Yes, this is another consideration. My horse has spicy moments, and without an arena, or ANY borders to ride within, I won’t ride without someone home.
Totally agree with aregard!
I have had my own place for 20+ years. It was difficult to prioritize and get riding done before putting in the arena. With the arena? I rode more than I ever had before. As long as it is a priority for you it will get done. And if it’s not? Oh well, there’s plenty of other stuff to do too!
I too only have an outdoor. The PNW is pretty mild temperature wise, but there are plenty of rainy days where I wish I had an indoor. All I can say about that is that quality outerwear is your friend, and really, it’s not that bad (at least here where it’s more about staying dry than not freezing to death).
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And if you are home you can run inside, dry off, get another rain coat and go back out for chores. I find a good Asmar or LeMieux membrane coat can keep me dry outside a good hour but I do start to sweat from the inside.
If you can put the arena in immediately yes.
If you cannot put the arena in immediately. Keep looking.
Or maybe there is an arena within riding distance you can use.
Same - I ride less now than when I boarded and still don’t have to time get done what needs to get done. But… I discovered a love of gardening that I didn’t know I had, and yes I definitely sacrifice some ride time to do that now. However, the bolded part is yikes!
I almost bought my own property last year. It checked all my boxes, so I put an offer in that was accepted. Instead of being happy and excited, I went into a state of dread. Like you, I’ve heard my friend’s loud and clear about not having much time to just ride. I worried about being alone, being able to get help if I was sick, affording major repairs, having time and energy to do all the work involved. My gut kept screaming “don’t do it”. I listened to it and backed out after inspection.
A full year later, while I do sometimes lament backing out, I fully enjoy rolling over and going back to sleep on a rainy morning instead of having to go outside and feed. I love hanging out at my boarding barn on weekends enjoying my horse and talking to the other boarders. I get to show up at the barn, ride my horse and go home. I have free time to do other things besides mow, repair fences or pick up hay. Yes having my horse home with me would have been nice, but, at least for my situation, it was the right call.
All I can say is, trust your gut on this one.
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Yes, it stinks. Next year I go back to work full time, so things will get easier financially. I’ve been at a 60% workload for several years to let me do all the things I need to do to be involved with kids like attending soccer games, doctors appts, etc. next year my youngest graduates from high school and back to work I go, I can suck it up for one more year. I’d love to stay part time and enjoy some downtime, but we knew when we bought this place it would only work if I went back to 100%. I have a hybrid setup, a combination of travel to job sites, working from home and spending time in the office. I’m ridiculously productive working from home, when I don’t have the distractions of office chit chat, and then at lunch I can do farm chores.
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Not if you just have a couple horses. Most people can feed and clean stalls pretty quickly once you do it regularly. Takes more time for most people to drive to their boarding barns than it would ever take to feed, clean and water every day( even twice a day).
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Agree. Of course if a person has good full care board they don’t have to tend to horses 365 days a year and for some that’s crucial.
True. You also get to go on vacation with no worries…
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My chores take an hour generally and it’s about the same amount of time I spent driving. But that’s not including the time scrubbing tanks, buckets, mowing, sweeping, taking down cobwebs, ya know the little tasks that keep the barn pretty.
Most people skip a few days at the barn to recharge and get a break if it’s gross out, etc.
Not us that keep our horses at home. Out feeding and watering no matter the weather or how tired I am.
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There can be a lot of variation in required chore time at my place. Outside of the medical rehab type care I’m giving the old horse that lives to spend my money and time, my daily care takes like 15 mins. Another hour or two on the weekends for scrubbing and paddock picking.
There have been times when my daily care took a lot longer and I’m sure those times will come again.
While we have to tote water outside on Christmas morning during a Siberian Express weather event, we do get to view horses from our decks while we have summer BBQs. Trade offs ya know!
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Regular chores without anything extra takes about 10 minutes in the morning and max 25 in the evening, maybe up to 35 in the winter. We aren’t talking a lot of work (three horses, two donkeys, in every night so mucking is required).
This is the killer. Mowing, weed eating, de-cowbwebbing and -dusting, sweeping the barn, unloading and stacking hay, mud maintenance, then of course if it’s at your house there’s landscaping, driveway maintenance, staying tidy around the house that gets neglected, etc etc. Last Fri and Sat were gorgeous and I didn’t ride because I was trying to get my garden in.
BUT-- several of these maintenance issues would be done if you owned a home in town and boarded…
Mowing, weed eating , landscaping etc…
Hay stacking is seasonal and cleaning water tanks doesn’t take that long…
My house is always neglected 
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Well I don’t know about you, but my yard was significantly smaller when I lived in town. I could use a push mower to do front and back in about 30 minutes. It takes me an hour with a zero turn now. I also have to do it a lot more often. Additionally when I lived in town I actually hired someone (because I kept killing mowers) and it cost me $35/visit and now I’d be probably $300-500. It’s a difference.
I did however save time and stress by getting a house cleaner and hiring someone to help with some weekly mucking. But I spend a lot more time doing the maintenance part of things versus riding than I did when I boarded. When I boarded, I rode every day I was off and it wasn’t colder than 40 or dumping rain. I rode mmm… a couple times in Feb so far this year.
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How much younger were you then??? I rode every day no matter the weather when I was younger 
I have a significant amount of grass to mow too and while having a farm is more work at least there is a " possibility" that you or whoever you will the farm to when you die, will reap the rewards one day ( esp with prices now).
When you pay board you get nothing back.
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OUCH! 
Okay yeah I totally get that too hahaha. Umm, owned my house in town from 2009 to 2015, lived in an RV for nine months and now on the farm ever since. I also went from one to two horses and uno burrito to three horses and dos burritos, plus 14 chickens and a huge veggie garden. And the house I had in town had established beautiful landscaping and I had…dirt.
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I think the sediment, at least I’m trying to express, is that having horses at home is amazing. But please don’t go in with rose colored glasses thinking you will ride everyday and things just magically stay clean and beautiful without time and effort invested.
It’s a lifestyle change and not a decision to be made lightly.
And yes, some people don’t mow and just ride or hire out what they don’t want to do. Which is awesome, just make you budget accordingly if that’s the route you take.
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I most definitely spend more time riding with my horses at home than I did when they were boarded, because I work remotely and can take advantage of weird pockets of time for riding that wouldn’t be possible if I also had to factor in an hour of driving on top of grooming/tacking/riding.
I also think the balance of riding vs. farm maintenance depends a ton on your own personal standards of what is acceptable in your barn. For example, right now there are cobwebs in my barn and the heated winter buckets really should be swapped out for the regular summer ones. But I have ridden my horse 9 out of the last 10 days, and that’s what’s most important to me. I’m sure there are people here who couldn’t imagine riding knowing those cobwebs are there- and that’s totally fine! It’s just not the thing I choose to prioritize.
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