Lots of good points have already been brought up. How much land are you thinking of buying? There’s a difference between taking care of a 5-acre farmette vs. 50 acres. More fencing to maintain, more weed control, fertilization, mowing, whatever. There’s always a project (or ten) to be done. If you like doing projects that’s great, but it does take away from your riding time and everything ends up taking five times as long as you thought it would to fix. I can’t tell you how many friends I have who have their horses at home and never ride - if you don’t make riding a priority it tends to fall to the bottom of the list and somehow you never make it to accomplishing those things on the bottom of the list.
Note too that things will break at the most inconvenient time (on Thanksgiving Day, when I was 1200 miles away, I got a call telling me that the septic system in the barn had backed up). I’m lucky enough to be able to afford to pay someone to do maintenance for me, but I spend an awful lot of time trying to find people who will come out and fix fences, work on electrical issues, etc. and do a good job in a timely manner.
Although you can have one horse at home alone you’ll want a buddy for him (it doesn’t have to be another horse - you can have a goat or other farm animal). But I guarantee you will end up with more horses. As far as having a boarder, sometimes you find a good one but as has been pointed out, do you want the loss of privacy and the responsibility for someone else’s horse? It’s like caring for a five-year-old who runs around stabbing himself in the eye with a pencil constantly and pooping wherever he goes. And if you care about your assets, I would not have a boarder without the appropriate insurance and signed boarding contracts.
if your DH is non-horsey, is he really all in on this? Will he be ok with the expense, the work, the responsibility, etc?
I don’t know how full-service the barn is where you board, but there are times when I wish I was boarding somewhere where I could pay someone to hand-walk my horse when he’s injured or give him medication three times a day. If you’ll be living in a horsey area you’ll hopefully build up a community of friends and neighbors who help each other out. You never know when you’ll have an emergency and need someone to run over and feed or bring the horses in.
And of course, you’ll be the one hunting for good hay and figuring out what to do with the manure (spread? haul away? Start a mushroom farm?).
The expense of having them at home can be large. Building the barn, buying everything you need from buckets to tractor to fencing supplies (for repairs), shovels, rakes, and the thousand odds and ends (big and small) that you always seem to need.
I would ask too if you’re really ok with being out there, no matter how hot or cold, wet or dry, no matter how tired or sick you are. Do you think that will get old quickly ? Do you mind riding alone? Although the boarders at a boarding barn might be annoying sometimes, it’s a social thing for some people and they end up missing the social interaction and miss having someone to ride with.
As far as country life vs suburban life, are you ok with being further away from things (shopping, restaurants, whatever it is you like to do other than riding)? Do check on what internet services are available if you find something you want to buy. We struggled for years with crappy Internet. It’s much better now but we still can’t stream a movie and watch it reliably. We have DirectTV which I like better than cable anyway so that’s no problem. Our cell phone reception was almost non-existent when we moved here. Now it’s better but not reliable enough that I’d get rid of the land line.
If if you’re buying vacant land, check on the water situation. It can be quite expensive to drill a well and the laws about water rights are important to check. I just had to drill a new well after living in our house for 12 years. That was a ridiculously expensive project - I could have bought myself a really nice horse with the money I spent on that or paid board at a top-notch barn for a long time.
And I have to tell you - the running joke here is my never-ending battle with critters. The bat in the house (twice), the woodpecker who is eating my house, the pack rats and other critters who moved into the attic and ate the wiring, the raccoon who violently pulled the lattice and mesh wire off from under the porch to find a place to sleep, the snake who got in the basement, the never-ending problem with mice and voles in the house, the critters who dig holes in the pasture, and the birds who poop all over my barn!
I’m not trying to discourage you from moving and having your horses at home. It can be wonderful, and there’s nothing like being able to go see your horse right before bed and give him a hug or seeing him nicker for breakfast first thing in the morning. You’ll have total control of what he eats and when, how clean his water bucket is, when his blanket gets put on, how many shavings he has, etc. You’ll (hopefully) have peace and quiet instead of neighbors right on top of you. If you’re smart about how you set up your barn, you can minimize the daily work. And hopefully your property will be a good investment and you’ll make a good profit someday but I don’t know if you ever get back what you put into a horse property when you look at your ongoing operating expenses. Just think very carefully about everything everyone has said before making your decision. You’re right that this is the time to do it if you are going to. Many people do continue to care for their horses well into their later years but as some point the majority of people will tell you that they are having trouble doing all the chores they used to do due to age or injuries or health problems. But you should have many years before that happens.
Good od luck and let us know what you decide to do.
