Self-care/low-key pasture board?

[danhelm441]

Got some unwelcome news toward the end of last week that we may need to move back to the NYC area at the end of the summer… We are looking around Pound Ridge, North Salem, really all over (up to a 2hr commute into the city). We have family in Katonah and Mt Kisco, but those areas make horse-keeping feel financially out-of-reach.

We’re definitely willing to look farther afield for a good horse situation, since the expectation is majority WFH with only a few days in the city.

The trouble is most places with a big online presence are full-care, full-training A-show type barns, and I’m really looking for something more low-key.

In VA, we have a lot of resources online for venturing off the SEO keyword rich path, like community groups on FB or virginiaequestrian.com. It makes it possible to find small, private farms for self-care or share boarding. Really that’s all I’m looking for. Is there anything like that in that part of NY?

[joiedevie99]

@danhelm441

The trouble is most places with a big online presence are full-care, full-training A-show type barns, and I’m really looking for something more low-key.

Given how much costs have skyrocketed in the area, there aren’t too many backyard places left apart from the truly private. Every once in a while you see something posted on one of the trail riding network pages - Bedford Riding Lanes Association or North Salem Bridle Trails Association. You’re going to want to look up route 22, north of 684 - Pawling and the surrounding areas.

[Janet]

I was also going to suggest BRLA. Also, you could check the tack stores in the area. I do not know if it is still the case. but small places used to post notices in the tack shops.

[danhelm441]

Thanks! Yes, I had figured with property costing what it does, barns have to charge for all the bells and whistles just to stay solvent. I just find myself looking at horse properties, wondering if that’s what we have to buy to be able to keep our horse when we move, then thinking surely someone else has a property like this with an extra stall and wouldn’t mind the company of a boarder.

There’s a little house right on a network of trails in north Salem. It’s been for sale forever, I remember looking at it the last time we thought we might have to relocate, which was almost a year ago. It doesn’t have a barn but isn’t so prohibitively expensive that we couldn’t build a little one… I guess I would just miss my current situation, but we always kind of suspected we’d have to move back eventually. Those golden handcuffs!!

[Tha_Ridge]

Do you need to be in Westchester? North Jersey would give you many more options.

[danhelm441]

No, it doesn’t have to be westchester. I’m looking in NJ and buck’s county PA too. Are there equestrian Facebook groups or bulletin boards for those areas??

[joiedevie99]

You can find fairly reasonable low-key board if you are willing to go north or west just a bit - Orange County NY (Middletown, Goshen, Pine Bush) or north (Clinton Corners, Pawling, Dover Plains). Our retired horses are up in Clinton Corners.

[173north]

I mean, if you have to live near NYC, I can’t really imagine anything better than keeping one at home on the North Salem trails… but you will definitely get more for your money in NJ. For FB groups: NJ Equine, New Jersey Equine Boarding/Trainers/Shows/Clinics and New Jersey Horse Network are probably the most active. There’s an Eastern PA & NJ Horse Network group too.

[Spudsmyguy]

Don’t have any suggestions but this thread brings back memories. I used to live/work in the Bedford / Old Salem area. In fact, I remember when Old Salem Farm was the Hill and was kind of run down. But they did host some good clinicians - Denny, Jimmy Woffard, Michael Page (he lived nearby), Linda Oliver (and her horse Otto). Then it was bought by Paul Newman(?) I believe and renamed Far West and renovated, sold again and renamed again to the original The Hill, sold again and became Old Salem. I think that is the history if memory serves.

[danhelm441]

@173north

I mean, if you have to live near NYC, I can’t really imagine anything better than keeping one at home on the North Salem trails… but you will definitely get more for your money in NJ. For FB groups: NJ Equine, New Jersey Equine Boarding/Trainers/Shows/Clinics and New Jersey Horse Network are probably the most active. There’s an Eastern PA & NJ Horse Network group too.

It’s just 2 acres, so idk if you even can keep horses on it, or if there are zoning issues prohibiting it, but the real estate listing mentions you can. But…it’s kind of a pipe dream. I’ve never had horses at home before, or for that matter horse(s) plural. I would be in over my head. Not that I wouldn’t try it, if desperate.

Maybe I’ve made up a false dichotomy in my mind, but I feel like my choices are horsekeeping at home, or $1400-2K/month in board at a full-care, full-service facility that can only afford to keep clients who pay for training, grooming, tacking up services, and A shows. It’s hard to find the middle ground, and maybe it’s not possible for a farm to break even there without all of that. But it’s also hard for me to picture relocating myself and my $4000 horse to that scene

On the other hand, I’ve never lived there, and maybe it’s not as homogeneous as it seems from the outside—especially looking farther away. We are looking in Pawling, and also a bit farther west around Tuxedo.

[Janet]

@Spudsmyguy

In fact, I remember when Old Salem Farm was the Hill and was kind of run down

I remember when it was “Salem View”, before it became “The Hill”. It was run by Mr Greenspan, and then by Mark and Kent Jungherr.

[EssexFells]

So It’s not Westchester County, but New Paltz has a boarding barn that may fit your bill.
New Paltz is a cute town, or you could split the difference with the work commute and live further south. It’d be like a 90-min commute, which seems do-able if it’s only a couple days a week.
Here’s the barn I have no connection to them-- I just work frequently in the Hudson Valley and have stayed in New Paltz dozens of time.

[EssexFells]

Another place to look is Monmouth County, NJ. The SeaStreak ferry docks at Highlands NJ and Atlantic Highlands NJ, and goes directly to Wall Street and then stops at midtown 34th Street. It’s a GREAT way to commute-- no traffic, very reliable schedule, and just 45min to Wall Street. Not very well known, so I thought I’d mention it.

While NJ real estate isn’t cheap (and the taxes, oy!) it’s much more affordable than Westchester.

[EssexFells]

I commuted NJ to NYC for awhile, and totally agree about the NJ buses. The Sea Streak is a ferry though-- and I can speak from experience that it runs on time no matter what the weather (and obvs, no traffic on the water).
Anyway, good luck in your search!

[Spudsmyguy]

That house is adorable! Too bad it’s too far.

[EssexFells]

alrighty last pitch, I promise! (It’s just fun to shop for other people!!)
So this is a rental in Red Bank, NJ. Red Bank has a totally adorable downtown district - vibrant restaurant and gallery scene, etc. (Bonus points for Bruce Springsteen sightings, he lives next town over, and Jon Bon Jovi has a restaurant in RB, too). It’s 9 miles from the ferry, so you’re looking at 1 hour total commute. That short a commute to Manhattan would be hard to achieve even just living in Brooklyn LOL

OK, thus concludes my NJ boosterism.

[skip99]

There are definitely middle ground options in New Jersey. Not so much east of 287, but I have friends with boarding operations who charge around the $900-$1100 mark in Hunterdon and Somerset counties. Both have indoor rings, decent turnout, and attend the local schooling and rates shows. Neither require full service, nor do I think they even offer it, one might require a weekly lesson. Stall openings are rare but do happen from time to time. If you’re willing to go without an indoor, board can be found in the $650-800 range as well.

Good luck!

Edited to add, everyone I know who commutes to NYC either drives to Jersey City and picks up public transit from there or takes the train system, I don’t know anyone who takes the bus service.

[joiedevie99]

@skip99

I don’t know anyone who takes the bus service.

Same. The buses are awful (as is Metro North rail service in New York on the west side of the Hudson). Everyone I know who commutes from Westchester or Fairfield or NJ takes Metro North/NJ Transit rail or the ferry. The people I know who commute from NY west of the Hudson (Rockland or Orange County) drive.

[SMF11]

Join the FB group Hudson Valley Horse Source and ask about boarding barns there, you will get lots of suggestions.

Call area vet practices and explain you are moving to the area and can they recommend any places that offer what you are looking for. They will know the small private barns that don’t advertise, and which places have great care, and which don’t.

[MrsFitzDarcy_amp_Feliks]

My dad used to commute from Haverstraw, NY, which is on the west side of the Hudson River. He took the ferry over to the east side of the river and Metro-North into Grand Central from there. I wish I knew more about the horse world there.