My husband and I are looking into possibly moving to the Oregon coast. From what it seems like, most of the riding is more inland. Are there any towns specifically along the coast you would recommend with good Eventing/Dressage trainers in the area?
There’s a stable east of Gold Beach on the south coast, but it’s lower level eventing & dressage. She does have a beautiful arena & X-C jumps. You can PM me for more information.
I love the area in which I live but you need to be willing to drive to competitions. There’s only one recognised horse trials in Oregon.
It’s pretty slim pickings along the coast for boarding/training. I really can’t think of any on the north coast at all. Can you be more specific on your desired area? It’s a long coast! If you lived in the Lincoln City area (central coast) it’s a drivable distance to the Willamette Valley (50 miles or less) to find a trainer/barn there. My Sis-in-law is an eventer here in the PDX area and knows pretty much every event trainer…and they are concentrated in the Portland and Salem areas essentially, with plenty more dressage ones scattered about.
It’s also about 50 miles from Florence to Eugene, which to me is too far for boarding but OK for lessons. It is, indeed, a long coast.
We are looking all along the coast from north to south! We don’t necessarily have one specific area in mind, we are pretty open and just looking and considering all factors at this point!
We are on the same page with that! I think I got spoiled where I lived on the East Coast, I was five miles down the road from the farm where I boarded my horse and took lessons with one of the best eventing / dressage trainers in the area. Most events were within an hour and a half to three horse away from me.
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If you want to ride regularly or take lessons/board then living on the coast is going to be difficult. You’ll need to drive those 50-60 miles across the coast range to get to a program. And yes, we drive hours to compete. I live 30+ minutes from any reputable h/j programs, and I live in a suburban town near Portland. Eventing in the PNW means competitions are 2-18 hours away. Schooling a course means 2 hours from the Metro areas.
On the other hand, you could live in the Willamette Valley and hop over to the coast on weekends, allowing you easier riding access but still enjoy coast life.
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Calvincrowe is right. The west coast of Oregon and, more so Washington, are not like the East coast. The coast is, for the most part, rural and undeveloped. There are no large urban areas with diverse populations and , therefore, diverse amenities. Everything comes from the Metro areas on the other side of the coast range, this includes, for the most part, equestrian opportunities.
The roads from the coast to the metro areas are 2 lane twisty type, not interstate.
As mentioned above Klus Training may be you only choice. If you are set on this move, and you are basing your riding career around it, I would certainly pay an in person visit to make sure this farm is to your expectation.
Take a look at Google maps to see how isolated many areas of the coast are
But I understand you desire, the Oregon coast is magnificent. If I lived there with a horse, it would be for lovely beach and forest trail rides, not for training and competition goals
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Along the coast I don’t know many, if any who do eventing. There is a dressage barn in the Astoria area I think…
You may have better luck living in the valley and driving out to the coast regularly. Corvallis, Eugene and Salem are all about 1 hour without a trailer. If you want some good trainers Salem to Eugene PM me.
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I don’t think the Oregon Coast is rich enough in horse infrastructure. By that, I mean finding good and available vets and farriers are harder than it will be if you could stand to move inland to the Willamette Valley. That maybe less true farther north, but from Salem all the way down, I think pickin’s will be slim.
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Thanks for all the input! We are looking for rural. My husband and I both grew up in a rural farm town on the east coast, we moved out west for my grad school - we are currently living in a suburb and can’t wait to leave. We love the west outside of the area we live; there are just too many people, too much traffic, too small of a back yard, not enough trees/woods. We have been to Oregon, but only for a short time in one small town. We enjoyed it while we were there, but really haven’t seen enough to base a move off of it. I will be taking a trip next week and driving the whole coast to get a better idea of the area. We’re not set on it, just considering it as an option at this point before we commit to the move back east! All this information is great, I really appreciate it!
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You will be seeing the beautiful Oregon coast at the best time of year! The Pacific will be warm enough to swim in (depending on your standards). That is not always so, so enjoy the late August window that you have. The natural beauty of the Oregon Coast is spectacular, and I like Oregonians.
The Coast (like most of Western Oregon) will be consistently grey and rainy for half of the year at least. Can you guys live in that kind of weather? I didn’t mind it much, but some people have a hard time.
And when you want “rural” does that mean you have lived somewhere that doesn’t have an emergency vet that can get to your for at least 2 hours? Have you lived in the kind of “rural” that plenty of your horsey neighbors have standards of care that are lower than yours? Again, a place that has been truly rural forever is unlikely to have what anyone owning a horse in a non-casual way will want.
I don’t mean to be a buzzkill, but I spend too long trying to make horsing work in a market that had long been less horse-oriented than I was used to. I am a native Californian who was priced out of there. I had spent time on the East Coast and ended up making the East Coast my home because I can find a deeper average knowledge and higher standard of care for the same money as I did in Oregon.
I rode with Judy Klus in California for years and she’s awesome. So it may be that one choice is all you need when it’s the right one. (I say this because the above mention sounded a little lukewarm to me and she deserves better.)
Obviously, you can make your own decision but it’s DEFINITELY worth making the connection with Judy while you’re there.
If you want something with coastal type access without actually being on the Pacific coast, you could check out the northern part of the Olympic peninsula in WA: Port Angeles, Sequim, Port Townsend. From my observation, there is a decent horse scene in most of those areas, and they are pretty convenient to most of the horse amenities in the greater Puget Sound area. It’s not quite as spectacular as the Oregon coast but generally a lovely area.
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I Did not mean to make any judgement on Ms Klus but only wanted to make sure the OP appreciates how isolated and un-east coast the two northern states are.
It sounds like the OP wants that lifestyle and would say the far southern coast, Coos Bay south would be my choice
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I grew up in Gold Beach- Southern Oregon where Judy Klus is now. (Disclaimer- I do not know her, she came after I left so have nothing to contribute there). I had a great instructor there, and we would occasionally go to CA for shows as that was closer than going into metro area, or into WA. Showing options were super limited, and as an adult now, I wouldn’t go back.
I currently live in the valley, and work in the farm store industry. As someone said earlier, the valley is great; I live in a small town of about 1,500K people, 10-15 minutes from much bigger towns, and about an hour from the beach. I wouldn’t move back to the beach.
That being said, it sucked being on the coast for horses. Options were super limited for farriers, everything tack, and health related had to be ordered by mail which took FOREVER to come. Feed was expensive and limited. Now that I’m in the industry, we regularly have customers coming inland or, have some of our more western stores do deliveries. They’re always complaining how challenging it is, and knowing what I do now, we probably got outdated feed, and I know if there were mold issues we were SOL until they could fill a truck to replenish the local feed store.
Hope that helps!
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There’s not much eventing in Oregon - if that’s your sport and passion, you’ll find the state sorely lacking and should probably stick to the east coast. West coast states in general don’t have as many events as east coast states, though California has the most. H/J and dressage are decent in Oregon; but again, if you want to show a lot then California is a better bet. If you want to do big shows, then you’ll end up going to CA anyway. You can get “rural” in California (think Sierra foothills like Grass Valley, Auburn, Placerville in NorCal) and still have decent trainers and equine services. California is expensive, though rural areas not as much as more populated locales like the Bay Area.
If the horse scene was my number-one priority, I’d stay away from the coast and might not even choose Oregon at all.
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Well… if you’re showing on the AA circuit year round on the East Coast or eventing every weekend and wintering in Tryon, then yes, the PNW is not a good match if you plan to continue. However, we do have a thriving H/J circuit here on the A/B scale within a 5-6 hour drive from Portland or Seattle, max. I live in a rural area of SW WA and can show every week from May to October if I choose to drive to Thunderbird (BC), Seattle, Wilsonville or Cle Elum-- all from 1 hour to 6 hours from me.
Eventing in the PNW entails much more driving, but there is a fairly full calendar of recognized and schooling type events at Aspen, Caber, Spokane, Inavale, Lincoln Creek and Rebecca that are quite doable for the intrepid folks who event. Yes, many do drive to CA to add to the mix. And yes, everything is farther out here than on the EC. But…no humidity, hurricanes, chiggers or nor’easters! :winkgrin:
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No one has mentioned the weather. IT IS A BIG DEAL. The coast is VERY rainy. Half the year the ground is soaked. This may not impact a hunter/jumper or dressage rider much, nut you have to be aware that conditioning on terrain will be negatively impacted. Even riding outside at all won’t sometimes happen for months.
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[QUOTE=Pocket Pony;n10462552]
If you want to do big shows, then you’ll end up going to CA anyway. You can get “rural” in California (think Sierra foothills like Grass Valley, Auburn, Placerville in NorCal) and still have decent trainers and equine services.
If you look into these areas, prepare for sticker shock for fire insurance if you can get it. Lloyds of London, who is known for insuring anything, has cancelled most of its clients in the area. Annual fire insurance can run nearly $7K nowadays.
