name. Try as I may, using all the good search words in my first paragraph--and my last name--I never could get by blog to come up in Google, either.
I'm going to let my Horse Alert folks know about this blog on Monday, hoping that at least 5 out of the 210 or so will actually come look out here and help swell my numbers. That said, I have no idea if it matters if my blog has 4 followers or 200 followers.
I did find out yesterday that in addition to the 7 people who follow me on Twitter--none of whom I know--I have a new follower who wants to have sex with me. No, I don't know him either. I'm still waiting for that first person to come through our website posted below who wants something other than porn or Viagra.
Do you think this is how Julie--in "Julia & Julie" really got started?
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
The Next Kentucky Derby Winner, Why Not My Horse?
For ten years, my husband and I have owned and syndicated race horses. We buy yearlings at the Keeneland Sales in Lexington, KY, and are convinced that every year we have the next Kentucky Derby winner and probably the next Triple Crown Winner. So far we have been wrong. At one point in my life, I thought the horses would support us, so I quit my day job as a life insurance lawyer. I now know that was a judgment error as well. So, I'm writing a book about the highs and lows of being a horse owner that I hope somebody will publish someday. After seeing "Julia & Julie" yesterday, I decided I needed to start a blog so that somebody would discover me. Surely the "Thoroughbred Times," "Bloodhorse," Jennie Rees from the "Courier Journal" or anybody from the "Lexington Herald," "New York Times" or "Washington Post" would be happy to talk to me. I think they all have interviewed Alex Waldrop from the NTRA. He's a nice guy, but I think I'm more entertaining. Also, by mentioning his name and organization, I'm hoping I've increased the chances of somebody actually discovering this blog.
I have my doubts about whether this will work. I feel about blogging the same way I feel about 5 year business plans. I'm skeptical of folks who make them and am disdainful of those who believe they work. I proved my own point when I did a business plan when I quit my day job 2 years ago. My business plan showed we would own 8 horses and manage 6 others by June 30, 2009, resulting in a positive cash flow regardless of the win/loss record of our horses. As of August 19, we own three. None of them are the next Kentucky Derby winner. And I fully appreciate that whether our horses win or lose has a huge impact on cash flow. Right now, ours is negative. For some reason, we are having fun and this is infinitely better than working for thirty-somethings who probably will never be as smart as they think they are now. But if I don't raise some cash, we'll either have to move in with one of our two sons or I'll have to go back to working for thirty-somethings. Hence, I'm blogging.
It's not like I'm not already out there. We have a website that talks about what we do and I post my Horse Alerts--e-mail notices/musings that I write when one of our horses are running--on that site. While I send these Alerts via email to more than 200 folks, based on the "contact submission forms" I get from the website, it appears the only ones reading them off my site are folks with serious porn hangups and folks desparately trying to sell or in search of Viagra or one its many derivatives. I also Twitter, with 7 folks following my Twitters--none of whom I know and all of whom hope I'll hire them to do something. And none of my Facebook friends link to our website--which I dutifully put out there everytime I tell them I've posted another Horse Alert to the website. So, why would I think anyone would find me here? But, we do what we have to do, don't we?
So, without giving away my book, over the next few months I hope somebody finds this blog, is interested enough to go out to website -- www.equinebusiness.biz -- and send me a "contact submission" form for something other than porn or Viagra.
I have my doubts about whether this will work. I feel about blogging the same way I feel about 5 year business plans. I'm skeptical of folks who make them and am disdainful of those who believe they work. I proved my own point when I did a business plan when I quit my day job 2 years ago. My business plan showed we would own 8 horses and manage 6 others by June 30, 2009, resulting in a positive cash flow regardless of the win/loss record of our horses. As of August 19, we own three. None of them are the next Kentucky Derby winner. And I fully appreciate that whether our horses win or lose has a huge impact on cash flow. Right now, ours is negative. For some reason, we are having fun and this is infinitely better than working for thirty-somethings who probably will never be as smart as they think they are now. But if I don't raise some cash, we'll either have to move in with one of our two sons or I'll have to go back to working for thirty-somethings. Hence, I'm blogging.
It's not like I'm not already out there. We have a website that talks about what we do and I post my Horse Alerts--e-mail notices/musings that I write when one of our horses are running--on that site. While I send these Alerts via email to more than 200 folks, based on the "contact submission forms" I get from the website, it appears the only ones reading them off my site are folks with serious porn hangups and folks desparately trying to sell or in search of Viagra or one its many derivatives. I also Twitter, with 7 folks following my Twitters--none of whom I know and all of whom hope I'll hire them to do something. And none of my Facebook friends link to our website--which I dutifully put out there everytime I tell them I've posted another Horse Alert to the website. So, why would I think anyone would find me here? But, we do what we have to do, don't we?
So, without giving away my book, over the next few months I hope somebody finds this blog, is interested enough to go out to website -- www.equinebusiness.biz -- and send me a "contact submission" form for something other than porn or Viagra.
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