Hacking through suburbia

I had a corner lot (quiet dirt roads, but there was still activity: trash trucks, the occasional fire truck, my next door neighbor’s son’s 18 wheeler, people pulling all sorts of trailers, motorcycles, bicycles, ATVs, road graders, snow plows). We never had a problem with any of the horses reacting to vehicles when we had them out.

Rebecca

It depends on the horse’s - spook, bolt, almost die with the wrong one and pavement is hard.

They will complain about the poop. And stare at your horses a lot.

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Agree. Here in Florida, many of the subdivisions will have private platted roadways that may not be accessible to the public. Without a guarantee of public rights of way in the future, there is a possibility that the access may be cut off. Additionally, even if the roadways are public, neighborhood opposition to horse use could result in a future effort to enact an ordinance to prohibit horse use of paved rights of ways and sidewalks.

The access is the real issue. The horses will learn to be fine with moderate traffic, if they are trail-suitable types. Buy the property if it suits your needs but don’t rely on guaranteed access to the park.

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In this area, new developments often have to have dedicated greenspace and greenways as part of their building plan. I think it’s worth looking into that possibility. If the area is currently used to access to a park, there is a good argument to be made for public use greenway.