"Return on Investment Analysis"

In my daily business activities, Return on Investment Analysis is a major concern.  We spend hours of research and examination on behalf of our clients and our own ventures.  Increasing R.O.I. 1% is a cause for significant celebration.

The rest of my life is spent in the world of horses...a world where R.O.I. has a different method of calculation.  About 10 years ago I spent more money than I had at the time to buy our daughter a horse for her 16th birthday.  She already was a horse owner who displayed some talent and a significant interest.  This new horse, I hoped, would further that interest and ability as well as serving as a link to her old Dad and a distraction from what I considered to be negative influences – like boys.  “Chance”, a big sorrel gelding, was well received and apparently loved.  Distractions, though generally positive, did occur.  Time with Chance and her old Dad suffered through the progression of a young woman’s life.

Over the years, Chance has brought a cost of time and care, as well as vet bills, feed, etc. – not to mention the original investment.  Traditional R.O.I. Analysis would point out a “not so smart” use of resources.

Our horse world, however, calculates differently.  Chance, even at a distance, kept our daughter’s horse interest alive.  He gave me many miles of trails in remote areas of Ohio and even Tennessee.  By being with Chance, I was being with her – even with a distance between.

Life has a tendency to run in circles and distractions tend to be eliminated as we return to our roots.  Thus it has been with us.  After the distractions of school, softball, cheerleading, two knee surgeries, a young man, college, a marriage, 3 children, a nursing degree, and even a recent bout with cancer, time has evolved the relationship of Daughter, old Dad, and horse.  It has been a process – not a single event.  But the process was culminated on a sunny September afternoon.  As we were finishing a ride on our farm and heading into the late afternoon sun, my horse and I made a 90˚ turn.  I looked back to see my daughter, now a cancer survivor, aboard that big sorrel gelding – awash in the early fall color of gold – leading her Mother through a natural portal in the woods.

A better R.O.I. could never be attained.

Jon Heffner
September 5, 2010