Dressage boarding barns in Phoenix/Gilbert Area

[MNewbie]

My husband and I are thinking about relocating to the Gilbert, AZ area to be closer to family and to leave the long, cold Minnesota winters. My in-laws tell me there are ‘horses all over’ the area. But as we all know, it’s hard enough moving barns locally, much less to an area where you have no connections or experience. So, I’m turning to my COTH friends for:

• Recommendations for dressage barns in the area. Bonus if they have web/FB pages so I can visualize my new digs.
• General cost of boarding, lessons, training. My mare is outside in a lean-to year round, on sand, so something comparable would be preferred.
• Experience on how you cope with AZ heat! I'm lucky to have a heated arena so I ride year round. My threshold for cold is 5 degrees or lower, or 90+ for heat. Am I going to have to ride at dawn to beat the heat in AZ? Honestly, I'm most concerned about this aspect, so speak to me on how you deal!
• Anyone make a similar move from a cold to hot climate, and what would you do again/differently, given the chance?

I very much appreciate your responses. This type of change is hard for me, so I'm hoping I will start to embrace the idea more if I am armed with some knowledge! Thanks!

[JLR1]

I’m afraid to tell you that the East Valley is not a good place to be if you are a dressage rider. The only dressage barn I can think of out that way is in Queen Creek (Central AZ Riding Academy). To find a decent place to board, and a trainer with credentials you will need to look in Scottsdale or Cave Creek. Several people I know make the commute from Gilbert to Scottsdale for boarding and training. Generally speaking most barns are training barns so you will need to work with a trainer to board there. A covered arena isn’t a necessity as long as you are willing to ride very early or after sunset. Boarding at a dressage oriented facility with decent ammenities is in the $650 and up range. We don’t have pasture board, everything is either a stall or mare motel. Generally turnout time is limited to a few hours and is an extra service on top of basic board. Trainers have various training package rates, but a per lesson rate for someone with a minimum of a silver medal is a minimum of $50. That said, you might be able to find a boarding facility in the East Valley you find acceptable and then just trailer out for lessons. Below is a link to the dressage trainers in the Valley. Everyone has a different teaching style they prefer, so I won’t make any recommendations. No doubt summers are miserable here. After awhile you will adjust. While June tends to be a hotter month I am most miserable in July and August when the humidity creeps up. A barn with misters and fans make it a lot more tolerable for the horses. As always proper hydration and electrolytes are important for both human and horse. I will take our nice dry air even if it’s hot to the bitter cold of the winters back East.

https://azdressage.org/trainers-directory/

[Silverbridge]

JLR covered it pretty well.

The only thing I’ll add is to point out that it’s not unusual here for riders to ease horses off a program in the summers, in the same way that riders in cold climates might let their horses have more down time in the winter.

A lot of people in serious training cut back on the days per week, and the workload, and the length of session, in some combination, for the hottest months. Yes you really do have to ride at (or before) dawn, or in the evenings, part of the year.

Then, people step it back up again in the Fall. It depends on the facility’s amenities and on the individual horse’s heat tolerance.

[netg]

Are you dead set on Gilbert specifically? As the Phoenix metro area grows it holds in more heat and cools off less at night. If you go farther out and just trailer to someone for lessons you will have cooler evenings and mornings. In Tucson we generally are able to ride in temperatures in the 70s and 80s by being flexible with ride times, while the Phoenix area in general often doesn’t get below 80s at night. However, the number of covered arenas in the Phoenix area makes a huge difference in comfort levels, and they often have misters and other methods of helping cool them.

We have a little mini circuit of indoor shows down in Tucson in an arena with coolers which makes it quite bearable, and there are a couple summer shows up in the mountains in Flagstaff if you want to go that way for summer shows. However, most of our shows in AZ are in the fall/winter/spring because it’s just easier to plan when temperatures aren’t so hot. Last weekend coats were waived all weekend at the show down in Tucson.

[AZ_TD]

You both might want to visit this summer so you can experience the heat! There are some private facilities in the Gilbert area, but no dressage training barns. Hunter/jumper barn in Gilbert is Crossroads Farm.

[RedmondDressage]

AZ TD has good advice. I haven’t lived there in decades but I visit family there and vividly remember the summers. We had ours at a self care, private barn and we would clean stalls and ride at 10 or 11 at night in the summer. People will tell you “but its a dry heat”. Sorry, when the pavement makes your bare feet bleed it’s HOT - wet, dry, or otherwise :lol: I would definitely not move there without experiencing it. I grew up there and I can tell you, there is no amount of money that could convince me to move back. It’s lovely in February. July is hell on earth IMO.

[right_horse_at_the_right_time]

Locals covered it VERY well.

I don’t mind the heat one bit as I ride around 5 am in the summer. It affords me the opportunity to still go to work at a decent hour, my horse doesn’t get as hot, it’s the coolest part of the day, and in Minnesota you have long, miserable winters where riding is painful.

Here, you can work around that if you’re willing to change your schedule. I recommend a covered arena.

[MNewbie]

Thank you for the input. We will definitely be visiting in the summer, and I’m open to changing my schedule. While the in-laws are in Gilbert and Chandler, I think we might look at the Scottsdale area as JLR1 mentioned. No need to be too close to them! :lol: