ISO Horse Friendly Area with Mild Climate

[kaya842]

Looking for recommendations on states/ cities/ general areas within the US that are more suited to me and horse keeping than the current location (St. Louis, MO roughly).

Big picture wants

• Less humidity. Both my horses and I suffer more from the humidity (which is PLENTIFUL here) than the heat.
• Less precipitation (less mud) overall (snow, rain, sleet, whatever form). I don’t have an arena and thinking about all the days of riding lost to wet weather is infuriating. Not to mention days of rain on end means more labor for keeping horses (they come in to dry off), more expenses to maintain the land (mud grids + gravel), and means I am otherwise unable to enjoy the outdoors (walk the dog, go for a run, etc).
• Less cold winters. Don’t mind some cold or some snow (as long as the infrastructure to deal with it is there) but endless weeks of lows in single digits needs to be a thing of the past. I personally do not handle cold temps well.
• Less or at least not more insects than I’m already dealing with (so not FL).
• I’d like access to round bales or texas bales. I feed hay year round already so that doesn’t bother me, but buying and storing hundreds of small squares would be a huge pain.
• Within an hour (ideally 30 min) of a city. We enjoy city life and live about 25 min from downtown currently.
• Within 60-90 min of an airport.
• I have my horses turned out all the time (except for extreme cold, heat, or precipitation which, again, is too dang often here) and want to continue that wherever we end up so should keep that in mind.
• Access to professional services for the horses (chiro, vet/ surgical center, dentist, etc). I have access to wonderful professionals now and that is a big consideration to where we end up on a smaller scale (this city vs that).

Ideal but not absolute musts

• Ideal temps for me are 30/35F - 90/95F (if it could be sunny and 60-90 all the time I’d be ecstatic).
• Near both the coast and mountains. We’d like to be within an hour or so of the coast and a few hours of mountains which I think is doable with either coast, but having been in the Midwest my whole life I’m not sure.
• Within an hour of a surgical vet center. This is a must in that there needs to be one around but the hour proximity is a want.
• Eventually be able to buy a horse property (smaller is fine, we don’t want more than 20-25 acres at the MAX anyway due to upkeep) for $400-500k. I’ll be boarding at first (not planning to purchase horse property when we first move) but would like to own something at some point.
• Access to (English) shows. I’d love to be within a few hours of a facility that regularly hosts rated shows and have access to schooling show series. I mostly do H/J but also dabble in Dressage and occasionally Western events. We have both in STL and that is one of the (few) advantages of where we are.

My biggest gripe with the Midwest is that it just isn’t enjoyable to be outside most of the time (for me). As someone who can’t handle humidity or true cold, I want OUT. It’s frustrating to work hard and work so much for these wonderful animals and barely get to enjoy them.

[TheJenners]

Eastern Western checks most of your boxes. but won’t be that close to the coast (3-7ish hours depending on how close to the mountains you want to be). Parts of Oregon. You can definitely get rounds or big bales there. Parts of Idaho as long as you aren’t married to the coast.

[OfCourseItsAnAlter]

When I was planning my move away from Florida, I spent a lot of time examining states along the I-75 corridor-ish (more or less), so all or parts of FL, GA, AL, eastern MS, SC, NC, TN, KY, OH, IN, & MI. Among those states, I have lived in KY, TN, MI, and NC.

I can confidently say that there is no place in those areas that meet all of your criteria. Sorry.

The “Pleasant Places to Live” map is very cool and I spent a lot of time pouring over it looking for the areas with “perfect” weather. The best I could do was come up with two “perfect” places - one for summer and one for winter. Sadly, snowbirding with horses is not in my budget.

https://kellegous.com/j/2014/02/03/pleasant-places/

[Einhorn]

If coast and no humidity is your priority, you’ll have to look at the west coast. You might be priced out though, because I can’t imagine that area having those prices that close to high levels of horse care.

If say you lost your priorities in order of importance, because I don’t know that you can check all those boxes. Colorado or southern Wyoming might work, CSU has a great vet school. But no Coast unless you count lakes. Arizona near Flagstaff might also work, and you’d be closer to the coast.

[kaya842]

The weather is the biggest priority for sure.
Not sure how WY, CO, ID, or OR are in any way warmer in the winter and dryer than the Midwest, but I have no experience in those states (I’ve been to Seattle once though and that is WAY too much rain).

Is the East Coast humid? I’ve always thought the coasts were milder by nature of having the ocean there to sort of regulate the temps/ humidity.

[kaya842]

I wonder how up to date that map is. I see STL in a darker blue than I would expect but also noted the date is 2014 and feel the overall climate has shifted pretty significantly in the past 8 years here (and in other places too I’m sure). We get way more precipitation and humidity than we used to.

[candyappy]

The climate in MO has changed drastically than it was in the past. The Winters are definitely colder and we are wetter all year round then we used to be.

I wonder about parts of Texas? Don’t know about the humidity , though. AZ or New Mexico or Northern CA would fit your weather needs but price would be high and I am not sure about the horse scene in AZ or NM.

I would love to go somewhere dry and warm all year round!

[js]

Not to be a downer, but the horse scene in NM isn’t what it is elsewhere if you want a lot of big shows (those are mostly in the ABQ and Santa Fe area but some here in the Southern part of the state) lots of rodeos though and there are places with good trail riding. Southern part of NM is short on equine vets/vet clinics unless you are by a racetrack, we do have an equine clinic in our area with one vet, limited surgery options but more surgery options at the vet by the track. Northern NM has equine vets if you are in ABQ or Santa Fe but no vet school in the state; Texas is far better for equine vets etc.

We get terrible dirt storms; not bad for bugs but lots of nasty mesquite down South. It is very dry, my skin looks like alligator skin all the time, for that reason I miss the humidity. You can get round bales and large square bales of hay, there is no pasture to speak, I don’t know the price as we buy 3 strand square bales (around $20 a bale) from the feed store).

I’m not crazy about it here, personally, I’d rather be back in the Deep South; however, a good portion of that desire is about cost of living and lifestyle.

[OfCourseItsAnAlter]

@kaya842

Is the East Coast humid?

I can’t speak for the northeast, but most anyplace along the east coast far enough south to meet your “less cold winters” is going to be miserably hot and humid in the summer. The big question is the duration of the worst of the heat and humidity. As you get farther north, the length of the hot and humid season will get shorter.

As far as changes in climate go, I always hesitate to make statements on this because I worry that it’s just my faulty memory over time. But, I lived in Lexington, KY in the '70s, in the late '80s/early '90s, and I still have family there now, and it seems to me that winters there have gotten a lot colder and snowier than they used to be. Again, that’s just relying on my possibly warped memory.

[Texarkana]

Is the east coast humid?

Sorry, that was rude, but yes. It’s humid basically everywhere. The states where the humidity is short-lived in the summer generally have wicked winters to make up for it.

I think Las Vegas has a pretty good English show scene? But it would fail to tick off several of your boxes.

[Rackonteur]

Check out Georgia not far from Atlanta: it fits most of your criteria except for wanting to be near the coast (that is about 5 hours away). It’s just an hour or so from the mountains.
Atlanta has the highest elevation of any city east of the Mississippi; being on the Piedmont (of the Appalachians) makes it less humid that some other Southern areas.

[Djones]

Saying Atlanta is less humid is akin to saying the Missouri is less wet than the Mississippi.

Nowhere south of the Carolina’s is less miserable in the summer.

Signed, Birmingham, Al

[lenapesadie]

I mean it’s pleasant sitting 15 ft from the Gulf, but other than that yeah it’s pretty sticky in the summer in the SE.

[Einhorn]

This is why I suggested Colorado, it’s expensive, but I read Denver is not likely to get to 100 degrees, drier winters and less rain, so really no humidity. I grew up on the front range and it’s ideal horse country, like the steppes only warmer and with nice mountains.

North of Denver or even southern Wyoming is likely good and close to CSU

[rockonxox]

The temperature in Denver is going to be pretty similar to St. Louis temperature wise. Lots and lots of snow in Denver too - definitely doesn’t match up with what OP is looking for.

If you want to just play around and compare average temps, highs, lows, and a monthly breakdown of temperature between cities you can use https://weatherspark.com/ . The least humid states are NV, AZ, NM, UT, CO, WY, MT, CA. If humidity and weather maybe that will be of help to you.

On a side note, that in some of the warmer places with less humidity and less rain you can trade in some of your bugs for scorpions. I want to move away from the humidity and bugs too, I feel you on that!

[Fiesta01]

Well, I live 5 miles west of one of the places on the “Most Pleasant” list. Before I lost my gelding, he was boarded about 10 miles from another of the places on the list.

Those places are everything you’re looking for except cost. (SoCal). As someone said, maybe NorCal or central CA, such as San Luis Obisbo or Paso Robles area. I’m not attuned to costs in those areas, but surely cheaper than SoCal.

[Roni4444]

Yes, Colorado has low humidity and summers can be hot with being so close to the sun. Main issue is the winter. It snows as early as September and there’s been snow in June. Cold spells are 0 degrees at night and not getting to 10 degrees during the day! It feels less cold with low humidity and lots of sunshine, but the climate is pretty rough at times. And, it’s rather windy. The recent Marshall fire was so bad due to 80 to 100 mile winds in most of the state… anyway. lots of good about CO but not that easy and huge weather swings can cause issues with colics…

[Gesaffelstein]

Nothing is cheap in California especially real estate.

[Willesdon]

I live in the land of sun, rain, wind, clouds and often they are multiple times within the passage of a day, lovely long summer evenings, grotty long winter nights, temperate climate, no excessive bugs, excellent pasture, accessible culture, plenty of coastline within an easy drive, excellent vets and farriers. The saying here in the UK is “No such thing as bad weather, only bad kit [clothing]”.

No one in this discussion seems to be able to identify the location of their horse heaven!

[Fiesta01]

Sorry to hear Central and North are just as bad.