Austin, Texas vs. San Fransisco Bay Area for endurance/trail riding

[MrsMontana]

Hey COTH’ers, lend me your wisdom!

DH and I are relocating for work, and we are debating between Austin, TX, and the San Fransisco Bay area (within an hour commute). I’m a bit out of my element, though, and would really, really appreciate hearing from people that live in either area. What do you like? What do you not like?

We do have one child, with plans for more. And, we plan to locate near whatever good barn we find; so we have some flexibility in that regard.

Currently, I’m spoiled and so are the horses. We have 3-4 acres of pasture (just us), and can ride out from the barn. Looking for a barn with pasture (mare went nuts when was on stall only board in a previous city), and hopefully trail access from the barn (my time is limited with little children). But I could potentially work with nearby trail availability.

Looking online, it seems like both locations have barns with pasture, and some trail access. But without being able to check them out in person… Help! If you live in either area, please chime in!

Talk to me! Thank you!

[MrsMontana]

Also wanted to add that we have a lot of flexibility with working from home, so if you live in another major Texas city (i.e. Dallas, Houston, San Antonio), please chime in with your thoughts on those cities, too

[fairtheewell]

I live about 30 miles SW of Austin, and have 25 acres. I can’t ride off my property to a trail, but it is not too far to trailer to trails. We are in the Hill Country, so it is not all flat. My complaints are that it is really hot in the summer May-Oct, but if you ride before 10 and after 6, it is not too bad. We do have the coast a couple of hours away, and you can trailer your horse down there and ride on the beaches on the Gulf of Mexico. I wish it would rain…We are in a bad drought and hay can get expensive (the highest it got in 2010 was 14 per bale of coastal, not it is between 7-10. Compared to CA, the property taxes are lower…Texas has no income tax. You can buy a good-sized piece of property for a pretty decent price. Austin is a fun city to live “near” and the economy is doing well. The schools, however…not so good, but you can find some that are. People either love Texas or hate it. I basically love it.

[mvp]

I grew up riding in Woodside, CA.

There isn’t a whole lot of public land that’s near private farms unless…

You are way out there-- more than an hour from SF. If you worked in San Jose and moved down to Gilroy, you might be able to do this.

You live in Woodside which entails having a whole lot of money. Woodside has (or used to) a very nice trail system. It also has open land you can ride on. You can string together some very long rides, complete with hills there if you start out in Woodside.

[fairtheewell]

This site seems to have a lot of good info on Texas park trails, etc.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/parks/things-to-do/equestrian

[_BrionesRider]

If you are willing to commute to the East Bay, there are many trails. Briones Regional Park, Mount Diablo, Anthony Chabot, Redwood…there are more too.

I like the Bay Area because the temperature is usually very nice (between 60 and 85 in the summer) and there are beaches, mountains, forests, all within an hour drive.

[MrsMontana]

Thank you all for your replies they really are helpful! I’m going to check out the link for Texas park trails provided above now. (I was having a hard time finding something like that). Thanks again for all your thoughts!

[GotMyPony]

If you want to know what the endurance scene is in either area, go to the website of the American Endurance Riding Conference http://www.aerc.org and look at the Ride Calendar to see how the areas compare in terms of number and locations of actual rides.

(Aside: Austin is a great city, has a lot going on, but having lived in Texas for many years I can tell you that if you don’t think you’ll like 100 degree temps from May through September, I would pass. It’s why we moved away!)

[MrsMontana]

[QUOTE=GotMyPony;7044360]
If you want to know what the endurance scene is in either area, go to the website of the American Endurance Riding Conference http://www.aerc.org and look at the Ride Calendar to see how the areas compare in terms of number and locations of actual rides.

(Aside: Austin is a great city, has a lot going on, but having lived in Texas for many years I can tell you that if you don’t think you’ll like 100 degree temps from May through September, I would pass. It’s why we moved away!)[/QUOTE]

I’ll check out that site. Especially since as we evaluate our options with family friendliness and quality of life criteria, for us, Austin is winning. Anywhere we move will be a climate change from freezing cold, but I think we’ll be fine with the heat, and riding early in the day. (DH says ever since he went to Georgia he’s “rewired” his baseline. No more snow in July!

[49_er]

If you can afford it, and it is very expensive, I would love to be in Woodside. The weather is great, the trails used to be great (I rode there from 1959 to 1985)…but bay area traffic is horrific! Texas is hot!!! And I live in Florida, now. Where the trail riding is awesome by the way.

[fairtheewell]

This might be of interest.

http://texasenduranceriders.org/

[irish_horse]

It might depend on your goals too. I live just north of Sacramento, with access to the Tevis trail and more. Many Bay Area people like the convenience of coming a couple hours and training on the trails for their ultimate Tevis goal. (I like to ride the trails, but not with Tevis in mind). I think the Bay Area weather is great, with many rides available within a few hours. It’s all a balance, I hope you find the perfect place for you, horse and family!

[mvp]

One summer I helped a woman train her husband’s horse for the Tevis, riding out of central Woodside. I never want to trot 35 miles in a row again (while she cantered on her horse). But FYI: It can be done. There are even hills (the small range between the San Andreas fault) and the coast).

[irish_horse]

You can definitely train for Tevis by staying in the Bay Area. Or drive to the mountains too. But I’m not sure of that area of Texas having big hills, etc. Plus a bit longer drive. :winkgrin:

[Xanthoria]

There’s a great barn with 30 and 10 acre pastures on Pacifica (20-30 mins from SF depending on where you live in the city, and no bridge tolls) with trails going up Montara Mountain right off the property - great for Tevis conditioning I’d have thought.

$340/month for the cheapest pasture, several other endurance riders there (one who did Tevis last year) and a great bunch of boarders.

PM me if interested in more details!

[MrsMontana]

Not making it easier Looking around, I think we’d love to live in Sacramento (oh, the trails and dreamy weather! And not as crazy crowded as SF). But for now, the job market in Austin beckons. It can be tricky to strike the right balance of work /family/ horses. All your guys’ comments, though, definitely mean we’ll check it out again in 5 years.

[Texarkana]

I usually don’t wander over to this board, but I saw Austin in the title and had to chime in. Never been to CA, but I lived in Austin and miss it terribly. My horses didn’t live there with me, but I had lots of friends with horses.

Lots of places to ride. Tons. Parks, private land, etc. I don’t think my horses would have appreciated the heat or the lack of lush pasture, but otherwise the area seemed decently horse-friendly. Services were abundant, hay was expensive yet available even during the drought. Boarding prices seemed very fair and downright low outside the city. Same goes for land prices.

Austin is just a great place to live. Cool town, lots of amenities and jobs, and a low cost of living. I was a teacher there, so I have some opinions on the Texas Education system. But I’d go back in a heartbeat if the DH didn’t love his job here so much.

[ZiptotheStar]

I’m not an avid trail rider by any means, but when I first moved to Austin I boarded at a barn that backed up to the Onion Creek Park. It had tons and tons of area for trail riding in the park. Might want to look around that area for a place! It’s still pretty close into town as well.

[cowgirljenn]

If you don’t mind traveling some, there are tons of places to ride in Texas. I’m near Waco (about 1 1/2 hours north of Austin) and I have so many places to ride within a two hour drive. If you aren’t just limited to endurance riding, there are the Texas Trail Challenge events - trail riding with obstacles - and there are a lot of NATRC events in Texas too (not as fast paced as endurance riders, but faster-paced than the TTCs). There’s a variety of terrain, too, depending on which park or ranch you go to ride at.

I am just learning about some of this as I have a horse who was SUPPOSED to be a show horse who decided to be a trail horse instead.

If you like live music, especially non-mainstream music, then Austin gets another boost. The downside to Austin is the traffic, but I’m guessing that’s an issue in CA, too.

(I love Texas, I am trying to recruit more horse people to love Texas!)

[suz]

hey cowboyjenn am bumping this to ask for more info on living in texas.
op where did you decide and how are you settling in?