Best rural areas with horse communities - looking for my new home

[Risuena]

@Levitate

I love Santa Fe & Taos but have the same concerns about horse care & property crime.

As I was reading your post, I was thinking New Mexico meets most if not all of your wish list. Taos is great but it’s a small town so you don’t have as many vet/farrier options and you are a long way from surgery centers, about 2 1/2 hours and much farther if you want a vet school quality referral center. There are more quality vet and farrier options around Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

There are some areas outside Albuquerque might also interest you - are you familiar with Placitas, or the towns in the East Mountains?

Of course there is crime here but honestly I don’t think it’s that bad outside of some areas that it’s best to avoid. I have two friends that live outside of town that almost never lock their houses. That’s literally, not figuratively.

Feel free to pm me if you want. I lived in Taos for a couple of years and have been in Abq for 15 years now. NM isn’t perfect but it has a lot of good qualities!

[rhymeswithfizz]

You just described my neighborhood. Anything south and east of Denver fits your bill to a tee. Look at Sedalia, Parker, and Elizabeth, CO. You might think, oh no, Colorado winters, but our snow is brief and goes away quickly. Also, we don’t have ticks, so we don’t have Lyme. (Well there might be one or two but l have lived here for 25+ years and have never even seen one. NOT ONE.) Our views are breathtaking. We are the heart of horse country in Colorado, with great vets and services, Colorado Horse Park, two of the country’s best large animal hospitals nearby (Littleton Large and CSU), and even a Dover. The summers are not too hot, and the winters are not too cold, but we still have four distinct seasons. (Sunny 60 degree days in January are not unheard of, and it is extremely rare for it to get below 0F.) Close to towns like Castle Rock where your partner can have a high-end farm-to-table type restaurant.

You can certainly spend $1M+ if you want, but there are definitely turnkey horse properties in the $500k range. The further east you go (Kiowa, Elbert), the cheaper they will get, and the more land you will be able to get for your budget.

The mountain areas are stunningly beautiful (you mentioned Telluride), but the snow volume up there is significantly higher, and usable/open land is much harder to come by ($$$$$), thus the horse services are much more slim (and also more $$$).

Good luck!!

[RMJacobs]

I totally agree with what rhymeswithfizz said. I sold my horse property just outside Parker last year, with great sadness. I lived ten minutes from the grocery store (and restaurants, hardware stores, etc.), had a twenty minute commute to work, and had my horses at home on five acres. I had a stunning view of the Front Range of the Rockies from Pike’s Peak to Long’s Peak, and I could definitely see the weather coming! I lived on top of a ridge and didn’t have to worry about flooding.

We had no fleas at all, and I never saw a tick in the 24 years I lived in that area.

I would have preferred to stay there for the rest of my life, but age (both mine and my husband’s) and disability (mine) caught up to us, and it was time to stop trying to keep the horses at home,and ultimately time to move from a climate that has winter.

Rebecca

[keysfins]

@rhymeswithfizz

You just described my neighborhood. Anything south and east of Denver fits your bill to a tee. Look at Sedalia, Parker, and Elizabeth, CO. You might think, oh no, Colorado winters, but our snow is brief and goes away quickly. Also, we don’t have ticks, so we don’t have Lyme. (Well there might be one or two but l have lived here for 25+ years and have never even seen one. NOT ONE.) Our views are breathtaking. We are the heart of horse country in Colorado, with great vets and services, Colorado Horse Park, two of the country’s best large animal hospitals nearby (Littleton Large and CSU), and even a Dover. The summers are not too hot, and the winters are not too cold, but we still have four distinct seasons. (Sunny 60 degree days in January are not unheard of, and it is extremely rare for it to get below 0F.) Close to towns like Castle Rock where your partner can have a high-end farm-to-table type restaurant.

You can certainly spend $1M+ if you want, but there are definitely turnkey horse properties in the $500k range. The further east you go (Kiowa, Elbert), the cheaper they will get, and the more land you will be able to get for your budget.

The mountain areas are stunningly beautiful (you mentioned Telluride), but the snow volume up there is significantly higher, and usable/open land is much harder to come by ($$$$$), thus the horse services are much more slim (and also more $$$).

Good luck!!

:yes::yes::yes:

Good stuff here south and east of Denver!

((Waves to
@rhymeswithfizz ))

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[xeroxchick]

Landrum SC is awfully nice. Close to Tryon and hunt country, lots of horse properties and horse professionals, best of all there is a trail system one can join that is like 40 miles and meanders around farms and hills. My cousin lives there and every time I visit I want to move there.

[rhymeswithfizz]

@keysfins

:yes::yes::yes:

Good stuff here south and east of Denver!

((Waves to
@rhymeswithfizz ))

​​​​​​

High fives to my Colorado sisters!!