Have you lived in Florida before? Ponds invite water moccasins.
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Don’t forget how expensive hay is in Florida as well.
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For those saying fill in the pond, I would not do this on any property in Florida. Remember this is swamp land. You are currently shopping in the dry season. Even if the land doesn’t show as flood zone you may be surprised come August. I grew up in Central Florida and it’s amazing the land they have filled in to build houses, then folks wonder why it’s so wet come summer.
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And with regard to filling in the pond you may also run into issues with your local county and water management regs. In this area we deal with St John’s River Management with regard to managing wetlands.
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We spent a year shopping for our Florida farm from out of state, lost multiple from them selling before we could go see them. The one we purchased we put a contract on before we scheduled the trip to see it. The emotional roller coaster it puts you on is unbelievable
I can’t stress enough that if you have the luxury of time don’t settle until you find the right place, for me that small of a place would be a no but I’ve seen plenty of horses do fine with small turnouts
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I’ll agree. That pond is probably there to collect water off the land come rainy season. I grew up in S Fla (west Broward) and we had a lake - as did everyone else in our area, as well as a canal along the road.
And IRT water moccassins, never say one in 40 years on that farm - 68 through 2013- lots of development in the area, etc etc.
and in all the years I have lived in FL i have never heard of a gator attacking a horse. If one comes to your pond, call one of the many removal services and it will be relocated if under 6’ or disposed of otherwise. dogs, yes, and a half blind one took a kid many years ago on the Loxahatchee river.
We bought more acreage and meh house. Then, we moved into town for less acreage and a better (thought smaller) house. It was hard to save up for the move because the property values outside of town didn’t appreciate as much as those inside town. If we did it over again, we would do the reverse. Buy a smaller place that will likely appreciate (just double-check those flood maps!) and save up for a possibly better and bigger place later, if that’s what you want. Less of an uphill battle. For us, we are happy in town. Less mowing…
Good luck, whatever you decide. 
The emotional roller coaster is crazy! We did an inspection on this house and it didn’t go well so we pulled out. Now with covid rampaging the US we’re still looking but there isn’t much available. It’s hard being patient but in 6 days I’ll have an 8 week old puppy keeping me busy and keeping my mind off house shopping and looking at the same houses that I already know aren’t right over and over.
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We definitely want to be close to town. So that limits us a lot of land that we can afford. But for us location is more important. I think we’re going to set up a pasture paradise track system with multiple hay and water stations. They won’t have grass but thats fine. They spend a good 6+ months a year in NY living off hay. They will still have more room and freedom than any boarding facility.
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In our first summer in NE Florida a neighborvt told us the alligator n their pond was was chasing their. horses. They are protected now and populations are explodng. This was in 2016.
Problem gators can be removed. Call the appropriate agency in your area. They are not as protected as they once were - in fact there is a hunting season. This was also the case in 2016. And yes I am in Florida.
Just thought I’d chime in on horse keeping in FL on a limited acreage. I’m in the panhandle, and the land drains a bit better than in south FL so this may not be completely applicable.
My neighbor across the street keeps one average sized horse and two minis at her home. She has a grand total of 1 and 1/3 acres. The horse area is one acre. It’s a nice rectangle. She has a two stall shed row barn in one corner close to the house. The barn has a small dry lot directly behind it approximately 12x36. The rest of the one acre is cross fenced in half. She has a good sized round pen in one half. The pasture always stays green, but not lush. She does overseed with rye in the winter and she irrigates the whole place. I see she feeds hay daily year round. She keeps the minis in a stall with access to the dry lot at night and out on the grass during the day. Reverse for regular horse. Occasionally she puts them all out together. She has a small storage building in her backyard near her little barn she uses as a feed room / hay storage.
Her horses look healthy and content and her place is tidy and pleasant to look at it. I’d say it can be done nicely on a small acreage if the ground isn’t a swamp.
Always confirm the zoning, and number of animals with the county, or city officials. Never believe the realtor or seller, since they definitely have a vested interest in getting you to buy without checking the zoning.
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My mom had 1.9 acres just outside Denver, CO that she kept up to 3 horses on (usually 2). A small shedrow barn along one property line with small runs that opened into a sand ring/turnout area - about 100’x100’. Along the back was a small pasture area.
The house was in the front with some lawn and a fenced dog yard between the house and horse area and a driveway into the ring along the side.
IIRC the house/yard area was about 1/2 acre with the horse area behind.
What really made this doable was the horse park right around the corner and access to the high-line canal system for riding.
Also, I rented 3.5 acre farm in Western NY for 3 years. It has an 18 stall barn with a couple of paddocks (it used to be part of a larger parcel that was used as a Standardbred training facility. Unfortunately the track was gone, plowed under a crop field by the time I got there). The house, garage, driveway, lawn, and storage building were in about 3/4 acre with the rest used for the barn and paddocks. I kept up to 7 horses there and for awhile the previous tenant had her 4 there as well.
Again it was okay. The soil in that location was on a gravel bed so very well drained and the layout worked well.
In both cases we had to be diligent about picking paddocks and maintaining fences…
I live in central Florida and previously lived in southeast Florida (Broward Co.). I highly recommend that you wait until July-August to shop for horse property. That is the rainy season and you will be able to see what you are dealing with for water drainage.
If you absolutely cannot wait, then try to speak with the owners of neighboring property, and check the floodplain map for your jurisdiction.
As suggested above, definitely check with your local jurisdiction as to how many animals can be kept per acre.
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