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I can't take the humidity and mosquitoes anymore; California?

Off Course
#1

Never say never… I always have sworn I would never move back to California, but… I cannot take the humidity and the mosquitoes of the east coast for much longer. I love trees and lakes and rivers and four seasons, but… ice in the winter, and humidity and bugs in the summer, are cramping my horse life, and more to the point, my fantasy future horse life.

What would I need to know, from the horse health perspective, if I were to move to high desert/Sierra areas of California? I can manage for fire danger as much as is possible (smart design, careful property management, staying out of canyons); would it be a difficult adjustment for horses in terms of types of forage, impact on feet, veterinary culture shock, etc.? I’m thinking of senior horses getting on a trailer in New England and getting off in the high desert. They will have culture shock. :slight_smile:

#2

can not speak of moving to California but when we moved our horses in from northern Kentucky to Texas it took them about eighteen months to fully adjust. The first winter they started putting on a Kentucky winter coat, took that off shortly and afterwards sort of just changed into being black bays

#3

I think it will be more of a shock on you. There has to be a better state than CA you can choose?

I lived in CA for the first 28 years of my life but besides the lack of humidity it no longer has much to offer!

4 Likes
#4

Well, I grew up in Southern California, which could fall into the ocean and I’d be fine with it other than all the environmental damage that would cause, but scenic parts of the state, with trees and wildlife and no humidity and no traffic and good trails, might compensate for the unattractiveness (to me) of the southern part of the state.

Why, what else ya got? :slight_smile: (It can’t be total desert, in terms of weather, culture, education, or political diversity).

#5

Speaking from an ecology standpoint, you might be safer on the eastern side of the Sierras. Less underbrush and less fire issues. Not as much diversity in plant life, but you get dry seasons. Some areas of the eastern Sierras are still in California, but some parts of the high Sierras in Nevada are very pretty as well.

As far as horse adjustment. I’ve heard they do better with east-west moves than north-south moves. Their coats grow depending on hours of daylight, rather than temperatures. In a similar latitude, not much change.

2 Likes
#6

I moved my old OTTB gelding from PA to high-desert AZ (4500 ft) when he was 18. He did really well. He spent the first couple weeks gazing off into the distance, not believing how big the world was, after only seeing trees and hills before.

In consultation with my vet, I gave him a month of hand-walking and then slowly increasing his time under saddle to acclimatize him to the altitude. He was doing 2nd level dressage at that time.

We then moved him out to coastal CA when he was 29. He did fine on the East Coast, in high altitude AZ and as a SoCal pasture puff, all as a senior. But he was my Iron Horse. :heart:

I think everyone is right. They’ll adjust more easily than you. Good luck with whatever you decide.

2 Likes
#7

I live in California and I love it here but I wouldn’t recommend it right now, particularly as you are thinking inland, where all the smoke goes to sit.

California (Washington, Oregon) are going to be on fire for some time now until the fire suppression practices of the last several decades is a memory. Semi-arid is a thought, but then water is a dream.

Montana? Has some of the same kind of high country as California without all the people demanding its water.

#8

I was born/grew up in Calif and as much as I loved it, I would never go back. The environment has changed so much, plus the majority of horsekeeping areas are either gone or super crowded and hyper-expensive.

I lived over 20 years in the inland part of SoCal, and the high desert area of SoCal can have some really… “sketchy” areas. So do your research. Plus, if you want to go anywhere you’ll be stuck on the freeway coming in from the aforementioned high desert.

So I moved to north/central Arizona, in the Prescott area. It has a good mix of grasslands and mountains; nothing like the Phoenix area. We do get a winter and some snow (we’re up over 5,000 feet) and the summers are quite warm until the monsoon season. Horses and ranching are part of the lifestyle, and you can still buy affordable acreage to keep horses at home.

If you don’t want to be up that high, consider Wickenburg. It’s very horsey and still not down in the Phoenix valley area.

3 Likes
#9

PP, I went and looked online at horse properties in Prescott. Now, explain to me why an unfinished home in the middle of nowhere has a piano sitting in it? Who carried a piano to an unfinished log home in the middle of the desert? This is obviously a very strange part of the country. :laughing: (I am totally just teasing you. It just struck me as funny, at the end of long week).

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#10

Is that one of those player pianos? Maybe they wanted music while they were working? You may not get anything else out there.

#11

Nearly 20yrs ago, I visited a horse-friendly development in Tehachapi - so High Desert - Bear Valley Springs.
Homes on the floor of the valley were nice. Small acreages with horse facilities. Higher up and (at that time) you risked being snowbound, if briefly, in Winter.
IIRC, there was an equestrian center onsite.
I imagine quite a lot of development of the area has taken place by now. But maybe worth looking into.

2 Likes
#12

@Paint_Party Curious about the horse infrastructure in your neck of the woods. We are doing preliminary retirement planning and I have found that has been the sticking point in some of the places we’ve considered. Even though the equestrian communities in my area have really whittled down to 2 small locations over the last 20 years, I still have access to a wide selection of really good veterinary support, feed stores, and trail systems.

Humidity is off the table. I’m used to dry heat, but also a summer marine layer and coastal offshores occasionally :slightly_smiling_face: Are the summers similar to the IE? Seasons would be nice, but I’ve spent my whole life in SoCal and thinking I would not transition well to long, cold winters. Northern AZ is still close enough to easily get to extended family quickly. How’s the vet support in your area, and are you able to ride off property in any nearby locations? Thanks!

#13

@SharonA1, I’m a good hour or so from Ash Fork so don’t judge me by that! Although I do have a wind chime hanging on my patio… :laughing:

@UlysMom To me, the long, hot summers of the IE sucked and I couldn’t take them anymore, especially with the smog. (I was an Orange Co. girl, but we moved to the IE to raise horses). In the Prescott area there are 4 seasons, but both fall and spring are short. There is humidity in the summer because we have a monsoon season, but it’s not that bad, and the rains are wonderful. The winters can be cold at times, especially mid-Jan thru Feb, so don’t let the realtors LIE TO YOU. :wink: We do get some snow, but they only plow maybe 2 or 3 times a year.

Finding your own horsekeeping property within Prescott’s zip codes is not easy, but it can be done. Williamson Valley, Mint Creek and Inscription Canyon are examples. You can always buy land and build, too. Chino Valley is nearby and is almost all horse property, plus it’s cheaper to buy/live, yet it’s also flatter and more… .rural. (Think Norco circa 1980, but with pronghorn antelope).

There are equine vets, including a decent clinic near me, but there’s no surgeon on staff at this time. For any kind of surgery, or a major leg consult, you have to haul into Phoenix or toward Camp Verde.

As for trail riding: Yes, there are some developed areas that border trail systems or state land where you can ride forever. Personally, I haul out. There are many trail heads and really well maintained horse camps and staging areas within 15-30 minutes of my front door. Here’s one of my favorite places to ride, on the forest trails in Granite Basin. This was winter and you can see the snow isn’t that deep:

snow steps
snow steps1932×2576 1.67 MB

3 Likes
#14

That is an interesting idea, actually, and I hear you about water. If I believe what the realtors say, it sounds like the Bitterroot Valley weather is not that extreme.

I grew up in a horse-heavy community on the coast in Southern California, but other than the smell of eucalyptus trees, and my family that is still there, I do not miss it at all. The ocean was nice enough, but the area is too developed for me, now that I’m oldish and grumpy, and too much traffic and I could never afford it now anyway. :slight_smile:

#15

Central Oregon or even the southern Willamette valley would also meet your no-humidity/bugs needs. Good horse keeping, winter yes, but dry, hot-warm summers, great trail riding, etc.

#16

If you get serious about Montana I can answer a lot of questions, and I believe there are a few others here as well.

The Bitterroot is not extreme compared to the rest of Montana, usually defined by how much wind and sub-zero temps you get in a location, but you get it everywhere in Montana. Bitterroot/Missoula general area generally gets a lot of snow and depending on where you are, inversions that make for a lot of cloudy days in the fall/winter/spring. If you want quality horse vets/services your safest bet is the Missoula, Bozeman, and Kalispell areas and Kalispell barely makes the list, IMO. It very much depends on your horse keeping standards and riding style. It suits us fairly well b/c we handle most of our own horse needs, husband is a farrier, and we ride trails. If we needed emergency surgery on a horse we would have to factor in a 2 hour trailer ride to get to the vet.

But!-we don’t have a lot of summer humidity; over here in Western MT we usually save it for winter when it can make us extra cold. Mosquitos are where the water is so lake/river areas will have them but they aren’t everywhere.

Moving to Montana can be a huge hairball so, as I say, if you get serious about it let me know. I’ll spare you the gory details right now. A visit at the end of January should be a pre-req. It’s fun to think of places to move to in other parts of the country and I do it every Jan-April. :laughing: Actually, more often lately. Like when the fires are blazing out of control or the prices are rocketing.

#17

Do you show?
Every time I think of moving back to the west coast I remind myself of the fact that there’s such a lack of horse shows over there.
I can’t throw a rock around here without finding a horse show. In Cali, it’s not uncommon to drive several hours to reach a ‘local’ show. Even in SoCal it’s bad. Apparently decades ago it wasn’t, there were a lot of shows around LA, but now the city has grown so much and traffic is so bad that you don’t dare take a trailer through the mess. Don’t even get me started on Idaho, Montana, etc…
The area around Seattle is slowly getting more shows (more than when I was growing up there) but it’s still nothing compared to the east coast. So I whine and hide from June to august and tough it out.

If for whatever reason I absolutely had to move back west I would go to Arizona. If I had unlimited funds I’d have a house in Phoenix and a house in flagstaff. Flagstaff in the summer, Phoenix in the winter, and they are only about 2 hours apart. Quickest migration ever. There’s also some horse show circuits in the Tucson and Phoenix area, and you are only a few hours from HITS Coachella.

#18

I don’t show and there are very few options for it in MT. Some, but not very much and everything in Montana is far apart.

I concur with AZ; it’s one of the places I look at when I’m sick of winter. So for you, it’s when you’re sick of humidity and mosquitos! I get it!

#19

I have to disagree with you there, at least on the dressage front. I lived and showed in SoCal for 15 years and still have friends that live and show there. If you keep your horse in the Los Angeles region, there is literally a rated show every month of the year within a one-hour drive - two or more shows per month during “active” show season (i.e., May - Sept). You can easily drive between shows at the LAEC and the multiple venues in Moorpark, or if you want to go a bit further, you have great venues south in San Diego and north through Santa Barbara. If you’re willing to drive 2-3 hours you could probably show every weekend May - Sept.

Contrast this with places that have winter, which thus have a comparatively compressed show season - no one dares travel to a show in winter and early spring with ice and/or generally unpredictable weather. Where I live now in the Mid-Atlantic, you only have a few months of the year to get your scores and qualify. God forbid your horse is laid up during show season - you could easily miss the whole year, versus SoCal where show season is all year long.

Now, what would make me hesitate to move back to SoCal would be the fires. Just about everyone I know (myself included) has had to evacuate at least once (some have even lost their homes and barns), and it can be scary. If your barn owner/manager is not prepared, it can be disastrous. I definitely don’t miss that part of SoCal!

#20

Ya know I am completely talking from a HJ side of things and I have heard that dressage is huge in SoCal. I’m also talking about my experiences 10 years ago.

But from a h/j standpoint, I can find a rated show within 1-2 hours of me every week. I have my pick of 2-7 schooling shows a weekend. I’m an hour from a venue who runs rated indoor shows in the winter, 2.5 from one who runs multiple rings all winter.
I’m also within a days drive of two big box shows; TEIC and WEF North. And basically all of indoors runs within a 2 hour drive from me.
So from a h/j standpoint, I’m much better set up to succeed here than the west coast. But I’ve heard the dressage is much bigger over on the west coast than possibly even a lot of the east coast.

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