I’d look at Dixon/Vacaville/Fairfield but it would be a substantial commute. Lots of horse properties though and boarding available.
Livermore has stables, too, but is hot hot hot in the summer. I mention this because some people like that.
Do you know about the bay area equestrian network (http://bayequest.com)? It’s a wonderful resource for bay area horse folk. Lots of classified ad, bulletin boards, chat boards with local folks. You can browse through hundreds of boarding facilities and connect with other locals. Good luck!
I can relate, except I probably comment on a daily basis!
There are a lot of good options for retirement board that will be less than 3 hours away. You will just need to figure out which direction you would like to travel, or which micro-climate you think your guys would prefer.
As for eventing barns, there are many to choose from but again, you will need to decide how far you are willing to travel in order to ride. I board at the Woodside Horsepark and love having a cross country course in my “backyard”.
PhoenixFarm and her husband have an eventing barn up in Healdsburg so you may want to connect with her if she doesn’t see this thread.
If you decide to come out on a reconnaissance mission, I would be happy to meet you for coffee or speak with you on the phone!
OP boarding sounds like a MUCH better plan, and really frees up your options.
Personally, I am not a huge east bay fan, but thats just me. I feel like its hottest, and the most congested region of the bay. Lots of development for miles, and some really packed freeways.
I grew up (and have lived as an adult off and on) on the Peninsula and San Mateo County coast side. Woodside / Portola Valley is a horse mecca, lots of barns, the kind of place you see people ride their horse to the grocery store (the town is laced with bridle trails - but you must be a resident for a key - but a “horse town”).
South is an opposite commute to the City, its the lightest commute direction. Which surprised me when I started the commute years ago. And it has gotten more and more true. Traffic over the bridge to the east, and the freeways that side are a nightmare. The north, if you aren’t taking the ferry - means the Golden Gate and 101 - which again, very trafficy.
Meanwhile 280 to the south isn’t bad at all - you can basically drive traffic free (once you get out of the city - surface streets get backed up from bay bridge -east bay- traffic). I used to commute from San Carlos (well that was where my carpool started, I was living near half moon bay -Lovely!), and I could get to my office in the FiDi via car in 35-40 mins. Not bad at all.
SOOOO if you are willing to board, I would really recommend looking at San Mateo, San Carlos, Burlingame etc. These are all towns on the peninsula. Pleasant, with “up scale” areas. Lots of trees, near by open space, and cute downtowns with good restaurants and nice shops. All along the Caltrain route (if you don’t mind being a sardine) - and like I said, a very doable commute by car. Its not cheap by any means, but with your income it shouldn’t be an issue (still cheaper than SF).
Then for the riding horse, it could be in the Woodside / Portola Valley area. A bit further from the office, and you start to hit some traffic that far south, but you should be able to get there in an hour. Lots of barns and trainers to choose from (plus a few XC courses). Boarding is spendy, but the facilities tend to be very nice.
As for the retirees and other animals - like others said, you have a lot of options a few hours out. Cool weather better for them? Then you have the coast and santa cruz areas. Hot and dry better? Central valley. Prefer to head to wine country while visiting the ponies? North bay.
Look at Castro Valley out Crow Canyon and around the Hayward Hills. Also Livermore. It’s 45 minutes on BART. From Pleasanton and Livermore can be a 15-30 minute drive, but it’s a little less that way. There are still hidden horse properties in the Oakland Hills close to boarding barns and some lots for sale up here. It’s way out, but out Clayton Road & in Brentwood there are options… But that’s easily 60-90 minutes downtown with a BART drive combo.
I’ve lived here my whole life and I love it. I have family in Kentucky and spent a ton of time in Idaho, Montana & Wyoming, so I get the differences in property & cost of living. I’m not your usual Bay Area native. I live in the Oakland Hills and my horse is boarded 1 minute from my house. For property, It is doable…it’s expensive, but what you will give up is 2-3 hours a day on the commute.
To fully enjoy San Francisco anyway, you’re going to want to have the freedom to spontaneously go out and about on evenings and weekends that is hard to have when you have animals at home. Boarding is a good option here, and there are some nice facilities and great people to meet.
Another Bay Area native (born in Fremont!) and barn owner checking in. Most of my horse life has been spent in Sonoma County, and after a 13 year stint on the east coast I can’t imagine living anywhere else. It’s home to me, and I love it.
I could duplicate everything that’s been said, so I’ll try to hit the high points.
Finding a horse property within easy commute of the city probably won’t happen–but that doesn’t mean you should give up. I think with your income, finding a house you love with room for the little critters and good boarding for your herd of equines, on a livable commute is very doable. However, I would also strongly recommend making telecommuting part of the negotiations for your contract/position (assuming such is possible and you’re not like a doctor or something).
My sister lives and works in the city, in HR, and telecommuting and vacation time are the two biggest negotiating points for city jobs–and for her also. She was recently head hunted for a new company, and while her salary is essentially the same she now has 12 weeks paid vacation, and can work from home any day she doesn’t have meetings. She lives in the city, so uses her work at home days to come up and stay with us or my parents (they live in Sonoma County also).
For the retirees and the donkeys I’d def think North Bay–we’re fun to visit and we’re a lot more likely to have proper turnout. For the riding horse, either Woodside/Palo Alto/penninsula, or Livermore/Castro Valley/Diablo areas. Lots of nice barns, lots of good trainers, lots of options.
If you want to PM me, I can give you my phone number, I know a lot about the various options, but it’s a little long to type out. I also have donkeys and chickens and I breed goats, so can help with that, too.
Your life will be different here, but I can’t imagine it as bad. I love it here.
[QUOTE=PhoenixFarm;7895755]
Another Bay Area native (born in Fremont!) and barn owner checking in. Most of my horse life has been spent in Sonoma County, and after a 13 year stint on the east coast I can’t imagine living anywhere else. It’s home to me, and I love it.
I could duplicate everything that’s been said, so I’ll try to hit the high points.
Finding a horse property within easy commute of the city probably won’t happen–but that doesn’t mean you should give up. I think with your income, finding a house you love with room for the little critters and good boarding for your herd of equines, on a livable commute is very doable. However, I would also strongly recommend making telecommuting part of the negotiations for your contract/position (assuming such is possible and you’re not like a doctor or something).
My sister lives and works in the city, in HR, and telecommuting and vacation time are the two biggest negotiating points for city jobs–and for her also. She was recently head hunted for a new company, and while her salary is essentially the same she now has 12 weeks paid vacation, and can work from home any day she doesn’t have meetings. She lives in the city, so uses her work at home days to come up and stay with us or my parents (they live in Sonoma County also).
For the retirees and the donkeys I’d def think North Bay–we’re fun to visit and we’re a lot more likely to have proper turnout. For the riding horse, either Woodside/Palo Alto/penninsula, or Livermore/Castro Valley/Diablo areas. Lots of nice barns, lots of good trainers, lots of options.
If you want to PM me, I can give you my phone number, I know a lot about the various options, but it’s a little long to type out. I also have donkeys and chickens and I breed goats, so can help with that, too.
Your life will be different here, but I can’t imagine it as bad. I love it here.[/QUOTE]
Pheonix, i just peeped at your website and saw your moving to chalk hill! I showed there quite a bit growing up…its a gorgeous facility!
All these posts are making me homesick!
Nothing of use to add information wise- I am an interested lurker who is always fascinated by the differences in horse keeping across the country ( as well as cost of living, commuting times and options, etc). My grandfather used to live in Palo Alto and I remember going to visit there as a kid- having made a recent visit to SF as an adult, I saw nothing that I recognized. What struck me was how perfect the weather was-- every single day-- as in, clear blue sky, not too hot or cold-- and under the laid back vibe every one was BUSY-- striving, every minute of the day accounted for in some way-- and it seemed like a hard life in many ways to be honest.
I am originally from the middle of nowhere midwest US and I do hope to be able to get back there someday. My problem-- no jobs in what I do and so I moved for career reasons. I am homesick every day— miss the slower pace of life, the wide open spaces and the comfort of a never changing small home town ( dull as that might be, it is what I yearn for-- cities never did it for me…)
Right, so I have hijacked this long enough-- so I will go back to curious lurking and learning.
OP I do hope you find something that works for you!
At your age, I wouldn’t do it. I know the salaries are seductive, but you will be spending all your time commuting or working. And people aren’t very nice there. Don’t forget the fire danger in any wooded area–you’ll need a truck and trailer to evacuate. I have a friend who has a nice spread in Lodi. There is a commute train that runs through the Livermore Valley, but you’d have to transfer to BART to get to SF. Added to the expense is the need for earthquake insurance. And that housing bubble just might burst yet again. Oakland is out–crime, even in nicer areas, is alarming.
I grew up in (old) Burlingame. This plan…. living in one of San Francisco’s “bedroom communities” along El Camino (which parallels) the Caltrain tracks… will give you the best quality of life. The low range of foothills (just west of the San Andreas fault and Crystal Springs Reservoir on a google map) stops Half Moon Bay’s fog from encroaching most of the time. Weather on the Peninsula is consistently great.
If you live mid-Peninsula, you will be about half way between your high quality job in SF and high quality boarding in Woodside/Portola Valley. Back in the day, taking 280 to Woodside was a breeze of a commute. It’s an award-winning freeway.
And Woodside used to have lots of private barns plus a magnificent trail system that went through private properties. Other property owners could get keys (though there was a limited number and they were hard to get). But that trail system meant you could travel for miles and get to significant places like CTETA (and it’s great cross country course). You could ride to Wonderlich Park and from there, up to trails on Skyline Boulevard. I had friends who trained for the Tevis Cup out of their dinky little private barn in the center of Woodside and they were never hurting for places to ride.
However, these elements of that Bay Area paradise might have gone extinct by now. I know people rode their horses to Robert’s (the grocery store in the middle of Woodside) in the 1980s. I’m not sure there are still hitching racks. But given the traffic (and holy God, the cyclers), I can’t imagine doing that now.
Appsolute… are you saying that people still hack to Roberts?
In any case, it sounds like you guys can afford the area’s best option: Living mid-Peninsula. Housing will be expensive because this has been the area’s best option for a long time.
I have a couple of friends and clients in Woodside, and the trail system is still alive and well, and yes you can still hack to Roberts! The kids like to get smoothies in the summer.
Just going to add: I know every place isn’t for everybody, and that’s a good thing. And I dont, and haven’t, lived in the city proper. But, I’m surprised about the extreme amoun of negativity, and the folks who think Bay Area folks are unfriendly. I lived in Northern Virgina/DC area for 13 years. It was a huge adaptation for me, and I never quite mastered it. And one of my biggest complaints was the unfriendliness!
I often wonder if people just generally view different social norms as unfriendly?
When I was a kid we’d trail ride from Los Altos Hills to Rosatti’s (Alpine Inn)! We made a day of it and it was great fun!
[QUOTE=PhoenixFarm;7896389]
Just going to add: I know every place isn’t for everybody, and that’s a good thing. And I dont, and haven’t, lived in the city proper. But, I’m surprised about the extreme amoun of negativity, and the folks who think Bay Area folks are unfriendly. I lived in Northern Virgina/DC area for 13 years. It was a huge adaptation for me, and I never quite mastered it. And one of my biggest complaints was the unfriendliness!
I often wonder if people just generally view different social norms as unfriendly?[/QUOTE]
I had the EXACT same experience when i moved to DC. It was bizarre how unfriendly people seemed.
[QUOTE=PhoenixFarm;7896389]
Just going to add: I know every place isn’t for everybody, and that’s a good thing. And I dont, and haven’t, lived in the city proper. But, I’m surprised about the extreme amoun of negativity, and the folks who think Bay Area folks are unfriendly. I lived in Northern Virgina/DC area for 13 years. It was a huge adaptation for me, and I never quite mastered it. And one of my biggest complaints was the unfriendliness!
I often wonder if people just generally view different social norms as unfriendly?[/QUOTE]
I think it’s some of that, I think also that the Bay Area can be very stressful if money is tight. If OP was expecting a household income of < $200k, then moving from a place that is comfortable to here is often not so nice. But, OP is going to have a very healthy income, which solves many problems - from being able to have a nice and convenient place to live to being able to board nice places, etc.
The Bay Area is not monolithic, either. North Bay is much more laid back compared to Silicon Valley. Certain companies are very much about wringing every bit of value out of their employees and others are much more mellow about work-life balance and are looking to keep their people happy for the long haul. Some want your life to be your work. Others want you to go out and take your vacation and your evenings and weekends for your own pleasure.
One of my friends lives in Oakland and is super happy and has a lovely house with a really cute yard. He bikes to work. Even within areas, there are pockets of really great neighborhoods and really ukky neighborhoods. The high value of real estate is transforming many previously sketchy places.
It is true that the Bay can be more frenetic in terms of moving quickly, getting things done, compared to other areas. (I see the difference just from where I live on the North Coast compared to the City.)
I have never found the Bay in general to be unfriendly, though. This is a place where people say hello out on the trails, for example.
I’ve lived in California all my life and never had to evacuate a horse for a fire, very fortunately. The Bay Area alone is the size of a northeastern state.
So, the answer is, it’s a great place to live if you will have the money to set yourself up to enjoy it.
One of the great things about the North Bay is the ease of just picking some random road and driving it and finding all sorts of wonderful views and great little places you never expected. Taking a longcut home yesterday, I accidentally drove by Phoenix Farm. 
What a pleasure! This time of year, the fall color in the vineyards with the green grass popping up is especially nice.
I did a lot of my learner judging at Woodside…I would love to find a job that afforded me to be able to live out there!!! I found the people to be expremely friendly and so much more laid back than the east…
This thread is making me grateful that my SO has family in the Bay Area – we can go back for a taste to visit (he grew up there and we met there) and then return to our much cheaper normal lives.
