Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately I’ve found nothing with pasture in my price range (all 1500+ and training barns, so training has to be added on top of that.) Uhh… nup. 
Still looking.
Well, OP, I feel for you. I moved to far northern California to get grass for my horses. (And it’s a lot of work to irrigate it and maintain it.)
I think you need to look at plan B. What is your real problem? If your horse needs to be out, there are dry lot situations where the horse can be out 24/7, but with other horses. He’ll get dusty and cut and there may be limited shelter, but horses can be pretty happy in that arrangement.
Another option is a barn with ‘in and outs’, meaning a stall with an attached small sun paddock. You can get pipe stalls, 12x24 or so, covered or partially covered, where the horse has some room to move and socialize. And the combine one of these with a place that will do a 1 hour turnout daily in a larger sand arena.
If you’re having trouble getting to the horse daily and he needs more exercise, perhaps you can find a half-lease person to take on some of the riding, since I presume paying a trainer to ride is out of the budget. In some barns, there are enough kids who want riding time that you can get a horse hacked for free.
These are the typical southern California solutions.
If none of those work, and it has to be grass pasture, then you will need to send your horse out of the area to get it, perhaps to a place where you won’t be able to visit regularly but you’ll know he’s cared for. The keyword you’re looking for is layup or retirement facilities, and you’ll find some in inland San Diego and Riverside counties.
Well, I’ll only be going to the barn 3-4 days a week, and priority for this horse is grass turnout with friends. He’s got a club foot and moving around helps him stay sound, and running with other horses makes him stay sane. I don’t know how sound he’d be for riding more often than 3-4 days a week, and he can’t do anything serious under saddle (jumping, very minimal cantering because he’s totally wacked at the canter, can’t keep his balance for more than half a circle, and if he’s out of balance lunges on the forehand and puts all his weight on the club foot. We’re working on him with this, but we’ve been very careful to do only balanced cantering because we don’t want to cause him damage.) He’s barefoot already so no problems being out with other horses.
The situation he was/is in before moving:
Stalled at night, out during the day with a herd on 10 acres of grass pasture. Grass hay and sometimes a little alfalfa. Ridden 3x a week. Dirty and happy.
I guess my plan B is keeping him there if needed, though he would be 14 hrs away from me. I think I need a better plan B. 
I could settle for 1/2 an acre with another horse or two. I’ve heard that’s available in San Marcos.
I could also settle for a private place with a few horses on some pasture or huge paddocks.
Basically, 1/3+ acre, grass, with other horses within 20 min. of Encinitas. Yeah right.
Sorry for the mondo post. I really do appreciate your help, I’m just frustrated with the situation after living in the land of acres of pasture, a dressage trainer, and arena for $200 a month 5-10 min from my house. Now, why can’t we plant a little patch of oregon 10 min from encinitas? 
[QUOTE=downthecenterlinetheycome;3550893]
Now, why can’t we plant a little patch of oregon 10 min from encinitas? :P[/QUOTE]
'cause it’s geography :lol:
Seriously- grass pasture take mondo amounts of maintenance. Irrigating on a regular basis, rotating horses, etc etc etc. It is costly- very costly. I think what I spend on my front and back patches of grass each month which maybe adds up to a 2000 sqft and I clearly see how costly it would be to manage just an acre or two. Since land is a premium- it’s just not common thing for such a desired arrangement. Check the higher elevation areas in the more mountainous places- harder to get to but usually greener.
Now desert weed riddled fields are a bit easier to come by but horses don’t seem to get all crazy about munching that. ??? picky equids!
Trust me- we’d all love to see rolling green pastures and for a couple short months sometimes we get that. Mostly it’s just a compromise. If movement is what he needs- many barns have walkabouts (hot walkers) you can use or pay for someone to exercise him on the days you cannot.
I live where San Diego, Orange and Riverside counties meet. My property is in Riverside county, about 1000 yards from the OC, a mile and a half from the San Diego county line. I have 5 acres, about half of that is devoted to dry paddocks. It would cost me about $2500 to $3000 a month to irrigate that amount of land sufficiently to keep grass on it.
Good luck with your search.
Sorry for the mondo post. I really do appreciate your help, I’m just frustrated with the situation after living in the land of acres of pasture, a dressage trainer, and arena for $200 a month 5-10 min from my house. Now, why can’t we plant a little patch of oregon 10 min from encinitas?
That would be nice. Let me know if you ever find something like that.
The new place I’m at has a lot of grassy areas, just not enclosed in a pasture. But I was able to let her stand and graze for awhile, something that wasn’t at all available where I used to board. As someone said upthread, the in and out type of stall is what you probably want to be in. Mine is about ten times the size as her old stall. She can actually run around in the back half of her paddock. Just keep looking around. I’m finding that word of mouth is a great source. I found two possible hunter trainers for my daughter through another boarder and I couldn’t find anything on the internet. Cruise down Rancho Santa Fe road. There were a few stables I’ve seen that don’t have websites. I also have seen a ton of dirt pasture situations. I’m not sure if all of them are private either.
Good luck!
Thanks again. I found a nice place in San Marcos, 30-40 min drive away though. Nice people, dirt paddocks about a 1/4 acre. It’s an option, but definitely not ideal. Still, I think I might be able to make it work. Still shopping around.
Savoir Faire Stables in San Marcos has 1/2 acre pastures (not grass) as well as large 16 by 20 barn stalls. Trainer on site is Sandy Burns Gardner. Nice facility
Yes, I went to visit Savoir Faire. Wonderful facilities and great people - unfortunately it probably won’t work for me because my family has a history of cancer and a place next door sprays their plants with pesticides. To anyone less sensitive to this, I would highly reccomend Savoir Faire from what I’ve seen of it, and I may still try to take some lessons there; not trying to bad mouth the place in the slightest. I’m in the progress of interrogating the people who spray to see if there’s any way I can make it work.
Other possible place didn’t work out either… still open to suggestions. Thanks a bunch.
The best solution I was able to come up with for my situationw as to find a place that had the option of 24x48 pipe corrals with good coverage. The corrals are set-up in quads so that they can socialize with each other. I wanted my horses to atleast feel like they were turned out. My ring is not great, but my horses are happy.
I’ll keep an eye out for you when I take my mare to the ISR/Old inspection at Tish Quirk’s on Monday. She’s in Rancho Santa Fe. Maybe there’s something out there not advertised.
The only other place I can think of is Valley Center, and that’s waaay too far away. I kept my mare there in pasture as a filly, but the drive was very long. Worth it, but much too far away from you in Del Mar.
Yeah, I talked to Tish. She’s very nice, and the location is great, but unfortunately she’s full up and her prices are over my budget anyway. Thanks so much though.
Still nothing.
Hey, how much is it usually to get a coggins test? My horse needs it for shipping, and it just came with his vet check last time (when I was just buying him.) Anything else usually needed for proffessional shippers?
