My barn is an hour from my house and anywhere from 1-1.5 hrs from my office once you factor in traffic (home and office also aren’t close to each other so I spend a lot of time in my car). I live in a city so I’m honestly not sure I could even find a barn closer in than an hour with traffic, let alone something with quality care and training available that was also in my budget. The commute isn’t ideal, but if I want horses in my life then it is what it is. I’m currently trying to get approval to work out of a different office that lies directly between home and barn, so only about 45 minutes to the barn straight from work, which would substantially improve my quality of life. When I rode in college in another city that was also about an hour with traffic (on a good day) so I guess I’m just used to it at this point 
My barn commute is about 40 mins (just over 28 miles). I hate it. I’ve been there 18 months and when something is wrong and I drive out more than once a say I complain the whole time. I go every single day and the commute is wearing on me. It’s about 30 mins from my office and I’m in office three times a week. My ideal time would be 25 mins or less. I had that for 12 years and it was fabulous. But it’s really personal to your lifestyle honestly.
I will drive 18 (yes, down to minute lol) minutes for my barn once I take over care for my lease. The max I would drive is 40 minutes away but that would need to be full care, with stall, ALL of the amenities I want within my price range, and a training program that is out of this world. Anymore than 40 min one way, I wouldn’t be able to go in the mornings before work which would be a problem for me.
For my barn, I compromised with no indoor for the price and ease of access. That said, I live in Middle Tennessee where the winters are mild, comparatively speaking, so not having an indoor isn’t keeping me out of the saddle for extended periods due to cold.
Your friend needs to chill. Priorities can be different amongst horse owners, which doesn’t have to translate to lesser care (unless it does, then that’s a separate issue entirely).
I used to drive about 40 minutes and thought it was too far. Now I drive just over an hour lol (80kms each way). But the drive is worth it to me for things the other barn did not always provide:
- superb, consistent horse care by skilled staff
- unlimited homegrown hay - excellent quality
- full day turnout in very large paddocks / fields with good footing even in winter
- outdoor sand dressage ring
- heated indoor arena
- real washroom with a flushing toilet and hot / cold running water
- Most importantly a trainer / coach with a proven track record of training multiple horses from intro to FEI levels, and coaching amateur clients on their own horses to do the same.
ETA it is a full care / full training program so I don’t have to worry if the weather is too bad for me to make the drive some days. He will still be turned out, blankets changed from in to out and back again, and will be ridden by my trainer or her assistant.
The downside is I don’t ride as frequently as at the first barn, but the quality of my rides and lessons makes up for the reduced quantity:
I currently drive 45 mins to an hour, depending on traffic. The barn is 45 miles away. Living in Los Angeles, my commute to the barn has almost always been around 30-45 mins.
For years, I commuted over an hour each way to my boarded horse. This is because I had to work in the city and barns were further and further away as developers bought up the close in properties for development. I can’t believe I did this nearly every day. In the winter, if it started snowing while I was riding, it could take two hours to get home. Five years ago, I bought my own place that is about a half hour from my work. When the public health emergency kept us all working from home, it was a DREAM because I could flex my day to ride in the middle of it. The sunshine is so good for my attitude! Now we are back to a hybrid work environment and I can’t flex around my rides so well.
I have a four year old under saddle, and I really should board him somewhere that has an indoor arena and lights to be consistent this winter, but cannot imagine how I could fit all that extra driving into my day (especially when I’d still have two other horses at home). So, we’ll deal with winter.
Current drive to the barn is around 20 minutes. At this point in my life I wouldn’t be able to do much more than a 30 minutes drive to the barn. I’ve got two horses in work so I’m at the barn at least 5 days/wk. Work full time with a 35 minute commute. We don’t have kids, but I’ve got a dog, chickens, and bee hives at home, and SO works long hours since he’s self employed as an electrician (and he has his own hobbies).
I love the barn that I’m at now. It isn’t pretty to look at. But they offer 24/7 turnout, have two large outdoor rings, an indoor, and the trainer is capable of starting young horses and bringing them up through to GP jumpers.
If I was retired or had a more flexible work schedule (or more disposable income for training rides) than I would be ok with a longer commute. My mom rides with my trainer as well. She would rather drive the hour and a half to ride with him, vs the barns closer to her. But she only rides once or twice a week.
I’ve had a mixed bag: horse in training in SE WI - 1 hour (so 2 hours round trip); horses at various boarding barns - 30-ish minutes; current horse in training - 4 hours (250 miles one-way). Totally depends on your own tolerance. (My current tolerance is that the horse presently in training is in a good spot with an excellent trainer who is getting more out of the horse than anyone else either thought or was able to prior to my purchase of him. YMMV.)
I think it really depends on what is available and what other commitments you have. Possibly also on weather in your area.
I used to have clients who lived 2.5 hours away. There wasn’t anything where they lived, so they came up most weekends, and I exchanged training for using their horses in lessons (part leased the one eventually) to make it feasible. Most of my clients are under 25 minutes. I recently lost a boarder who was driving 40 minutes in the summer and didn’t want to not see her horse all winter when the drive would be even longer.
In my brain, 30 minutes is the max I really like to drive anywhere regularly. I think it’s because I like the math of 30 minutes. The less care, the closer I would want to be…but I think (because we get freezing rain and blizzards…and I am old), I would rather board somewhere further with care I 100% trust, vs closer and feel obligated to go out even when roads are bad or I am tired.
After 20 years of being at the latter, I agree. I didn’t realize how much stress I was carrying.
TL;DR: Quality care and a program that fits your needs and your horse’s is well worth the drive. Also, your friend would do well to mind her own business.
From 2016-2021, I had boarded at a “full-care” facility about 6 minutes from home. For the longest time, I felt spoiled having my horses so close by. In many senses, I was - I could pop by the barn whenever I felt like it, and it was a short trip in the event of an emergency. It was a beautiful facility with great amenities - huge indoor/outdoor, indoor wash rack, etc.
The drawbacks, in hindsight, were pretty major though. There was no trainer on site, and the barn manager was a hobby horse person with no real horse or business experience. If your horse had an emergency, you’d better be ready to drop everything and get to the barn, because there was no one else to assist. I planned my entire schedule around holding for vet and farrier appointments, changing blankets, or administering medication. I was there every day, sometimes twice a day, ensuring that my horse and others had feed, water, and were generally well because I couldn’t count on BM to do it. Turnout became a challenge because they decided to close off the pastures October-May and confine the horses to small drylots. That became more problematic because I bought a 5yo OTTB in 2020. He was climbing the walls in the drylots where my senior WB gelding was more inclined to just amble around. I was lucky if my trainer could come out twice a month for a lesson. Again, no big deal for the schoolmaster WB… more of a challenge with a young, green horse.
In late 2021, my trainer acquired a new facility across town. I had just finished grad school and started working full-time. It quickly became clear that my previous barn was no longer an appropriate fit for us ( and probably hadn’t been for a while). Trading a 6 minute barn commute for a 45-60 minute one seemed like a big sacrifice, but moving to her new barn was a no-brainer when I considered the improvement in care, ample pasture turnout, access to regular lessons and a training program, and reliable full-time staff. I’ve been there almost exactly a year, and my horse is thriving. We went through some growing pains last spring, and having the ability to put him on training board for a few months while we worked through it was a game changer.
It me. I live in Brooklyn and drive out to NJ about five days a week, and I also have multiple horses. The barn is the entire day most weekends.
What works for you is what works for you.
Currently I board probably 5 to 10 minutes away. I can’t overstate how great I think that is.
Everything has a drawback, though. The care is really good, the barn is really nice, and I have no qualms about going on vacation or not going out.
I have considered moving, primarily because of turnout. There aren’t a lot of options. There is a place about 45 minutes away that I think would be a reasonable fit. Extra services wouldn’t be an issue there either.
I think turnout is wonderful, but I do worry about my horse and grass. Really my perfect fit would be horses out 24/7 on a track system. In that sense, it’s not really a question of being sure that the option with more turnout is best for my horse, simply because of the grass.
It does come down to rising time, as well. If I move 45 minutes away, I for sure won’t be able to do the quick visits, which I enjoy, and will probably ride less as well. I could get training rides, which is always nice, but I question at what point it just doesn’t make sense.
I do work, but the job is pretty flexible. I don’t have kids, but I have dogs and the dogs factor into these decisions in a huge way.
I moved a year ago from a longish term situation 12 minutes away to my trainer’s barn 40 minutes away, I didn’t have whole lot of choice about making the move as the barn I was at was closing and I wasn’t thrilled at any of the other local barns.
It’s not entirely convenient as it’s over a mountain pass, so the winter driving can get a bit gnarly, but the care and training are exemplary and it’s a really professionally run, nice place with lovely people, so I deal with it. And if it’s really crappy weather (like today, snowing like crazy, cold and damp and Novembery and I’m only just over pneumonia,) I don’t go. I know my horse will get ridden and cared for, and I don’t have to risk life and limb with the other crazies on the roads.
(It’s also eyewateringly expensive, but everything decent is around here, and at least the care and training are up to snuff.)
My longest drive to the barn was 45 minutes each way. Looking back, I am amazed that I did that for several years. Excellent care and trainer with all day turnout helped. The roads to the barn were fairly straight and not hilly (important in the winter!) I would try to get out twice on weekdays and both weekend days.
Now my barn is about 10 miles away and about 15 -20 minutes. However the roads are more winding and hilly, so concerning when icy. But now that I am retired, I have much more flexibility to ride during the warmer part of the day in the winter. If I were to leave, the next likely barn is about 20 miles away - however it is also on more main roads and would only take 25-30 minutes.
How far would I drive? Several hours! I used to keep my mare 3~ hours away from me because I wanted pasture board for her to grow up in. I picked that place because it was only an hour and a half from where I was living at the time; then Covid hit and I moved back in with my parents, an hour from the first place.
Would I do it again? Under certain circumstances, yes. I am fine with my horse being far away and not going out other than once a week so long as I *trust the care. My horse is not high maintenance and I keep her out 24/7 when possible. I had my mare closer, only an hour away, at a full-care facility, and felt the need to go out daily because I knew she wouldn’t get out enough otherwise.
I live in a high cost-of-living area (SoCal). It isn’t currently financially feasible for me to move anywhere else, but the closest barn is an hour away. I’m used to a two-hour+ roundtrip commute if I want to be around horses; I got around that by working at/near the barn. Also I don’t mind driving so the commute being long is mostly just annoying.
However, all of this is dependant on the fact I am NOT currently riding. I would be substantially less willing to drive an hour+ to a barn, hang out with my horse, ride, then drive an hour+ home. If I was riding (or had other commitments), I would not be willing to drive more than an hour max to the barn.
I live in a big city, which means to get to ANY barn I am driving at the very least 30 minutes away, likely more in traffic. I drive about 45-60 minutes to get to my barn currently. There are barns that are closer, but unless I have horses literally on my own property, it’s important to me to be at a barn where I really trust the horse care. I need to be at a place where I know someone will notice if something isn’t right, where the barn will be kept up in terms of safety (fencing repairs, etc), where if medical care (meds, medication, etc) needs to be administered it will be done and will be done correctly. For this peace of mind I was more than happy to add miles.
