I’m in PDX now, and since i just moved out here, has been doing a ton of barn searches. I have yet to find a barn that cost $1600 to board, the top rated ones here around $1600 combined training and board. All are ~30 min from downtown portland. Maybe i’m the one thats confused, since i’m new here?
From your options, eastern PA!
If you stay in the greater Philadelphia area, your options are basically endless. Different counties and towns are going to be more/less affordable, but there are not many other places in the US where you have as much access to A and AA shows. Between PA and NJ, you basically have a show every weekend in the spring/summer without driving more than a couple hours.
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I love where I am in Tucson. I ride with Jade Reimer at Shady Tree Stables. She operates out of Sonoran Sun Stables which is one of the only places in Tucson with grass individual turnout. Tucson is a great place although I’d go to Colorado or San Diego in the summer if I could.
If Charlotte appeals to you, you should also check out Raleigh. Lots of nice h/j barns around the triangle.
There are a lot of local A and schooling shows in your backyard, and still a very easy trailer ride to the bigger venues in Tryon, VA, etc. Land and cost of living are reasonable enough that most barns have decent turnout, and Southern Pines is just an hour south, and is one of the best parts of the country for horses. RDU airport is very accessible and user friendly. I moved to NC for a 3-year-job, and fell in love, bought a farm, and consider it my forever home now.
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I agree. I live in Aiken and i wish the Augusta airport and Columbia airport could be combined into one large regional airport that would bring more flight options.
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OP, can I plug the plan of living in an area with high quality horse infrastructure, low real estate/land values (and prolly low-ish taxes) and a dinky airport?
I have lived in places that had major ones (NYC, SF Bay Area, literally 5 exits from SFO), and also in places that had dinky ones (Ithaca, NY, Corvallis, OR with Eugene’s airport 40 minutes down the road), and I’m here to tell you that you’ll spend less time, money and stress getting from your house to the first plane at a regional airport. Yes, you’ll always have two flights, but I find that once I’m in airport/flight system, life gets relatively simple. And a close, easy to park, easy to TSA little airport doesn’t seem to make the entire trip longer. Just my experience.
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Same. I LOVE flying out of Gainesville when the flights aren’t too expensive. It is 45 minutes from my house, but Orlando, Tampa, and Jacksonville are all 1.75-2 hours from my house. So total travel time including drive time with the connection out of Gainesville is about the same as flying direct out of the others, and it’s soooo much nicer flying out of the little bitty airport than it is the big ones.
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It sounds the the Augusta airport cut flights, which is disappointing. My mom was flying from Dulles or BWI (I can’t remember) to there, nonstop, for $30. It was insanely low prices. It was just a little puddle jumper plane with that 2 seats on one side, one of the other layout.
Hi, Denver person here. I actually live in the south Denver Metro now… originally from the east coast/NJ area. I’ll be honest, from what you’re describing, I don’t know if Colorado is gonna work for you… and if you’re used to an East Coast set-up, expect it to be very different.
I thought moving out here that I’d have a ton of riding barn and show options. It’s really not what I had expected. There are some good trainers, but they’re pretty spread out. Expect that most of them will go to California or Florida for the winter, so you’re going to have to decide if that’s a lifestyle you want and within your budget.
We are currently in the start of about 10 weeks of A shows that you’ll have access to for the rest of the year in Colorado. Since you mentioned the AO’s, I wanted to stress that part as qualifying for indoors/Devon is a factor and would require you to probably show through the winter wherever you go.
Weather can be interesting… for example, there was tornado warning (not a watch… a WARNING) today and a big thunder storm So there’s that. Some of the show needed to move to tomorrow based on that weather. It’s a given that one of the 2 weeks of the spring show always gets some terrible weather… usually it’s snow. Not kidding. So aside from these 2 weeks in May. You get 2 weeks of A show in May for Spring. About 7 weeks over the summer. 2 weeks in the fall. The other option that’s within a few hours is Estes Park for 2 weeks in July. On top of all of that… it’s always a question what’s happening with the Colorado Horse Park every year… so it’s a nail-biter to the bitter end to determine if there’s even going to be a show season.
So for winter…it’s either pay $2000 to ship to Florida… pay God knows what to go ship to Thermal… or stay home in the snow, bitter cold, and ride indoors. There are some smaller A Shows floating around New Mexico and Arizona in March/April, but you’re still looking at shipping 10-12 hours to them ($1000 each way approx)
Most barns are not ideal if you’re planning to work in an office in downtown Denver. Expect about a 35-40 minute commute easily if there’s no traffic. If you’re working in Denver Tech Center, then still looking at 25-30 mins.
Turnout here is quite different than the east coast and south. The footing is a bit harder and it’s harder to find lush paddocks full of grass.
Expect to pay anywhere from $900-1200 in board, and another $750-900 in training fees for most show barns. Some range a bit higher, and not many are less.
Sorry if I’m bumming you out. Believe me… I was disappointed when I realized that I had moved to what I thought would give me so much more time and options and realized how few shows are actually here.
We’re looking at possibly moving back east, as I left my young hunter in Florida after WEC and since the show season is so short, it’s looking less likely that we’ll send him back for it.
Eastern PA (Bucks/Berks County/Lancaster), Maryland near DC, and Charlotte will probably have better options and be easier to show. Just my $.02.
Also, Denver real estate is on fire right now. So be prepared to compete with cash offers and bid 50k over asking if you’re looking to buy. We bought here in Sept of 2020 and were given an instant offer of $40k over what we paid when we looked into it last month. That’s without marketing it or putting it on the public marketplace and just selling direct. If you’re looking to rent… I think you may find some decent options closer to Cherry Creek and DTC, 2 bedrooms will run between $2500-3500 for newer, updated apartments, with 1BR apartments being closer to $2000-2200.
Feel free to PM me if you have more questions or need an idea of areas to look if you’re really considering it.
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All the Intermountain West is like this. Fewer people, fewer shows, and many horse people are more into western discipline, making an even smaller base for English shows.
Real estate is going bonkers everywhere, there’s not enough new housing, plus with investors buying prospective airbnb houses. Especially in the west where you have space when not telecommuting to work.
