Moving - horse property or residential and boarding?

[horsegal301]

I’m in a bit of a predicament and feel like I need to provide some back story to get to my main question.

My husband and I are by no means “wealthy,” but we moved into a new property here in WNY right before COVID, because unfortunately, we were not allowed to work from home until then, so we settled with a property here on 20 acres with a barn set with stalls. We moved from the suburbs and had a boarding situation where I had to drive 35 min to the closest affordable barn for 2 horses. We both work tech jobs and I’ve secured a new position that is fully remote. We were able to bring our two minis home and get another, and between both of our salaries, were able to do a few nice shows over the past year.

However, the thought of actually moving south, where we actually want to live, is still at the forefront of both of our minds. I almost feel cheated, as we bought our house at the perfect time to be able to bring our houses home and achieve my dream - which was to have the horses on my own property, but we’re stuck in a place neither of us want to live anymore, especially having received over 4 feet of snow last weekend.

The housing market has seemingly dashed our dreams of being able to move unless we want everything we make to go towards just being able to afford the property. I don’t see much of a budge, having watched house prices in my desired area (Aiken/Windsor, SC) since before 2020.

So here’s the predicament: My husband has put out the idea of moving back to the suburbs and boarding again. I can’t seem to find any pricing from facilities that board. I’m also hesitant to go back to a situation where I can’t walk out my backdoor and see my horses anytime I want.

• Has anyone here gone from owning their own horse property to boarding?
• Was is a good decision or do you have regrets?

I know my husband would be immensely happy to be able to not have to find a horse sitter if we wanted to go away just for a weekend (we haven’t even been able to visit my parents who are just a few hours away if our horse sitter is unavailable), but I’m struggling picturing this set up, especially having to find a spot for multiple carriages and a horse trailer and the cost differences between the house price/mortgage and how astronomical boarding + storage of a trailer might be.

[TheJenners]

Spitballing: do you need as much land? If maths serves, you have three minis + accoutrements and currently 20 acres. I have four bigs and two littles on nine and not using most of that for them - perhaps a total of four including the arena and barn. The rest is just maintenance. Can you find smaller property? The market here at least, you can sell big land and downsize and even tho it’s a sellers’ market still do pretty good I would think. Not sure how WNY prices compare to Aiken tho, I imagine not as favorably as you want but not sure.

Finding a boarding facility that can handle minis will be lucky, plus carts? But not impossible! I do know for a fact that there is a very active driving community in that area so not impossible, even with VSEs. My crazypants mother lived there for a few years and that is or was her jam.

I think you have options! Also with fairer weather, finding a weekend farm sitter will be lots easier.

Even as nasty as the weather gets, I dont think I could go back. Yeah I groan and bitch if a pipe busts or something needs to repaired or it’s dumping rain at a greater than 45 degree from the sky but… Knowing my fatties are getting exactly what I want them to get feels good too.

[lenapesadie]

I went from horses at home to boarding and back again to horses at home.

A smaller home property is the way to go imo. I have a 3.37 acre farm with two extra big horses in FL. I have room for a third and possibly a 4th.

[horsegal301]

We absolutely don’t need 20 acres, and I know that deep in my bones! Most of ours is undeveloped. It just happened to be not far from civilization with an existing barn and we jumped on it. I think all said and done we maybe only use 5-7 acres. I’m just cringing at the prices for 5 acres houses with no barn and it’s making me explore other options.

It almost seems like it might also be cheaper to buy land and build, but I have no idea what the pricing is like on a new build. It’s just my husband and I, so I’d be perfectly content with a small house. I’d also love to continue notbhaving an HOA, and it seems like most land available is only part of some community with one.

[atr]

I went the opposite way and left my beloved remote mountain farm to move into “town,” right at the start of the pandemic.

I had to. My husband wasn’t well and we needed to be somewhere more accessible and easier to manage. I’ve downsized my horse population to 2, one riding horse and one retired, both boarded. I’d been boarding one in the winter for years, so I was still in touch with the local boarding situation, and we stayed within the same zipcode.

Because I live in a small country town rather than a suburban subdivision, I’ve got room for my trailer and truck, and would have room for more toys, on my own property. (I’d have room for a couple of VSEs too if the town didn’t have wonky livestock rules. But that’s another story…) But we can still walk to Main Street for groceries, etc.

It has worked out. I miss my beloved mountain, farm, wildlife, silence, keenly at times, but I don’t have to spend 45 minutes on the tractor clearing the driveway and praying that someone else has done the road down to the freeway if it snows, or spend my summers watching for smoke plumes in the hills.

I’ve found good places to keep my horses. They are content. I just do a ton of driving.

[TheJenners]

@horsegal301

It almost seems like it might also be cheaper to buy land and build, but I have no idea what the pricing is like on a new build.

Most contractors are willing to give you numbers for free if you come to them with an idea, and Aiken has lots more options for Amish built pole barns and fencing than where I am. So if you ran some numbers and got some quotes, then compared to similar properties either with a house or with a barn and no house, and then compared all those numbers to boarding + house, you should have a good idea!

Thankfully I bought “bare” land with a random Barnmaster four-stall barn sitting on it being used to store hay equip at the end of 2016. I checked at the time and was told the kit would be 36k, now it would be much closer to if not well beyond 70k and this isn’t labor or site prep; I priced a half-size barn through them a couple years ago, basically a shedrow with an extended roof line and it was IIRC 52k. This was at the height of COVID pricing. And around here it used to reliable to say ~$200/ sq ft got you a nice house but not so anymore. My house (small, 1200 sq ft) was $237k-ish to build, so I came in just at that by making some upgrade purchases myself (bathroom vanities, light fixtures, had the tile done by a friend, did some of my own painting (never. again. ever.)) and not through the bank, but this could never be accomplished now.

[2DogsFarm]

@TheJenners

Aiken has lots more options for Amish built pole barns and fencing

OP, would you consider a barndominium?
Barn with LQ - either above (aka Huntbox) or attached.
Many years ago I saw this done by Amish builders for a MIL & it was a lovely build.

My own Dream is to attach a Tiny House (>400sf) to my indoor - that’s attached to my barn - & deal with Winter by not having to go into the actual outdoors for horse chores.
You could do this with a bigger house as well.

My house now is not huge - 1400sf - and with the lawns, it’s taking up 1+ of my total 5ac.
I could be happy with 3ac, for me, house, barn & my 3 horses (well, 1 horse, 1 pony & 1 mini)
In hindsight I should have perimeter-fenced all but maybe 1/2ac, leaving the rest for more pastures.

[Bluey]

If you build, attached to the barn directly or with a cross walk, definitely think hard about human rooms above the barn.
While it seems ideal, here insurance doesn’t like that at all, some codes don’t either and it makes sense, fire, dust, smells, insects, rodents from the barn are hard to keep out of above dwellings, easier on side ones.

Plus if someone living there becomes handicapped, temporary or permanently, those stairs won’t be their friend at all.
Better manage to build all on one floor, or at least main rooms and one bedroom.

As for where to go, boarding will always be the best financially and, unless you want taking care of horses be your primary chore, letting others do so will free you (and DH) for other in your life, yes at the cost of horses not being outside your door 24/7.

Life is about compromises for us to choose.

[candyappy]

What a hard place to be. I don’t think I could ever board again after having them at home for decades but if you find the right place you never know.

Boarding 3 horses ( even if they are mini’s) would be outrageous and I would definitely try and find a property to keep them at home.

[fordtraktor]

I grew up on a boarding farm, then boarded for 7 years, then back to a 20 acre farm and board horses for others.

I don’t think I could ever go back to boarding, and I was a “good boarder” (never complained/very adaptable to the BO’s program because I knew how much of a PITA running a boarding barn can be!)

I do not think your solution is ever going to be boarding in upstate NY. I would consider relocating south.

What is the cause of your husband’s wish to move? With 3 minis, you could really streamline horse care. Even in snow I could get that down to 30 minutes twice a day. I feel like there must be a process issue here that could improve especially if you are close in to town.

One thing I do: outsource plowing. Second: heated auto water. Third: don’t use stalls but provide a group shelter.

I do have stall boarders who take more time, but my personal horses are field boarded. We’ve done the 4 ft of snow a few times…During those, my shelters basically turn into giant group stalls.

[Bluey]

@fordtraktor

I grew up on a boarding farm, then boarded for 7 years, then back to a 20 acre farm and board horses for others.

I don’t think I could ever go back to boarding, and I was a “good boarder” (never complained/very adaptable to the BO’s program because I knew how much of a PITA running a boarding barn can be!)

I do not think your solution is ever going to be boarding in upstate NY. I would consider relocating south.

What is the cause of your husband’s wish to move? With 3 minis, you could really streamline horse care. Even in snow I could get that down to 30 minutes twice a day. I feel like there must be a process issue here that could improve especially if you are close in to town.

One thing I do: outsource plowing. Second: heated auto water. Third: don’t use stalls but provide a group shelter.

I do have stall boarders who take more time, but my personal horses are field boarded. We’ve done the 4 ft of snow a few times…During those, my shelters basically turn into giant group stalls.

I think one problem was they wanted to travel and pet care was hard to get and unreliable?

[Texarkana]

I have gone back and forth between horses at home and boarding several times in my life. Most recently was in 2017 when my husband and I moved to a new state. During that period, I boarded for a little over a year while we lived in an apartment in the heart of a trendy college town. Now we are back to farm life.

When you have a good boarding situation, it’s nice. I appreciate the peace of mind. I spend more time doing things like riding and showing.

The problem is good boarding situations are like hens teeth. Sometimes not having one is outside your control because there literally aren’t any to be found. Then it becomes very, very stressful.

Also, if you have multiple horses, boarding feels so much more expensive to me. Yes, you hemorrhage money when you have your own farm, but once the infrastructure is in place, costs level out. You aren’t forking out the equivalent of a second mortgage once a month for boarding on top of other horse expenses.

If you decide to move, I think it’s a great idea to rent a home and board the horses for the first year or so, though. You will get to know the area and what parts you prefer. You will make friends and build more connections. Plus horse farms are such tricky real estate; you don’t want to buy one in a new area then realize you want to be somewhere else because they aren’t always easy to flip.

[horsegal301]

We are trying to leave upstate NY. We got stuck in the buffalo area because of having to go into the office to work, but of course, ghe world changed 3 months later and BAM, our opportunities were opened if you ignored the cost.

We are trying to get onto the aiken/windsor area because nothing happening for 8 months lit of the year and it also being devastatingly cold and snowy when neither of us enjoys winter activities is really a bummer.

[fordtraktor]

Sorry, it wasn’t clear that selling and boarding was going to be a move necessarily, because I didn’t see that your DH was now WFH too.

The 7 years I boarded was because I moved to a major metro area for work. It was fine and necessary, but expensive and I got to the barn much less.

With 2-3 minis, I kind of think that you could get like 1.5-2 acres in Aiken and have MORE than enough land? It would be very easy to find a horse sitter there too. IME minis can’t really be on a large acreage without getting too fat! I would look at a house in the suburbs with enough land to keep your minis.

I live basically in the suburbs (20 min commute for my DH, I work from home.). It is great! I am 4 minutes from a major grocery store, 2 minutes from a gas station.

[JanM]

In your situation, I would start a search on realtor dot com, for Aiken and the land you need. But I set the search so the computer won’t send me the latest, I can go to the search page of my custom searches and look any time I want to. I also click the little heart symbol, to put houses in my saved home page. That way you can see how fast they sell, who the realtors you see mentioned a lot. I bet if you look at the Aiken thread on here that you’ll find a realtor, and can start working with them.

Start talking to realtors in NY too.

Since you are both WFH, make sure you can get high speed internet, and cable service, and check with the cable company.

Where I used to live, I could eventually get the local cable company, but I was on the main road, people a couple of streets away couldn’t get cable. Check the cell service right at the house too, and anywhere on the property you need to get a good signal.

[Arelle]

The kicker right now - where we are, is that boarding barns are closing left and right. The ones that ARE still open and have quality care have increased exponentially in cost and have wait lists that are months, if not years, long.

Most of my circle is doing the opposite - looking for ways to get out of boarding and into land ownership because the prices are about to start putting people out of the industry.

On top of the struggle to just find property that is affordable, the construction costs right now are astronomical as well. I heard a quote earlier this week on just some basic building, and installing a covered round pen here in North Texas is coming out to about $80K.

I have a few lifers - for me, I’d be more inclined to use some money to build my facility to better handle the few months of shit weather than move into a situation where my horse’s livelihood was out of my control. Currently, it’s been raining for a week - everything is mud - but knock on wood my personal barn can’t decide to sell out and retire next week and leave me scrambling for a place to stay.

[fledermaus]

I can only add that, if you are exploring developing bare land (I have done this), remember that a lot of the cost to develop is in the infrastructure. Electric, road, septic, well. Buying land that already has these things will much simplify and shorten build time and cost.

Also, the first things to look for in any rural property are exposure and drainage. Those cannot be changed, and affect everything you do.

Many first-time builders believe they need to build their whole dream in one go. It is perfectly possible to build, say, a minimal four room house (kitchen, bath, bedroom, general open room) with plans to add the other rooms later. Same with a barn – build a shelter with plans to add more barn as you can. In this way you won’t get hopelessly in debt and will eventually get the exact buildings you need.

Good luck!

I love having my horses at home, despite the can’t-leave-home aspect. It would be very hard for me to go back to boarding.

[McGurk]

This topic is close to my heart. DH and I are retired and in our mid 60s. We have a small farmette of 14 acres. The work is beginning to wear on us. The place right now is very well set up for horse maintenance, but pasture maintenance and helping a neighbor with hay as well as daily chores are significant.

I will say that once you have the infrastructure in place, keeping horses at home is WAY cheaper than boarding. With good pasture, I only feed hay 5 months of the year. Run in stalls are matted and horses have free access to them; I don’t put down shavings unless something has to stay up.

It is true that anytime we want to go away we have to find a farm sitter.

I used to think would keep this place going myself if something happened to DH, realistically, now, I would sell, get a condominium and board.

The crux of the problem is where could I board that I could afford and agree with the standard of care?

So a hunt box or a barndominium might be a better solution.

I could absolutely see me living in 1000 sq ft or less.

I would want to secure a place in a boarding barn I know that I could afford and be happy with before making the move.

ETA: the deal breakers for me with boarding are adequate turnout and forage. I want 24/7 turnout with access to shelter except in the filthiest weather, and unlimited access to hay or forage. That’s pretty tough to find in a boarding situation, where there’s strong financial pressure to overgraze.

[NoSuchPerson]

@Texarkana

When you have a good boarding situation, it’s nice. I appreciate the peace of mind. I spend more time doing things like riding and showing.

The problem is good boarding situations are like hens teeth. Sometimes not having one is outside your control because there literally aren’t any to be found. Then it becomes very, very stressful.

This is so true. Last time I moved I looked and looked for a place I would be able to keep my horses at home and found nothing suitable that I could afford.

I found a great boarding facility through word of mouth - I knew somebody who knew somebody who knew somebody - and was very lucky that someone had just left and they had 2 open spots. So, I bought a house and boarded my horses. It is wonderful. Heavenly. Great care that I’m not responsible for providing. Great barn family. I love it.

But…

Now that I’ve lived here longer, I realize just how lucky I was. If this place ever closes down, I am in big trouble. There are almost no other boarding facilities at all and none that provide this level of care and even what I consider basic amenities. I honestly do not know what I would do or where I would go if I had to move my horses.

Having horse property where you can keep your own horses is the safest option. Yes, it has its own negatives, but for me, the security of not finding myself scrambling for a new boarding facility is worth it.

Of course, in a perfect world, I would have my horse boarded at a great place and own a home with some acreage as a backup just in case. As soon as I win the lottery, I’ll get that.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

A woman at my current barn is in the process of moving south, where she’ll keep all of her horses at home. This is the second barn she’s built. She has one horse in training where I’m riding, the rest are at her current home barn.

She’s relocating to South Carolina and will build another barn from scratch on her property there, so she has experience. She says the problem has been getting the permits to get the foundation laid, and also the Amish guy who is doing it is taking care of his work up north before starting down south over the winter. So it’s slow and involved, especially as she’s just in the process of making contacts with the necessary contractors in the new area, which can be challenging.