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A desperate plea for help - how can I find a boarding with TURNOUT in San Diego, CA?

Dressage
#1

A couple of months ago I posted that I was moving to San Diego, CA and needed to find a trainer. Forget trainer - I just need to find somewhere to board with serious turnout! I’m at my wits’ end. Should I post this somewhere else (Horse Care?)??? To anyone who can help me with this, here’s some basic criteria:

Del Mar/Olivenhain/Rancho Santa Fe/Encinitas area… Encinitas is where I’ll be living.
Dressage trainer is a plus, as is dressage arena. Private places OK, doesn’t have to be a real boarding stable.
PASTURE! Even a 1/2 acre would be adequite. The more the better. 24/7 pasture or a lot a lot of turnout.

Also, does anyone know anyone in the Olivenhain area who has horses at their house and wouldn’t mind taking on one more for boarding? Or a private facility or something? I saw alot of paddocks when I drove through there. Thanks so much!

#2

You will probably need to go north and inland into Ramona, Temecula, Fallbrook, etc. There may be something in Oceanside.

The California Horsetrader is your friend:
http://www.horsetrader.com/

Good luck. Pasture is hard to come by, especially with riding facilities and especially with a trainer. Land is expensive, and water is expensive and not always available. Worse, it’s been a very dry year.

If you’re okay with turnout on a dry lot, you’ll have more options.

#3

Our barn is in Olivenhain, but I’m very familiar with all of the areas you’re talking about. As far as I know, right now, there isn’t anywhere that has turnout. I have heard that Beth Ball’s new barn, which is in the process of being built in Olivenhain (at the end of Lone Jack Rd), will have turnouts, but I don’t think they’re all that big, and I’m not sure if she’s taking new clients. My barn did have some turnout, but we just sold that piece of the property because land around here is too expensive–we paid more in property taxes on that piece than we brought in with board. We have a dirt turnout in the back that is great until we get rains, and horses can go out there as long as you’d like, but it floods in the winter. Land around here is really too expensive. I doubt you’ll be able to find anything near Encinitas with turnout options. Sorry I don’t have better news for you!

#4

I have to agree with the others. It doesn’t really exist in San Diego…

#5

Well, if you decide you’re up for Bonsall/Fallbrook, I can PM you my barn’s info. It’s a private facility but with lovely rubber footing, option of either 24/7 turnout or big stalls with runs (turnout extra with stalls but available), a fabulous dressage instructor who comes in as needed, and super nice people. Truly fabulous care and all the horses are beyond happy there. For me it is WELL worth travel time!

Depending on where you are in Encinitas , it could be as little as 30 minutes to get here, or as long as 45. Try using RandMcnally or mapquest from your address to Bonsall.

There are a couple places in Oceanside that have turnout but they seem to be pretty restricted (ie, no shoes on shod horses) and are more NH or beginnerH/J barns. If you get desperate, PM me & I’ll get you the contact info on the places in Oceanside and/or my barn. And if you decide to come up this way, there are also a few places you really, really, REALLY don’t want to be at. :no:

#6

I think there are still a few places a few miles north on Twin Oaks Valley Road in San Marcos. I haven’t ever inquired about boarding there though, just have driven by the pastures.

I live in East County for this exact reason. Which in turn makes a dressage trainer hard to come by.

#7

Damn. I really would prefer for it not to be too far out (I can’t drive yet, and it’ll be hard to wrangle a ride out of my parents if its over 15 minutes.) Well, I guess I’ll have to keep looking… and looking… and looking. Is there any way I can contact Beth Ball (does she have a website, or?) If there’s any chance of getting turnout, I’d like to look around. Thanks so much.

#8

Beth Ball doesn’t have a website. I asked my friend who grooms for her though and the barn won’t be done for quite a while, and she isn’t taking new clients either. The barn will be private and not open to boarders.

#9

Have you tried posting on craigslist in the farm section? That is actually how I found my barn (or rather she found me :wink: ). I couldn’t take it where I was another day & posted a request on craigslist for recommendations. I actually got quite a few responses from private places. Couldn’t hurt to try!

#10

I sent you a PM, SBL. :wink:

#11

I brought my horses here from the east coast, Maryland, to be exact. It is RARE to find something with grass turnout here in SoCal, and if you do, it will be sure to cost $$$$$$. Dry lot turnout is around and most of the time, you have to take turns with other horses so you get an hour at most. I am at a barn where the ring is YUCK (not flat, not great footing, but ridable for now) and you are allowed to turnout (in one of the rings, round pens or small dry lot) for as long as you want to as long as you stick around the farm and don’t leave them unsupervised. I also have my horses in a LARGE pipe corral (that is just about all you find here in the desert) which is 12x48 so they can move around. This is definitely a shock from being in Maryland where horses are turned out in groups, all day, or all night, or both and have plenty of places to roam and plenty of grass. Good luck with your search!

#12

Tish Quirk’s farm iin Rancho Santa Fe has stalls and large grass pastures. She has great help there too.

www.tishquirk.com

#13

Also try Nick Wagman’s barn - Clear Spring Farm - in Rancho Santa Fe. Small dry turnouts and larger grass paddocks. Big airy barn, quiet. Dressage ring.

If you need his number please PM me.

#14

I was in a weird temporary boarding situation once where there was no turnout, but with the appropriate motivation ($$) I convinced the owner to turn my horse out overnight every night in the indoor arena.

#15

Grass turnout is VERY limited there as well, and wouldn’t at all be what the OP is looking for, unfortunately.

#16

Different horsey lifestyle out here.

Grass turnout can be found but it’s ubber expensive and you’ll probably need to look in Temecula maybe Escandido. I just looked at a house/barn in Temecula for sale with 8 acres of grass turnout. It’s expensive because maintaining grass anything requires irrigation and supurb maintenance. It’s not only costly but time consuming. Because this house has been left empty for so long- all the pastures have to be restored. That’s a lot of freaking work.

Successful horse management in So Cal demands daily interaction and exercise plan with horses. That’s the trade off really for beautiful year round weather. My horses get handwalked, rotated turnout, lunged, ridden or driven daily to stay in shape. They have 24’x36’-48’ stall+walkout each (because it’s my backyard!) and let me tell you that is the exception to the normal 12X24’ stall+walkout. My turnout is a small riding ring.

#17

Yep. It’s pretty sad.

As far as grass- remember that this area is basically a desert. If you have an unirrigated pasture, it will be green for maybe 2 months out of the year down there, less up here. Because we get so little rain, pastures get overgrazed and turn into dust and tumbleweeds very quickly.

#18

[QUOTE=Ambrey;3548428]
Yep. It’s pretty sad.

As far as grass- remember that this area is basically a desert. If you have an unirrigated pasture, it will be green for maybe 2 months out of the year down there, less up here. Because we get so little rain, pastures get overgrazed and turn into dust and tumbleweeds very quickly.[/QUOTE]

A US rainfall map illustrates this very clearly. East of the Mississippi river, nearly everywhere gets 50-70 inches of moisture a year, and it’s fairly evenly divided through the year. In Southern California, average rainfall is about 12 inches, and it mostly comes January-March.

#19

OP I live in Encinitas. Unfortunately I haven’t found that there are any stables close by with turn-out. The place I’ve moved my horse to has a huge in and out stall and a fantastic trainer available though. A bit pricey but very close to where I live. PM me if you’d like more details.

#20

[QUOTE=poltroon;3548487]
A US rainfall map illustrates this very clearly. East of the Mississippi river, nearly everywhere gets 50-70 inches of moisture a year, and it’s fairly evenly divided through the year. In Southern California, average rainfall is about 12 inches, and it mostly comes January-March.[/QUOTE]

For a horse treat we hand graze on the front lawn :winkgrin:

If you see grass- it’s irrigated. This past winter (which is referred to not as winter but “the wet season”) we had more rain than usual so we had nice rolling green hills and mountains but alas that last until… what… maybe April?

Actually today we had rain!!! It’s been the first rain I’ve seen since April :eek: I had to go outside and hangout for a while just because of the occasion!!! But that was at work in Irvine- still hasn’t rained at my house which is in the IE.

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