To make things more confusing, at least in the MD part of the DMV, we get our drivers’ licenses at the MVA!
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Um, could your DH possibly be dissuaded from the move? I have lived in that area twice. The first time I found the commuting to be absolutely soul-sucking. So much so that my second tour I paid through the nose to rent a small house situated where I could walk to work in Bethesda. That was much more enjoyable.
On my walk to work I’d listen to WTOP news and traffic, and that really made me appreciate my stroll even more. The huge rent payments saved me at least two or three hours in commuting time every day compared to my first assignment there. But I was just there for two year tours and knew there was an end to the madness.
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Hunh, I didn’t know DMV wasn’t DelMarVa. I figured it just sort of folded DC in to the term, but (apparently) what do I know?
Anyway, I’m from Baltimore and even though I teach in DC I avoid doing any sort of driving in VA as much as possible. It always sucks. I even show outside of my zone more than in it because I hate going south!
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All the media/journalist types have been calling it the DMV for several years now.
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Right there are MARC trains that run out from Brunswick Maryland to Union Station- that line runs right along very horse friendly area of Boyds/Dickerson etc with a cute station in Dickerson. Once upon a time it was called the party train due impromptu Happy Hours started springing up among the commuters. Haha. So much depends on where in the area your husband will be working. Reston is a nice area and the Reston Town Center is getting a hip revamp with some nice restaurants moving in.
Frankly if DH will initially be working in Reston - I’d rent a place near his work in Reston you’ll be close to places in Middleburg/Leesburg area and then see where he ends up being stationed. You’ll learn more about the lay of the land and traffic patterns here.
Not true at all, I do this drive every day and it’s under an hour regardless of traffic conditions. There’s no need to go through DC at all and I’m only on the Beltway long enough to cross the river and then get off immediately. You couldn’t pay me to commute from Arlington to anywhere off of 66 or near Leesburg with the way the major roads get backed up. It doesn’t sound like OP wants to live in an urban environment though which changes the calculus.
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Getting from Haymarket/Warrenton to the Vienna metro stop would be a hellish commute all by itself before you add an hour on the metro, IMO. There are way better solutions, mostly on the MD side. I know it sounds counter-intuitive but northern VA has just gotten so overdeveloped where MD hasn’t.
Damascus wouldn’t be a bad place to look to board, you could live in Gaithersburg/Germantown and the commute wouldn’t be too horrible. Not great, but in the grand scheme of things…
This is potentially huge, does he expect to get moved to the Reston office? There are only two bridges across the Potomac once you get out of DC and neither of them make for an easy crossing to Reston from Maryland. If you’re not sure where he’s going to be working in 6 months I would seriously consider renting somewhere convenient to his job and waiting to make other decisions until he’s more settled.
And don’t worry about the nomenclature OP, plenty of us natives have adopted the DMV lingo. People here will know what you mean 
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I’m glad you asked that. I was wondering too.
And IME “Arlington” could have meant Texas, or the big cemetery in Atlanta, where I grew up.
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Wow, I didn’t know it was even that old. I’d never heard of it 'til now. Not even on NCIS.
COTH was the first place I ever saw the initialism PNW, FWIW.
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Metropolitan Virginia Area? 
I knew what DMV meant, just because I read the Washington Post every day, and they refer to the area that way. I have to admit I saw it for months before figuring out what it meant. I also went straight to Department of Motor Vehicles. I couldn’t imagine why they had so many articles about that department.
Rebecca
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Well after some better communication about this I have realized it’s actually a six month contract-to-hire job. I’m glad I’m doing my research now, and I’m realizing we would be renting for a long time before reaching a position to buy anything. But in light of that what you’re saying makes a lot of sense. Bringing a horse up versus leaving her in training at home might not even be the best decision at this point…
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Reston is nice (or was; I haven’t been back in ever so many years). It was a completely planned town; I remember riding through the woods that became the town as a kid. Miles and miles (or so it seemed!) of old road-type trails, often with downed trees to jump! The entire tract was bought by Robert E. Simon, who named it after himself (his initials + ton), hired professional planners, built a lake (a friend of mine lived in a lakefront house; there was a large decorative rock in the backyard and the developers told them that when the lake filled up, it would come exactly to that rock, which it did!) and a town, with distinct neighborhoods that all had their little town centers.
One “rule” of the place was that everyone had to live within walking distance of a neighborhood swimming pool. That has since gone by the wayside, as have most (all? 
) of the original planning principles, as unregulated development moved in and pretty much took over.
We had a woman do this recently, she was new to the area and took lessons at my barn until things settled down a bit. I don’t think it’s necessary though! You’d just want to find somewhere to live that’s moderately convenient to a lot of places instead of really convenient to a specific place. The Tysons/Falls Church area could work well, you’d have a nice commute to Arlington for his initial contract, reasonably easy access to barns in MD or farther west in VA, and your husband would be in a good spot to commute to several major hubs if his job moved. You could also look at Clifton VA; it’s probably the closest pocket of horse country left to DC and has plenty of smaller private barns that might offer boarding. I wouldn’t move to Maryland until you’re sure he’ll stay in range of Arlington though.
You may have to adjust your expectations though. Finding somewhere to live that’s 10 minutes from the barn and also a reasonable commute to Arlington is going to be a tall order but there are plenty of places you can live that would get both of those in the 30-45 minute range.
These threads always get pretty negative, but I love living here and it’s an amazing place to have horses! The traffic and development can be a pain but it’s manageable, and there’s so much going on in the area that makes up for it.
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