Hi. I am looking to find a trainer/barn within an hour’s drive of SF. We will be moving from the east coast and will likely be bringing my horse with me… Would love any and all suggestions! Thanks!
Meant kindly but: will need a lot more information. Which part of S.F.? DO you have a direction you want to drive (north, south or east)? What kind of facilities are you needing/wanting? Also is that an hour during rush, or “off cycle”?
There are a lot of options in the bay area, so to help narrow it down, we’ll need some more info.
1 Like
I recommend that as you figure this out, that you choose a barn area, then choose housing that will let you BART into SF that is as close as you can get to your barn area.
As PF notes, it’s not clear if you mean the city of SF proper or if maybe you mean Silicon Valley or somewhere else in the greater Bay Area. Santa Rosa is about an hour north of SF but it’s about three hours north of Silicon Valley, just an example. Mention a few things that you’ll value most in a new barn and that will help us steer you also!
I am not sure where i will be living yet, but likely in the north part of the city itself. However someone said the best barns may be south? I will have a car, and am currently driving 40mins to get to the barn now, so would be happy to continue a similar commute. I am a middle-aged, long time rider with nerves of limp spaghetti. I have vague ambitions of going BN someday. That said, I prefer a trainer who has a range of students, not just hopeless cases like me. (My current trainer has students from me up to 2*) It makes it more fun if I can live vicariously through my barn mates. Does that help? 
Ciara West is a great barn south of the city, ~20-45 (+) mins depending where you’re coming from and time of day. (Don’t have to cross a bridge, which I personally would not do regularly though of course many people do.) Has covered arena and large group turnout or small individual pens. Eventing trainer Sigourney Jellins is based there. Feel free to PM for more info.
If you are living in the city proper, then it’s fairly crucial to know if you’ll be going to the barn whenever you want, or if you’ll be navigating around a work schedule. If you can go whenever you wish, then I can recommend both Liz Hall at the Woodside Horse Park, James Alliston in the East Bay and Chocolate Horse/Andrea Pfeiffer in the North Bay. (I should add, we have a training barn in the northern bay area/northern Sonoma County, but even without traffic we’re more like 90 minutes from the city).
However, if you are having to travel around anything around rush hour, you’re going to want to avoid bridges (so no north or east) and likely only want to go slightly south to the penninsula/Woodside area.
If you are going to live on the north side of SF proper, I’d suggest considering options in Sonoma County, ideally more Petaluma than Santa Rosa, because it’s just a pretty and lovely place to be, the weather is nice year round, there’s green grass, and there are lots of great places to ride. It does involve the GG bridge however, and driving there at say 5 pm on weekdays, especially Fridays, is not something I’d enjoy.
I work in the city and live on the Peninsula and highly recommend riding near where you live and commuting to work if you have to commute to the city vs living in the city and commuting to the barn. It takes me 1.5 hrs each way to get in/out of the city - no matter what method of transport - and it’s much nicer to know that once I leave the barn I’ll have a relatively short trip home.
That being said - as Phoenix Farm said - good barns all around, just be thoughtful of your commute. It’s much less expensive to live in the East Bay and Bart into the city.
There are some older threads on this topic with good info in them if you search.
2 Likes
I work in SF and board in Portola Valley & Woodside area. I just have to call out despite a previous post there is no way you could reach Ciara West in 20 minutes from downtown SF. Nor in 45 minutes if you leave the City after 2pm.
Having said that there are good barns in all parts of the bay and it is going to depend on what you’re looking for in a barn and where you ultimately live as to what will work for you. I go to the barn more than 5 days a week and I work full time so crossing a bridge (they add time for traffic) doesn’t work for me. There are a lot of tricks to navigating bay area traffic and if your work schedule is flexible then riding nearly everyday is easily doable.
Thanks so much!!
Just to add–we will definitely be living IN the city due to work commitments. i am self employed (moving for husband’s job) so have flexibility in terms of when I ride. Mostly I am interested in a few names of good trainers/barns within an hour of SF, understanding that there are bad traffic days from time to time. PhoenixFarm gave me some great ideas that i will check out! (Please PM me if anyone has more details or specifics…)
I figured that when we go out later this month to look for an apartment, I can spend a couple of days driving to see the facilities to determine where is the best fit distance and trainer wise…
I will probably not move my horse out until early spring so there is time, but I wanted to get ahead of the process as it may impact where we choose to rent.
I’m seconding James Alliston, he is super. It will be a bit of a drive from SF proper (at least an hour under everyday traffic conditions). If you work from home you may want to try to ride mostly in the mornings; the freeway that goes from SF to the East Bay gets super congested starting at 1-2 pm and does not let up until about 7.
I don’t live there, but my in-laws moved to Woodside/Portola Valley several years ago from New York. They bought a house first so they were limited in where they could put the horses, and have never truly been happy with any of the barns on that peninsula south of the city. Their horse didn’t adjust well to being stalled almost constantly and they haven’t found vets that they find competent. They also complain that most professionals are hunter trainers, or so successful that they don’t take on average amateur clients.
I have friends who live in the east bay, and they are much happier. Their horses get time outside of their stalls daily and they have much more choice in terms of trainers. But they are strictly dressage riders so I don’t think their names would be very useful to you.
So while very vague, I hope something I just said was helpful. If we had to move out there tomorrow to take care of my in-laws, I’d go to the east bay and not bother with the Woodside area.
2 Likes
How important is turnout to you? If your horse needs it, your best bet is to try the east bay or north bay. Also, budget is important. If you want full-care & full-training, esp. at a barn with an indoor, it’s going to cost you.
Beth Temkin (Full Circle) is up in Sebastapol, which may be a little over an hour. Chocolate Horse Farm has a very good reputation as well.
Not sure how long of a drive this would be, but Flying Tail Farm in Gilroy is wonderful. I knew a few people who lived in SF and boarded their horses there, so I know it’s possible, but the commute may not be pleasant.
Congrats on the upcoming move You’ve gotten some great advice! I’ll share my experience on the off chance it’s useful - feel free to DM with any follow-up questions.
I’m now on the East Coast but lived in SF proper for several years - toward the south side of the city in Noe Valley. At various points rode and / or had my horse in the North Bay, East Bay, and down the Peninsula. Even with off-hours commutes, the great barns in the East Bay are FAR. I’d advocate for North Bay over East Bay - and while there are some good trainers and barns down on the Peninsula, I don’t find the facilities / turnout as good and prices in my experience were higher.
For example: I worked down by the Montgomery BART and the commute out to the East Bay was crippling, even when I parked by the office right by the Bay Bridge and left at ~3pm. Often took me 2+ hours (I was at New Heights with David Acord, which is not far from James Alliston). That didn’t last long.
From Noe Valley, it was possible to get down to Ciara West in ~20 minutes. This would not be possible from the north side of the city.
+1 to the comment about turnout - I’m originally from the East Coast and was honestly horrified by how CA barns do turnout at first (think an extra daily fee on top of already-expensive full board for your horse to stand outside in what would be a rehab paddock in many places) . Horses can and do adjust, obviously, but if your horse needs turnout for physical or mental reasons you will want to be very thoughtful about the barn you choose.
My sense is that the North Bay may be your sweet spot, but you should definitely drive around and visit, get a feel for the locations and the trainers. Good luck and enjoy - NorCal is seriously one of the most gorgeous places and there are some wonderful eventing programs out there!
1 Like
Woodside horse park and tayside sports horses is worth the drive
There’s a few eventing barns and trainers in Portola Valley/Woodside area that are really good! There’s Webb Ranch which has at least four different event trainers with junior/amateur students competing from intro to around training or so. They have a couple of different board options, and it’s super close to the Woodside Horse Park, which has events and schooling shows, and a fair amount of clinicians coming through Pony Club. At Chocolate Horse Farm in Petaluma, they have a range of students competing from BN/N to 2* or above and I know that they go to a lot of shows, but I’m not sure what the boarding options are like.
