I can’t tell you about Vegas, but we lived in Reno for a handful of years with horses.
Reno is pretty horsey! Almost every discipline is there and there’s plenty of good vets and respected farriers. Some great dressage trainers. I don’t know about driving trainers, but we lived down the road from two people that drove horses and often saw them out on excursions.
I hate Winter & moved because I hate winter, so take this how you will but: Winters sucked in Reno. Snow sucks. Breaking ice constantly sucked. My hunt/show horses were double blanketed, sometimes triple if not in a stall. Winter started around October and ended in April/May (April/May bevause it will be beautiful one day and snowing the next 3 through those two months, you just never know).
Deep summer is HOT and it’s DRY.
When I worked at the fox hunting barn, we would literally hose ourselves down before leaving the barn to do our conditioning loop, and we’d be dry before we even started the trot part. Wildfires are a thing and a thing of concern, so always have a plan!
Housing has gone up the past few years since we’ve left as a lot of tech has moved to Reno. There are some good suburbs around Carson City if you want to go that way. Fallon/Fernley can feel more country if you want to go that way. But really there is not a ton of booming horse cities between Vegas & Reno. One interesting thing about Reno is MANY houses have no central AC and either have central heat or pellet stoves/fire places. Even on 100+ degree summer days, it dipped down cool enough at night that we opened windows for airflow, and then closed windows in the AM before it got hot. So unlike my current resident state, Texas, you do get a break from the heat everyday in the evening.
Trail rides were plentiful! A lot of properties back up to or have easy access to BLM land, so your opportunities are endless. We hunted BLM land, it’s just important to remember BLM is free and open to everyone. It’s also leased for cattle as well. So sometimes you’ll turn the corner and meet a group of wild horses, cattle, motorcycles and ATVs, and even rock crawlers. The possibilities are endless! Drivability varies by popularity of roads and weather.
Overall, Reno is a good horse spot. There are fun things to do there and a lot of different industries. Don’t let my disdain for winter detour you from looking at it further if it’s an option!
)
