If the weather is inclement in winter for a while, it doesn’t hurt a horse to be simply given time off… turn them out for winter months let them just be horses together. Everyone needs a break from each other, a rest from training. They don’t lose what training they have, it stays with them.
I’m always encouraging of people buying a farm and keeping horses at home, best plan for both horses and true horsemen.
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We’re younger and bought a fixer upper. Decided to start a business all the meanwhile, so the fixing up part has taken longer than anticipated, but we’re chugging along. In the end it will be so worth it.
I work full time in an office and then I come home and do the admin work for my SO. We have three horses. I do all the barn work. I’m also the primary caretaker of the other animals and the house. We don’t have kids, but it’s still a very full plate. I don’t have any trouble finding 3-4x a week to ride and I don’t have an arena. It gets a little more complicated in the winter. I could haul out, but I do lose most of my will to live once it gets cold,
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Riding is like money.
We have all heard the principle of “pay yourself first” meaning, put away some portion of your paycheck in savings before you pay your bills and then see what’s left over.
Same with riding. Ride FIRST, then see how much time you have left over to do the other things. (granted, you can’t say, “Gee, not enough time to feed…” but something discretionary can indeed be delayed if needed.)
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I also own a farm in the midwest with only an outdoor arena and I will say that my riding is definitely limited in the winter. Between less daylight hours and either frozen or completely wet/sloppy ring, I do not get to ride much from Dec - March. My first year before we had the ring installed at all I would haul out often to ride, maybe 3 times a week on average. It was a lot of traveling and not getting home until late in the evening. If the arena is frozen sometimes you can do an easy ride in the field. Not really much you can do about wet/mud unless you have roads to hack out on.
I think it honestly depends on your attitude toward riding. I don’t mind giving my young horses a couple of months off or just having easy work during the winter. If you’re the type that needs to train seriously all year round and do not/can not haul somewhere often, then it probably won’t work. But I will say that having the horses home has absolutely been worth it to me, and I don’t know if I would ever go back to full boarding, even if it meant access to nicer facilities. After purchasing a fixer upper that still needs a lot of work, I would for sure pick a very nice facility that had everything else I wanted for ease of care for the horses, over a run-down facility that maybe had an indoor.
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One thing that I have not seen anyone else mention, that while I do love having horses at home, I have for 20 years now, I really do miss the social aspect of boarding. Now I board 10 horses for a handful of owners, and it is not the same because the dynamic is different.
as to finding someone to feed for you on vacation I use this app on the phone called Rover it is more for dog walking, but at least here in california I have a virtually limitless number of people who are willing to stay here and watch the place for $50-100/day and I have 35 horses 15 cows, dogs, goats, chickens etc, that said I make everything very easy and they only have to drive around and make sure everything is alive, maybe throw a flake of hay to a couple horses.
That said, there are some huge upsides to having your horses at home.
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Having your horses at home is a lifestyle. Bought the first place to keep 2 horses, which of course grew to 4, as we decided it made more financial sense to put the board money towards our mortgage. Sold the first place to a developer and bought a larger property that we built a barn and outdoor arena on to keep my 4 horses, now down to 2. Never had boarders. First property paid for the second one. Love taking care of my horses. No barn drama. Socialize with my trainers clients. Have BBF who rides cross country and trails with me 2x/week. She also owns her own horse property. Great neighbors who have horses and we help each other out. Stable set up so I can leave the horses a few day alone, neighbors check on well being and with our infrequent trips abroad have had no problems finding a horse and dog sitter (always paid above the going rate to keep my sitter even when she got out of the business). If the rainy weather is too bad have access to a few indoors. Sit down and list the pros and cons of owning your own horse property and then decide if any of the cons are a deal breaker.
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Definitely this too. Rough math and not counting fuel there are two indoors I could haul to, one that would cost $10 and one that costs I think $30, within just a few miles of my place… I could go 10,000 times or every day for 27 years before it hit the cost of an indoor arena here. YIKES!!! That was some scary math.
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Soil maps really help with this calculation. Though ag cooperative extensions used to publish them as, you know, books, most states have them online now.
You might soon find yourself down a sandy rabbit hole. 
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2dogs raises hand guiltily… 
I did drive the mini for 4days at the Ntl Drive… in October…
Since then my Herd of 3 has been on vacay.
But it’s still worth it to me to have eyes on them at least 3X daily.
Re: repairs
Even if you make the effort, after some years, attrition takes a toll & things need to be redone.
For me, after 18yrs, fencing needed some posts reinforced, wire spliced, stalls need my Unplanned Deep Litter stalls stripped to the base 
1 was done (by helpful neighbor) Sunday, the other is scheduled for today.
Neverending problem with muck buildup in back of stalls still needs to be addressed.
As Roseanne Roseannadanna says:
It’s always something
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I say you listen to that little voice. If you are able to ride or work with your horse whenever you want to currently and have multiple horses, then boarding might be the best answer if you won’t have an indoor.
I moved mine home a few years ago and find my indoor to be sacred for exactly those 4-5 months a year. Or when it’s 90 and you want shade etc.
Having them home definitely cuts into play time. I used to say the time I spent driving to and fro the barn would be my work time. Increase that by a factor of 10 at home.
But I love it and would never go back. I work FT and have a flexible schedule and that is really important when you have them at home because you now coordinate it all…and must be there for it all.
Just my two cents.
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Boarding and keeping horses at home are like apples and muffins, different ways to experience what horses can be and are in your life.
Keeping horses at home is about caretaking, you are in direct charge of all to your horse, a lifestyle that will require much of your time, energy and finances.
If you care for that aspect of horse life, you will feel fulfilled and love every minute of it, even when grumbling about it all at times.
Boarding is having way less of your life involved in the horse part of it, generally, if you also do other in your life that takes much time and energy, is generally less of a part of your life.
You can skip going to the barn and horse will be taken care of, every minute of the day, fed supplied, etc.
Your involvement will be at will, you won’t have to be there without fail.
The same if you socialize where you board, you can participate as much or little as you want and move if you want to change barns or sell the horse and do other with your time.
That is not so easy to do if you own the place and generally other critters in it.
Each one of us come to what we do at each part of our lives with different needs and wants.
Be sure what you choose is your real dream, not that of others because they love it.
Explore what your realistically want now from your current life and situation, then make it happen.
Whatever that decision may be, it will be right, for you.
May not be perfect, all situations have glorious moments and sluggish ones.
No one else can decide what is best in our life for us but us.
If you want to try horses at home, considering this place you are looking over, some times following your gut with some serious straight thinking helps.
The more time you take thinking, the more places you consider, all that adds to one time just know that one place is the one and, more important, thru your experience looking at others, you will know why.
As Grandma used to say, if in doubt, maybe don’t.
If your gut is not sure of this place, ask it why?
Good luck! 
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I’m in Virginia, and can say that I can often board out for a month or two in the winter when I need to, or trailer to an indoor. But the times I’ve needed to do that are dwindling. I’m pretty hardy, and have a super outdoor arena, so if you think you could handle riding outside in the winter, there are ways to make it happen. I’ve even been known to plow my arena of snow on occasion.
All that said, I’m currently spending a month in FL with my horse. Its great. But I do miss the daily connection have from touching my horses several times a day and being their primary caretaker. The knowledge and bond I have from that is priceless.
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I love having horses at home but also miss having another person to go hacking with.
Also, for safety reasons, I don’t like riding if nobodys home.
We also have the problem of cold and icy Ontario winters so I started boarding out in the winter. And now, as I age, I have discovered that I really like knowing there is usually someone on property when I’m riding.
I moved one, and then two, horses to a wonderful small, family owned, mostly-adults.boarding barn three years ago and have never brought them back home.
I still have 4 retired senior horses here…so it is the best of both worlds for me
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If you are on the east coast buy one now that we are having torrential rains. Better to see how the property handles a lot of water since it won’t get better with horses on it. Also better to find out it floods before you sign a contract.
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Absolutely find out about both of those things. Don’t assume and don’t make a decision without the information. Go to the county and check it out. It would be really unfortunate to buy the property and then find out you actually cannot build an outdoor arena, and it would be really great to know for sure before this purchase whether or not you can build an indoor. You might be pleasantly surprised. Don’t assume either situation. This investment is too large and too important.
Regarding zoning and building permits: if an indoor arena is not allowed, find out if there is another type of building of the same size which is. For example, in some areas you might not be allowed to build a barn but you would be allowed to build a detached shop or garage which you could use as a barn. This is not cheating. The building requirements are different and the tax basis for the type of building allowed might be higher, which is why the city/county would have made such a requirement. This is probably to your advantage as well, since the allowed building might bring more value to your property when it comes time to sell.
While you’re at it, make sure that the zoning which allows horses doesn’t expire when the property is sold. When zoning is changed, and that happens in areas which are being developed, the current owners may be grandfathered in, but when they sell, the property falls under the new zoning category.
In addition to the zoning situation, look into prices. Actually shop for those two items, the outdoor and the indoor arenas, before making an offer on the property, and get a bid from a reputable contractor. You may be making wrong assumptions about the prices of those items and you need to know for sure. If this property doesn’t work out, you can be armed with the pricing information which might be helpful with another property you find.
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good points, and get it writing
When we built our first barn the code officer verbally gave us an incorrect set back distance from the side property line. He said 10 feet so we thought we should double that to be safe. Turned out the set back was supposed to be 25 feet. We had the barn under roof when we were issued a stop work order.
Rather than tear it down I had to file for a variance (filing fee was $300) then present my case before the board of adjustments.
That was 35 years ago, today the city has changed the set back for side lines to 5 feet
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If you don’t already have them, figure at least $80k for a truck and at least $15k for a horse trailer (which you may need in an emergency to haul to a vet if you can’t get the care you need at home from a farm call – think colic surgery…). [or make sure there’s multiple people in the area who will answer the phone if you call at 3am to haul your horse to vet for you]
Figure on spending at least $500 per month in tractor payment. Probably need a small trailer (about $2k to haul the tractor for service occasionally).
If you’re interested in mowing like a golf course then spending at least $10k on a mower that will put up with mowing rough areas. If you go for big box store lawnmower, figure on $3k and probably have to replace every other year as each gets destroyed from overworking. Figure on buying a weedeater, too. (Or pay through the nose for lawn care from a company…)
Figure on at least $30k to do footing for an all weather outdoor arena with a solid gravel base and then other layers on top (and same price actually if you have an indoor but add the cost of the indoor also). Figure on spending a few thousand for a drag to go with the above mentioned tractor once you put in the all weather arena.
Unless you’d be on enough acreage to bale, probably figure on spending for hay or complete feed at least half the year (and if you’re on small acreage maybe hay or complete feed every day of the year). Depending on the size of facility, neighbors and how many horses, you may also need to pay to dispose of poo offsite.
Ask around the neighbors about HOA, what’s the attitude towards horses, etc – very last thing you want is close neighbors who aren’t horse fans and make your life unbearable. Make sure there’s good equine vet care in the area.
Not trying to destroy the dream, but the dream quickly gets ugly if you’re on the edge financially.
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I’m in the process of setting up a farm with 24/7 turnout for just my horse and either one or two retired buddies. I may reach out for advice!
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Congratulations! Happy to help!
@alter312 I am in this EXACT same scenario. Bought a place last summer we could afford but we really stretched ourselves. Great resale value, great location, etc, no arena. You will definitely not ride as much, but it’s not just from the lack of an arena. There is SO MUCH work to be done, by the time I’m done with chores, I’m either out of time, light, or energy to ride. I’m dreaming of putting in an outdoor someday, but as I probably will never be able to afford an indoor, I really want to do the outdoor right, with excavated subbase, proper draining, and footing to ride in even when it’s wet outside, so it will probably be at least another 2 to 3 years before I can afford to do that. I can’t even afford a tractor right now, so EVERYTHING is manual labor. I was planning on buying one this year, but then we did our taxes, and we pretty much sold ALL of our assets last year to buy this place, so now I’m borrowing from the second mortgage to pay taxes, so no tractor for me! If you have all the tools you need, and it’s set up for horses already, you will probably have more time, but it seems like something always needs attention anyway.
It doesn’t take much rain to make it too wet to ride if you don’t want to tear up your property. Are you ok just walking around? Another thing to consider is company for your horses. How many do you have? Are they ok being left along while you pull one out to be worked? I had one horse when we bought this place, and adopted a mustang for a buddy. Now they are so bonded that when I pull one out to work him, the one left behind goes nuts. I’ve been trying for a boarder, but without an arena, I’m not getting much interest.
I thought the same thing, that I fully understood the time and work commitments, as I had been a live-in working student on a large farm at one point, and worked at barns here and there throughout my life. I was not prepared for how little riding I would actually do!
All that said, I’m glad I did it. Will I do it forever like I thought I would? I don’t know yet. But like you, I will have no trouble reselling my place, so if I decide 10 years from now I’ve had enough, it’s ok.
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