A farrier (horseshoer) is starting up a new business in the Farmington area with plans for a clinic to be held in Wilton on June 22.
Farrier Liselle Batt has returned to the area and opened Western Maine Horseshoeing and Trimming on a 135-acre farm here. To work with horses is a life-long dream come true for Batt.
Batt's family moved here when her father, Richard Batt became CEO of Franklin Community Health Network when she was in high school. After attending college and graduate school out of state, she received a PhD in geology and went on to become an exploration geologist for oil and gas giant ExxonMobil.
Batt's husband, Austin Holland, took a job with Nabors Drilling and the couple lived in Houston, Texas, for five years, working on oil fields all around the world.
"My husband and I are both from this area and we missed our rural life and our family. So we decided to leave our corporate lifestyle and re-settle back home," Batt said.
The couple purchased 135 acres in East Dixfield and built a small home and barn off the grid by using solar electricity.
"We built it ourselves with help from Austin's dad, who is a contractor in Peru, Maine," she said. Holland continues to work a rotational job overseas - his office is in Saudi Arabia - while Batt completed an eight-week farrier course in Washington state at the Mission Farrier School.
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