So, where would you choose to live, with horses, outside of the US? Must-haves would be good vets, trainers (not necessarily big-name; small shows are all we’d ever do), farriers, etc., access to lots of trail riding, friendly reasonably substantial horse community.
For the humans, decent health care, good places to eat, maybe a university/bookstores/libraries not too far away but a smaller town is preferable, and English speakers to help until we learn the local language.
without question, England
Anywhere in Western Europe.
England or Ireland
I’m pretty comfortable in Canada but much of the British landscape is custom made for riding with right of ways and things like the Ridgeway across the South West. Parts of Europe are lovely too. So are parts of Australia. But all these places are more expensive than the US.
agree with scribbler the bridleways and right to pass lanes and paths are extensive, mapped and easily accessed from many small town. They are a gem of England I have walked many miles on them.
Without any doubt Britain.
I moved to the UK last summer, East Anglia area. I love it and would stay permanently if I could. I’m finding livery (board) to be on par with where I’ve lived in the US (D.C. area, Lexington KY, etc) for the nicer yards. Yards with fewer amenities are obviously less expensive.
Everyone raves about the bridleways, but how useful they are to you will depend on the particular yard. There aren’t many bridleways where I am, so we mostly hack on the road and into the local forest park. If I had a lorry or trailer here we’d be about a 10 minute haul from almost endless forest hacking.
Cost of living is rising (island…), fuel isn’t cheap (island…), people have been really lovely, travel to rest of Europe is relatively cheap and easy. I miss my giant diesel truck, roads with shoulders on them. Tesco supermarket is amazing and I don’t know how I’m going to survive afterward without it. 
Move close to an Aldi supermarket 
I’m going to.pick an outlier & say The Netherlands.
Beautiful countryside, really good food & horse-friendly. Of course: KWPN & Friesians 
Everyone I met there - mainly a Dutch friend’s large extended family - was super-nice.
Amsterdam for Big City fun, but I loved my stay in Oostelbeers.
I’d say the same. Lived there for 4 years and as long as mountain climbing isn’t a hobby - it’s the ideal country. Also as long as you aren’t made of sugar and don’t melt in the rain…but it’s no worse than PNW or the UK.
I’d move back in a heartbeat. Full board, with massive indoor, 2 outdoors, grazing all summer – $300 / month and I could bike there from my city-center apartment in 20 minutes. Oh and it had trail access for HORSE ONLY trails.
UUUUUGH I miss it.
I would choose either Scotland, Iceland or Portugal to move to if i were to go expat.
Belgium
All of that can be found in nearly any European country - the question is, can you actually live in that country?
They all have different requirements for entrance. Some are great about really wanted to attract entrepreneurs and even remote workers (aka, digital nomads); some aren’t (England). Some really want you to come live there, some don’t (England). Some make the process super easy, some don’t. (Ditto.) Are you financially independent, or are you hoping to get a work visa? Those requirements also differ from country to country.
Can you tell I’ve been trying to figure out how to move to England for quite some time?!
Here’s a good article that talks about digital nomads in Europe; note that some of the countries listed are probably on Putin’s hit list.
This. It can be hard to move to a different country.
My best advice is if you are of European ancestry look into whatever country your ancestors came from. I’m qualified to move to two different countries just based on the fact that my grandparents were born there. It makes it a heck of a lot easier to move.
If I had my choice and I was moving for horse reasons, I’d do France, the Netherlands, or Ireland, in that order.
However, because of the relative closeness of all EU countries, pretty much all of them have a wealth of horse activities.
Pretty much every European country has English as a requirement in the school system, so most people under about 30-40 will speak English. The country and how rural you are will determine how much English they actually speak. But no matter what, plan on taking intensive language classes so you speak their language.
Often overlooked and closer to home are Canada, Mexico, and Brazil. Canada will obviously be not too much different than the US (in customs and language) but you’d still have access to the USA shows if you don’t want to give those up.
Mexico and Brazil have become more and more popular with expats and I do know of a few people who moved down permanently with their horses and love it. Cost of living is very cheap, and from what I understand there’s a big horse show scene in both countries. However, one of them has an armed guard on the property; she’s had some minor issues with theft (Brazil. Though she does say she loves it there and 99% of the time it’s safe, clean, and fun. It’s just that 1% that she doesn’t trust.)
Another thing to think about is what language you can pick up the easiest. I took 2 years of Spanish and French. I can speak elementary school level French, but I could never pick up Spanish. I actually understand a lot of the language, but when I try to speak it, it comes out as complete nonsense. So for me, anywhere that speaks Spanish would be out.
Amsterdam also has a riding school that might be one of the most stunning places I have ever seen horses being ridden: De Hollandsche Manege, see https://dehollandschemanege.nl/ and check out the photo gallery. Even with the imposing 19th century grandeur when chatting with them they were all “why did you not bring riding gear, you could be on a horse!” Board wasn’t even ridiculous, and they’re next to a huge park (Voldelpark) for hacking out.
That said, I ended up later falling in with the guy who ran the Royal Stables in Stockholm and he was also super-friendly and wanted to put me on a horse. (The Swedish royal indoor isn’t as nice as at the school in Amsterdam though!) Everyone I’ve ever talked to in northern Europe who spoke horse has been down-to-earth and friendly and not at all pretentious.
Downtown Stockholm is one of only two places I’ve ever been that I noticed two buttons at some road intersections to request a walk signal, one at standard pedestrian height and one at mounted-rider height.
I have always thought Australia or New Zealand would be wonderful and tick most (all?) of your boxes in the populated areas. But I have no firsthand experience to back that up.
Slightly biased here…but Australia is pretty great! Horsiness depends on the area of course, I’m on the fringe of our third largest city in what is a relatively expensive but quite horsey area, in particular for jumping and dressage. Good farriers are hard to get in with as they’re all extremely busy, but there’s plenty of choice. Excellent vets, plenty of trainers. Lots of options for places to eat, we’re big on our Indian, Thai and Chinese takeaways here! Higher end stuff is usually further in to the city, but it’s a baaaddddd traffic day if it takes more than half an hour to the CBD from where I live.
To move to Australia you very quickly have to get used to us abbreviating every other word, except the ones you’d expect and then we inexplicably lengthen them 
The climate also varies, most places get HOT in summer, humidity vs dry varies (here it’s super humid). You have to go way south to get anything that resembles much of winter. Personally, I love where I live, and I don’t see much that would convince me to move elsewhere!
For a horse scene though, I’ve always thought parts of England would be lovely, I grew up as a kid reading English pony novels! NZ I’d move to for the scenery alone.
Thank you that!
What a gorgeous venue & riding activities - lessons, hacks & High Tea (with “Ladies Saddle”) seem very reasonably priced 
Now I need to figure out a way to get back to Amsterdam 
&Yes, I found the Dutch to be most friendly 
My visit did not include the Vondelpark, instead we took the boat tour.
Just a 1-day stay before my flight home, after a week in the countryside.
Scotland!
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