Help Make A Home of Healing and Horses A Reality

Helping Hoof is collecting funds for Kuniko Vroman, our founder and president, to set up land she is purchasing to operate out of and live on with her horse(s) and other animal (and potentially human) family. Please note all funds collected will go directly to Kuniko and are not eligible for a tax deduction. Here's the sitch in her own words:

Those of you who know me know I have been on a mission to find a place that Hajime (my formerly wild mustang) and I can call home and create a safe and supportive space to visit for those who might need one through Helping Hoof. I have been saving all my pennies and on the constant lookout for anything that might work, all the while starting and operating a nonprofit. Helping Hoof is a 501(c)(3) organization providing equine assisted therapeutic activities and opportunities for growth and learning for those with developmental, emotional and mental challenges. Saving has been slow to say the least. But, the Universe is full of magic and the story of how I made a home for myself, my family and Helping Hoof seems to be, all of the sudden, rapidly unfolding!

 In May, I visited a friend and looked at property in the Sierra Foothills. On the last night of my trip, I found a listing in a place that I hadn't checked recently because I thought I was priced out. This listing was also too much, but it said it was potential owner-carry, which is essential for me because I do not qualify for any kind of bank loan because the majority of my income goes right back into running Helping Hoof. It turned into a I-am-already-up-here-so-why-not kind of situation, and we looked at it the next morning before I made the return trip to LA. Since it is a vacant parcel without a real address, we had to use a cross street to find it. And wouldn't you know, that cross street was called Little Wild Horse Road! Hello tiny wink from the Universe??? As we were getting in the car, my friend showed me the satellite maps and asked, why is it purple? We both had one guess and we were right...

When we arrived, we found the land COVERED in speckled clarkias (sweet purple flowers)! Like superbloom styles. The flowers were practically vibrating and it all felt intoxicating! The land also has strong, healthy oaks and pines, and a place to maybe encourage a pond and even an elderberry tree. There is a view of near-by table-top mountains. One of the neighbors has horses, so horsey stuff is possible there. It has a well (no pump or housing) and 1.5 power poles. Supposedly power isn't still on the property, but it is close. I recently found out that there was once potentially a septic tank. A TON would need to be done to make it ready even to rough it. But that said, it is off to a better start than quite a few of the other places I looked.

There have been a lot of things both big and small that have given me pause. But every time I started to see a roadblock, help was offered with a generosity that has been humbling in the most beautiful way. Solutions popped into my head that seemed logical and do-able. I was worried about the price, but it went down FORTY percent right after telling a friend that I couldn't do it at the current price. I took a leap of faith, made an offer with all the hard earned pennies I saved, and am happy to share that it was accepted!

While I get my little ranch going, I have an offer to live on another friend's land, and a line on a horse friend for Hajime (horses can't live without other horses). There have been so many signs along the way that this is the right thing for me that I just can't ignore.

Now, if your world is a place of solid logic and the concrete and the bit about the flowers was a little cringe for ya, maybe skip over this next bit, but for those of you that have a taste for the more mystical things in this life...

I very much believe that animals carry medicines that they can share with us as outlined in Medicine Cards: The Discovery of Power Through the Ways of Animals. If you have visited my home you have seen Turkey, Raven and Flicker feathers and know what they mean to me. Ever since discovering the Medicine Cards, I have always wanted a crane feather and pictured in my heart that one day, when I was ready, one would fly over and gift a feather to me like in the deck. Friends, after I saw the property, an Egret flew over while I was with Hajime and dropped the most perfect, courage inspiring and path affirming sign gently to the earth in front of me.

So that was a lot of words, but maybe not since they represent a dream for me. Having a home for me, Hajime, my family, and Helping Hoof, where we can be as gentle and kind as is right, where we can exist on our own terms, and where we can breathe freely and deeply and be our most unabashed authentic selves, would mean the literal world to me.

If you think you can contribute financially, share this fundraiser or help out in any other way I would be forever grateful. I feel awkward asking, but know that I am not the first, nor will I be the last person making this kind of request.

SEVERAL MANY THINGS (some of them probably costing over $15k) will need paying for, here is the current list:

-well flow and potability tests

-soil tests for a septic system

-closing costs for the land purchase

-moving costs for me

-permits

-well pump, housing and storage tank

-pulling power to the property

-a septic system (new, replaced, repaired???)

-A vet exam for a friend for Hajime (to make sure I can cover their future health expenses)

-trailering for horses

-A friend for Hajime

-RV/ or pay to move Mama Vroman's trailer (which would be part of the second phase, trying to get my mama out of the nursing home, it is GHASTLY in there)

Thank you for reading this, thinking of me and helping to make this dream of mine a reality.