Dressage scene in different states-relocating

[OceansAway]

Thanks for the info!

[BigMama1]

@sami-joe

Full disclosure: this week, if I had my druthers and a bit of cash, I’d head to New Brunswick or Quebec.

You must really like winter lol. Dressage scene in the Montreal area is pretty good. In New Brunswick? Not so much.

[atlatl]

@lazaret

Right, but you’ve said that board doesn’t include grain, turnout, or labor, so it’s basically a dry stall fee.

Rough board around here runs that cost too. If you have to pay for everything else, that’s not the total cost of horsekeeping, you’re just ignoring the rest because it’s not specifically called “board.”

I think people are talking past each other.

In my experience:

Dry Stall = a stall with water and that’s it. No shavings, self-care regarding feeding and cleaning, no hay, no grain, etc.

Board = stall with water, hay fed (may be cubes) twice a day, shavings and cleaning included.

Full care = board, plus feeding supplements, turnout, fly masks put on/off, blankets on/off. May include grain if lucky and lunch.

[J-Lu]

I used to live in Marin. Petaluma is that expensive now???

[J-Lu]

I suspect that no one who isn’t a friend of someone pays $350/month in So Cal. And I doubt that includes anything. Hell no is that an option to someone moving to the area.

I have a friend who boarded and trained with Hilda. She’s cheap but not less than $1500 for sure.

[J-Lu]

OP, I have a friend who lives in MD and has horses on her property. She loves it and she fox-hunts. I have friends who live in more rural VA and they have many horses on their property. I think rural VA lends you to a very conservative population (my friends are very conservative, the one in MD isn’t at all).

I grew up in CT and had a horse, I rode all the time-winter and summer. You just wear the right clothes. I lived in Pittsburgh and paid (a while ago) something like $350/month for turnout, outdoor and a freakishly large indoor with music.

Consider NC where I live right now. It’s had a good dressage scene and is a purple state, more liberal around the college areas and cities. I board my horse in an equestrian community and my current dressage trainer rides her gator over to give me a lesson. In more rural places, land prices are going up but might be in your price range. You can find more remote pieces of land within an hour drive to UNC or Duke hospitals and they have multiple Urgent Care facilities within a 50+ mile radius. UNC and Duke hospitals are excellent. Everything is MUCH cheaper than So Cal.

[sami-joe]

Taft is that expensive now.
Okay, only slightly kidding.
Developers be crazy here. Water and fire be damned.

[tropihorse]

Hi OP, lurker here and this is my first post but I would rank the states to move as such: Virginia, Vermont, Oregon and Washington as far as horses are concerned . I grew up in New England and lived with them up and down the east coast. Oregon and Washington are less of a shock to what you are used to. I lived in Washington for a while but preferred Oregon when I was there. I am absolutely in love with Virginia but my job moved me to the Central Valley of California.

Board prices are typically cheaper out west along with farrier and all that. However, if pasture turn out is important good luck in California. I lucked out and pay 350 a month for full board and 24/7 turnout in a pasture. I also don’t have access to what I had on the east coast in terms of shows, schooling, saddle fitters and trainers. I don’t have a trailer which is a lot of that.

That being said I felt Washington and Oregon is as close as it gets to the east coast in terms of horse keeping and access to professionals and venues. I know I didn’t really help narrow it down but those are my experiences.

[sami-joe]

Lol.
Lots of us in Southern California barely believe there is another half of the state or that anyone would want to go there for anything other than the wine.

[sami-joe]

Hahahaha! Cold? Not my preference. I know it well, though.

Maine’s version of the 2014-15 Polar Vortex sent me back to my Southwestern childhood roots. Crowning 30-odd years in Maine, I cared for two beloved geriatric horses that winter, replete with seven weeks of -15º temps, frozen hydrants, stuck plow trucks, and nearly lost my mind. Took the first teaching job I could find along the Mexican border in NM. I warmed up by late September, after three months of 90º plus.

That said, I know how to clear a driveway, plug in a diesel, sink a hydrant, chip ice, and build a wood stove fire.
I’m riding every day here in California and at 63 I know my daily riding years are slipping past. Whether my finances, the water table, fires, or a big red TB hissy fit or injury turn this corner, I am resigned that the only place I own is in Midcoast Maine. Quebec and NB are not much worse weather-wise, and they have poutine, kind people, and fewer AR-15s.

[Fiesta01]

@Turntable

And in the areas with many smaller private barns there are good deals to be had once you are there and know people. I have a friend who boards and rides in Moorpark with an FEI trainer and I know for a fact she is paying $350/mo in board at the private home next door + some help with chores and farm sitting and just rides over to her trainers place 1 minute away.

This. We all have such specific ideas about must haves in a boarding barn or training program. The more must haves, the more it will cost. Your friend’s situation would have suited me just fine.

I’m embarrassed to say that, until I lost my horse 2 years ago, I was paying $325 at a no-frills barn in Moorpark. That included all day turnout in 20 acre field with 4 friends, very large stall (16x16) with large run-out for overnight, and alfalfa hay. I bought my own grain/supplements which they fed.

The property had two arenas (one lighted) and two round pens. Choice of FEI trainers within 20 minute trailer ride, plus Happy Camp Park with miles of trails 8 miles away.

An independent rider could do fine at a place like this, riding on their own most of the time and hauling out for lessons/clinics. I never liked the full training type situations. I’m a my-horse, my-decision personality and would not have liked someone dictating every detail of my horse’s program. (I couldn’t have afforded it anyway) .

My boy loved it there. They fed and turned him out in the morning with his crew. I came in the early evening to clean his stall, pull him in from the field, groom (once he was retired the last few years) and give him dinner/tuck in for the night. If I couldn’t make it out, they would do the evening chores, except for the grooming, for me.

So, yes, even in SoCal, depending on your needs and wants and willingness to do some self-care, you can still afford a horse here.

[Fiesta01]

Oops, forgot to give the drawback. 45 minute commute from my small, modest house at the beach (29 miles one way). I did make it once in 34 minutes at 3 in the morning for an emergency. . Good thing there weren’t any police on the 101. But the all day turnout was worth it to me, especially after my horse was retired.

[atlatl]

Ughh! The dreaded 101!

[barnesthenoble]

Grass Valley is gorgeous–and I would never move there. It is another Paradise/Camp Fire waiting to happen, unfortunately. The health care and amenities are also pretty sparse–it’s a long drive (or helicopter ride) in the event of a medical emergency. But the biggest thing for me is the fires–lots of narrow roads, most of the houses are in the WUI, evacuation would be hard.

I’ve lived up and down Northern CA (from far Northern, about 2 hrs from the OR border to now in the Sacramento Valley). The dressage show options in the Sac Valley are pretty good, IMO, but there is definitely less density than back east or down south. Trainer pickings are relatively slim, too, although I can think of 10 or so of varying quality off the top of my head and I’m sure there’s others I don’t know. There’s nice properties east of Sacramento in the Wilton/Sloughhouse/Rancho Murieta and surrounding areas that are reasonably rural while being fairly close to Sacramento, but they are still spendy–and water is an issue. The North Bay is spectacular–with more trainers (and some of the best are being lost to SoCal or FL) but possibly fewer shows, I think–and you’ll pay for the privilege of living there. Also, fires are an issue. And water is even scarcer there than it is inland. The politics are much more left-leaning than in the valley or foothills, but you’ll still find some pretty conservative spots the more rural you get up there, too.

Ultimately, I love Northern California dearly but I would likely advise against moving here, with the insane price of housing, board, hay, droughts, fires, etc. I think you will likely get better bang for your buck elsewhere. The dressage scene in parts of OR is good, if less active than some areas of CA. WA has some wonderful trainers, but I know a lot of people from all over the state still end up going to places like DevonWood in OR for shows–which is quite a trek.

I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to bring myself to move east, being CA born and raised, but I do think that might ultimately be a better place for horses!

[Kemosabe]

@twostinkydogs

We wanted to retire to Charlottesville but are likely to stay in Maryland, sadly because it’s blue.

Charlottesville is unquestionably blue. And VA has voted blue in presidential elections since 2008.

[twostinkydogs]

Within the city limits, yes that is true. A few minutes outside of the city limits in any direction, not so much.

[Kemosabe]

Well Albemarle County’s Board of Supervisors currently is comprised of Democrats. Not one Republican.

Now the gerrymandering of the 5th congressional district does make electing a Democrat difficult…so we do need more blue voters to move here!

[Texarkana]

@Kemosabe

Well Albemarle County’s Board of Supervisors currently is comprised of Democrats. Not one Republican.

Now the gerrymandering of the 5th congressional district does make electing a Democrat difficult…so we do need more blue voters to move here!

But VA on the whole has show it’s still purple.

My in-laws are from SW VA and visiting them will remind anyone that VA’s blueness is a relatively new phenomenon.

So I also sit here quite happily in MD.

[Kemosabe]

@Texarkana

My in-laws are from SW VA and visiting them will remind anyone that VA’s blueness is a relatively new phenomenon.

That’s absolutely true. I have lived here for 38 years and the changes in demographics has been astounding if not miraculous. Of course the deep red pockets remain…

[see_u_at_x]

Soooo, I currently live just outside of Baltimore and keep my horse 1:20 minutes west of here and am moving there over the next few weeks to be closer to him. Partial telecommuting is helping with that. My horse is in full training with a GP rider/trainer who has gone to Nationals and ridden in CDIs. You have options in Maryland, Virginia, and even West Virginia for housing if you wanted. It all depends on where your trainer is located and how far you’re willing to trailer. There are decent housing options available to you if you look anywhere west of metro Baltimore and east of Cumberland, though obviously the further west you go, the cheaper it will be. Yes, there is, unfortunately, a lot of development happening in pockets all over Maryland, but have you seen what’s happened to Northern VA over the past 20 years? It makes me want to cry every time I drive the Greenway between Leesburg and Reston. The con is that Maryland isn’t necessarily the friendliest state to retire in from a tax standpoint, but in that case, you could maybe look into parts of VA, WV, or even Southern PA (Gettysburg area, for example), which are all more tax-friendly towards retireees.