Micro farmette - am I crazy?

[PsyPsy]

I’m not sure if I’m writing this post to garner support or to talk myself out of a bad idea, but here goes! Please weigh-in.

I live in central Florida and board my only horse, an Arabian gelding, for an astronomical monthly price. However, at said price, I’m at the best barn in town with the best care. For years now, I’ve been trying to find a way to keep my horse at home so he can fully-assume his spoiled pet status, but I haven’t had much luck. I scratch my horse-care-itch by volunteering to clean stalls on the weekends, but I really want to do it all. Yes, even the tough stuff!

Recently, a house came on the market that seems like fate: It’s backyard is my current boarding barn! Literally, 50 feet from my swimming pool (which also is a motivator) is a covered riding arena, free of charge! My inner 9-year-old thinks this is a terribly romantic set-up and wants a pony in the backyard tomorrow. The house itself is perfect: square footage, layout, upgrades, etc. (AND THAT POOL!). Oh, and most importantly, it’s in our price range

The downfall? The entire property is 1.3 acres total, and with the house/pool/driveway combined, leaves about 3/4 of an acre for a small 2-stall shed row barn and strategically placed paddocks. I’m convincing myself that without the need to build a riding area, this could be perfect. Am I crazy?

After some research, I’ve learned the following necessities: [LIST=1]

Hay will be fed all year round

Mud will happen if not planned for with a sacrifice paddock with good footing, drainage and turnout rotation

Stall at night or for some portion of a 24-hour period

Manure management will be daily, time-consuming and disposal needs to be planned for [/LIST] So, what else am I missing?

Who thinks I’m crazy?

Who else is doing this?

Who thinks I should sit tight and continue to save my pennies until I can get at least 2+ acres for just the horse(s)?

[poltroon]

Being adjacent to a boarding barn is a huge advantage. I’d jump on it.

Let me add a bit more for your thoughts.
Main downside would be if the barn doesn’t work out forever. Can you always be a client there to use the facility? Will noise or dust be a problem for your family? What if a new trainer moves in and you don’t like them or can’t play? Will there ever be a day when acquaintances bopping over from the barn would be a bad thing?

Is there a gate/path to ride from your place to the barn?

Are you 100% sure the place is zoned for horses and will still be zoned for horses for a new owner?

Will your horse be willing to live alone, or better yet, can you get another buddy who will be thrilled to put a horse with yours and share in the work?

1.3 acres with a pool is pretty micro for horses, but if you only need two stalls and a sun paddock, not so bad. The way to solve mud is with gutters and elevation and ground prep. That’s expensive but the good news is, you won’t have much ground to prep.

Manure goes in a dumpster and probably you can get some sort of disposal service to pick it up weekly. Make yourself a ramp or jig or something so it’s super easy to dump right in the dumpster.

Worst case scenario, even buying the house and keeping the horse at your barn is still pretty romantic for pony-keeping.

Good luck!!

[OneTwoMany]

@PsyPsy

The entire property is 1.3 acres total, and with the house/pool/driveway combined, leaves about 3/4 of an acre for a small 2-stall shed row barn and strategically placed paddocks. I’m convincing myself that without the need to build a riding area, this could be perfect. Am I crazy?

Mud will happen if not planned for with a sacrifice paddock with good footing, drainage and turnout rotation

Stall at night or for some portion of a 24-hour period

Manure management will be daily, time-consuming and disposal needs to be planned for [/LIST]So, what else am I missing?

Who thinks I should sit tight and continue to save my pennies until I can get at least 2+ acres for just the horse(s)?

3/4 of an acre is not a lot of room for a shed, two stalls, a sacrifice paddock, a manure receptacle, etc. You can fit all those things in, but it will leave precious little area for grass paddocks and associated turnout. You’ll either have to limit grazing time substantially or resign yourself to grass that is grazed down to the point where you essentially have a dirt paddock.

I’ll echo the comment that some horse don’t like living alone, so you may need to consider having a buddy or a least a mini.

Access to an indoor is a huge plus. @poltroon shared some good advice regarding manure and zoning. Is there any chance the farm in your backyard might “lease” you a grass paddock in addition to allowing access to the indoor?

Lots of pluses to this one. The limited grass turnout is the major detractor in my view. And you will need to stay in the good graces of the barn in your backyard lest you have no where to ride.

Best of luck in whatever you decide!

[fordtraktor]

I think if you are right there the best thing to do would be to continue boarding at the barn and just be around to do the pampering! Then you can be there just like he is at home but be able to get away, not have the problem or expense of trying to fit what you want on so small an area, get the vet and farrier to come to your small place, etc. best of both worlds!

[Texarkana]

What are your hay purchasing options like in the area? Hay will become such a critical purchase with little to no grass. You don’t mention building a hay storage area-- does this mean you have a reliable source who can either deliver it regularly or allow you to pick it up yourself regularly?

Another consideration about your horse being alone-- while some horses may do fine alone, being so close that he can see/hear/smell his old friends might drive him bonkers. Can you take on a buddy in your plan?

Since I seem to live my life by Murphy’s Law, I’d also ask how would you feel about the situation if you lost access to the neighboring boarding barn facilities? Would the situation still be as desirable? Because you never know if management will change or the relationship will deteriorate for reasons beyond your control.

Also, what will turning a 1.3 acre property into a micro-farm do to the value of the property? Increase? Decrease? No change?

All that said, I don’t think you’re crazy. But I DO think horse-keeping on small acreage is committing to a lot of work and expense.

There are places in the US where horse-keeping on microscopic acreage is the norm. One acquaintance in SoCal ran her 10 horse facility on less than an acre. Folks from the east coast or midwest might scoff at the idea, but according to her, it was typical for her area. Her shedrow style stalls and buildings sat on the property line in a “U” shape, with a small sand arena in the center that she also used for “turnout.” She was in an urban yet horse-friendly area, so she could hack to bridle paths in local parks, etc.

[PsyPsy]

Wow, thank you all for the input! Lots to chew on here. To answer your questions:

-There is not a gate from ours to the next, but we are literally so close that we’d have shared fencing for a portion. Accessing their property sans gate would be as simple as walking down the driveway and around.

-In his current boarding situation, horses are not turned out together, and fencing is such that they cannot even touch one another. So aside from not having someone stalled immediately next to him, not much would change. He’d still see/hear/smell his buddies in turnout. But you could twist my arm into getting a mini pony

-The option of this property AND boarding next door is not ideal. Like I said, it’s an ASTRONOMICAL cost there for top-notch care. It would be my intent to take on the increased mortgage and move my horse to the backyard to cut “horse costs” by approximately 70%. “Working off” my board unfortunately isn’t a possibility either.

-The house is definitely zoned for horses

-The city will collect a small dumpster for manure once a week

-Leasing a pasture next door isn’t likely. They have approximately 4 acres of pasture with 6 horses themselves. Small land is the norm around here I guess…but they only turnout for 3-4 hours a day max and bring them inside for the rest of the time. They are able to maintain pretty grassy pastures and the horses don’t seem to mind. I, on the other hand, prefer lots of turnout for my guy.

-Hay is accessible albeit expensive in our area. My micro-barn would include a feed/tack room. We would also have a 3 car garage that I could stockpile in. I’m sure my husband would LOVE that :yes:

I agree with you all that the continuing positive relationship with my neighbors would be key to this property. That is the one that keeps me up at night! It’s a private boarding/training facility that has a pretty good external cash flow, so it’s unlikely they would close or move. But yes, if we somehow upset one another or they chose to relocate, I could lose a lot very quickly.

[clanter]

-Hay is accessible albeit expensive in our area. My micro-barn would include a feed/tack room. We would also have a 3 car garage that I could stockpile in. I’m sure my husband would LOVE that

check your potential hay supplier… we purchase hay on annual contracts with delivery on a as needed basis

We live in an area where it is common practice to have a horse(s) in the backyard… there are hidden around mostly out of sight, even some neighbors have no idea the horses are even there.

Fly control should be on your list of “things”… and that pool surely needs to be enclosed/fenced off to insure horse doesn’t wander over there to fall in

We ended up double fencing to make sure the local kids are kept at a distance from the stock (we have three schools nearby, many of the children use the sidewalk in from to our place to get to/from school).

All of our exterior fence line gates are secured with programmable combination locks just incase we need to allow a vet/farrier/hay delivery to have access is we not there… we can give them the combination and if there is any thought of that person coming back unannounced we can easily change the combination… but my daughter may be upset since she set them all to he birthday so I wouldn’t forget her

Back to the city… stay abreast with any planning and zoning reforms … here there was an attempt to change a few things mostly related to subdividing the larger lots, but you never know just where the city government will go

[js]

Are you positive the boarding barn would let you continue to use their facilities for riding? Also, would they charge you a use fee. Need to sit down and do some math about fencing, barn, equipment, feed, hay, all the things you will need if you buy the property. Be honest about the costs and add about 5% just to keep you ahead. The small acreage would be the only sticking point for me, but then many places are done on small lots and work out just fine. Also, make sure vets and farrier’s will do your small farm (even though there is a bigger farm next door). My equine dentist decided he would only do farms with 6 or more horses, I had 4 and the guy just a mile away had 10 but he gave me grief about having to do my small barn.

What would your contingent plan be if the boarding barn said no, can’t allow outsiders to use the facilities?

[Bluey]

Think that, if you own that place, the cost of maintenance on it and the cost of keeping the horse may be more than boarding is now, by a large margin.

Do run your figures by very carefully, so you are truly comparing apples to apples, not bananas.

I can’t really imagine keeping one horse at home be cost effective, compared with boarding.
Boarding spreads the cost over several horses.
One horse alone at home has to carry all costs by itself, which probably is way more than boarding.
What seems saving on boarding may be not such when considering all the true costs of a horse at home.

[clanter]

@Bluey

What seems saving on boarding may be not such when considering all the true costs of a horse at home.

vacations are pretty hard to arrange as well as you have schedule your life around feeding/caring for poor horsy … going to that movie that starts at feeding time is out for sure

[tangledweb]

Moving next door to the boarding barn so you can visit the horse 4 times a day if the mood strikes you seems like a great idea.

Moving one horse home to save money seems like an unlikely proposition. Even if you like doing the manual labor and have enough free time to be available during business hours for farrier, deliveries and vets it costs a lot to keep a farm running even for one horse.

Obviously hay, feed, bedding and manure removal costs are controlled by number of horses, but tools and materials to fix barn, fences, plumbing and other infrastructure does not cost much less for one horse than for 10. Do you buy tools and equipment to do every task or do you hire a pro every time?

Do you buy a small tractor for a micro farm or do you pay somebody every time you need gravel or mud worked?

Do you take vacations and need to pay a farm sitter, or are you home 365 nights a year?

I’m not saying don’t do it, you might really enjoy it, but I am saying don’t do it thinking you will save money. I went from boarding to backyard horsekeeping, and mostly find it very satisfying. However it definitely costs me far more to have them at home. The only real positive on cost is that I can be very relaxed about having a retiree, a spare and kids pony hanging around as rather than adding a full board bill each they only add a little to the food and work budget.

[fordtraktor]

This is not going to save you $$ much less 70%. I could Board my 3 at the nicest place around for what I spend extra on my farm and I am not extravagant, and Board a few to cost share. One at home is a for sure loss leader.

it is a labor of love, not about the $$$

[2DogsFarm]

@clanter

vacations are pretty hard to arrange as well as you have schedule your life around feeding/caring for poor horsy … going to that movie that starts at feeding time is out for sure

I beg to differ.
My horses are fed on a schedule with a wide-open window that lets me not only get to that movie/dinner date/party/whatever, but means my farmsitter for vacations does not have to abide by my timetable either.
A couple hours in either direction does not upset their feedcart.
I regularly get away for long weekends & shows as well as personal trips out of state, even out of country.
And I am no Trustfund Kid, retired with SSI my only income.

OP:
You’ve gotten some good advice already.
Roadblocks I can see:
Check Zoning & then check again!
My farmette -5ac - was zoned for 2 horses when I bought & I am grandfathered in.
Which was a Good Thing when area was rezoned a couple years later so now future owner would only be allowed 1.

*If losing the privileges at the boarding barn would crimp your riding, I see no way to assure it will be available to you for as long as you own the property.

Otherwise, as @Texarkana described, lots of places have micro-acreages working successfully.
I visited a place in NV - very close to Las Vegas - that boarded probably 12 horses on less than 10ac including owner’s house. No grass turnout, but horses seemed to be in good condition.

[poltroon]

It’s a private boarding/training facility that has a pretty good external cash flow, so it’s unlikely they would close or move.

Just be aware that this does happen with some frequency IME… divorce seems to be the most typical reason.

I would not assume you could use the arena for free. Maybe if you’re a client of the trainer and paying for lessons. They might charge you a small fee to use the arena. Still a bargain. But make sure you have a deal before you’re counting on it.

With riding buddies next door, I would expect that getting a horsesitter for vacations would be pretty easy, one of them, or paying one of the barn workers to come and help you.

I think the money question is a good one. If you want to do this because you are going to do it, it’s about as ideal a situation as you’re going to get. But, if the house does not have horse facilities on it, a barn and the site prep is going to run you $10-$20k even for something pretty basic. You’ll need a horse-friendly fence to separate it from the pool and the rest of your yard. You’ll need the barn, and you’ll need gravel. That’s maybe a year’s worth of board so you might come out ahead in the long run depending upon the other costs of the house and land specific to horsekeeping, plus of course your hay, bedding, and manure removal. Price those! Your hay/bedding/manure could easily run $500/mo.

How will you get hay to your place? You may find you need a pickup truck if you don’t have one now, and alas I would say a big use of my time is having to pick up hay and feed at times that are not always convenient. Hopefully there is delivery to you.

Then also think about the resale on this property. It’s desirable to US because of the proximity to the barn and the horse facilities you’ll add, but that might not be true for the bulk of buyers. That may or may not be important but don’t assume that the money you put into that barn will pay back when you sell. Similarly, think about planning that barn (I know this kills us!) so it might be an attractive and usable storage/working area for someone who isn’t horsey.

Last thing: you said it is zoned for horses for sure, but also check your setback requirements. You are going to build a tiny barn on a tiny parcel and I’m sure it will fit on paper BUT the zoning won’t necessarily let you put structures next to the property line. If you have 20’ setbacks on each side that might be a dealbreaker (or maybe you just make an open covered space in the middle of your sun paddock) and also if you have water pipes or septic on this property, you might be limited due to those as well.

I would not try to grow grass for the horses at all on a parcel this size. Maybe if you’re lucky you’ll able to hand graze landscaping around the house.

Good luck!

[Zu_Zu]

sorry but I would NOT venture into this • too small • IMHO

Good Luck …

[Wonders12]

You’re not crazy at all! In California, it’s very common to have 2-3 horses on less land than you have. Heck, we have 100+ on 13 acres at work. It’s not the cheap or easy way to do things, but it works. A few thoughts:

As someone upthread mentioned, check zoning and check it again. How many horses can you have? (I would need the flexibility for 3, just in case you end up with herd bound horses, etc.) How close to your property line and neighbors are you allowed to put the barn? Fencing? Storage? This is important. Is there some topography on the property? Mud will be your enemy no matter what, but if the land is working against you, it will be miserable/expensive to fix. Run the numbers and run them for 2. When your horse is our AND the neighbor horse is out, your horse might be fine. What about when they go inside? What about when he’s inside? Some react differently to knowing their the only horse in the barn. This will double your hay AND your manure disposal. Plan for no grass. Are you ok with that? On manure disposal, talk to your neighbors about if the given disposal is enough. In some areas, it’s not, and you will need a secondary way. Have a plan for fly control! And be on top of manure! 2 picks a day.

Being next to the boarding barn is a huge help! Are you friendly with the staff? You may be able to hire them for help as needed (horse care and facility work). I would plan to pay them something even if they’re saying you don’t need to. You need to stay in their good graces. If you lost access to that barn, would that be the end of the world? Obviously it’s not ideal, but if it’s a deal breaker, you might want to think twice.

Have you every managed a horse facility? If not, have someone who has walk the property with you. They might have some really good insight. And several loads of unexpected gravel or runs of cross fencing really hikes up the costs.

Have a real heart to heart with hubby about this. On small acreage, he is living in a horse corral, the horse carral isn’t on his property. Even with the best horse keeping, here will be way more dust, mud, flies, and clutter than on a larger property. Be overly honestly.

There is a book called “Horsekeeping on Small Acreage” or something similar, it’s a pretty good place to start if you haven’t kept horses in this style before.

[trubandloki]

Lots of great thoughts.
I have my horses at home and I admit I have a hard time seeing how the savings will be 70%.

Things to be sure of (since you are counting on them), not just think are probably most likely the way it is:

1. Use of the facilities next door.
2. Manure removal will happen by the town.
3. Zoning.

A person casually saying in a conversation that you and Dobbin will for sure be able to use their ring for free might not end up actually happen that way when you buy the place and are in their way every day.

In my part of the world manure removal (via dumpster) has gotten difficult because the landfill does not want to take manure. Make sure your town will actually take manure.

[JanM]

My biggest questions are about the use of the acreage. Is there septic, or other utilities or easements that will limit your use of the property? What is your back up plan if the boarding barn is gone?

[Libby2563]

@PsyPsy

I agree with you all that the continuing positive relationship with my neighbors would be key to this property. That is the one that keeps me up at night! It’s a private boarding/training facility that has a pretty good external cash flow, so it’s unlikely they would close or move. But yes, if we somehow upset one another or they chose to relocate, I could lose a lot very quickly.

This would be a huge sticking point for me, probably a deal-breaker. Even nice and normal-ish horse people can take a turn for the crazy that you never saw coming (seen it), or the BOs’ life plans might change unexpectedly (seen it too), or one of them might die or get injured, if if if… I know nothing is certain in life, but I personally would not set myself up for this much dependency unless I had a good backup plan.

So, if that arrangement fell through, would you have a backup plan? Could you hack to trails some days and haul to another arena on others? Would your property be easy to re-sell, with the horsekeeping additions? Not everyone wants a barn and other horsey accouterments taking up their tiny lot.

That said, here are a couple suggestions if you go through with this:

1. Instead of a shedrow barn, build a multi-purpose structure that you can divide into stalls if needed. That way if you need to sell, it’s more marketable.

2. Consider allotting funds for a sacrifice paddock with improved footing like stonedust or whatever is used in your area. That way you don’t have to choose between your horse being trapped in a stall and your paddocks (a.k.a. backyard) getting trashed.

If it were me, I would not bother with a stall. I’d put up a storage building of some kind with an overhang, put in a stonedust paddock that included the area under the overhang, and put gates in that fence to one or two small grass paddocks. Turning out would be as easy as opening a gate.

[monalisa]

I don’t think the cost-benefit analysis works for owning 1-2 horses at your own place. You have to factor in your time, not being able to take vacations, buying equipment, maintenance, the additional property taxes, paying for help, buying hay, feed, fencing, bedding, manure removal and unless you are young this will take a toll on your body. If you have issues - back, feet, knees, hips - what then? Can you find reliable help when you are sick, at work? All of these things should be considered.