I ride between 8-10am each day and I just… don’t find it awful? Sure, some days suck more than others and I absolutely could not work outside all day (huge props to those who do), but in general, I’ve just adjusted? You stay hydrated, you find the right clothes to wear, you keep rides short. I’ll take it all day for never having to shovel my driveway or ride in 35 degrees ever again. You just adjust your thinking too - the way winter is off-season up north and you may cut back, that’s summer here.
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I love Florida. Hilarious to me the number of people that came on this thread to call it hell. Hell for me is frozen-solid five-gallon-water-buckets, poop frozen to the ground so you can’t clean the stall, stepping outside and the air hurts my face, trying to tack up when you can’t feel your fingers or toes. Getting some stupid virus every single winter. I paid my dues in Ohio, that was enough winter for seven lifetimes. I detest winter.
I only left Florida because of real estate prices, and I went to Georgia so, not all that far.
For an exclusively horsey lifestyle, Ocala does a great job. The traffic is miserable, sure, but you really can’t ask for a better area to own horses. So many great vets, farriers, chiros, trainers, etc.
I too am in the club of evening riding, not morning. It’s already 90 and humid by 9am in July, August, and September, and I am NOT waking up at 5am. In the heat of summer, I tried to ride around 8pm after the sun was behind the trees. But my lesson every other week was always at 11am, and I survived those easily. Sun shirts, a big sun visor on your helmet, and those cooling neck wrap thingies make a world of difference. I would get heat exhaustion even in Ohio summers, so I’m apparently extra susceptible - I always say my see-through (pale) skin allows the sun to boil my blood. I’ll still take that over winter, hands down.
Personally, I find Florida to be no hotter than Ohio in the summer. My parents still live in Ohio and we always banter about the weather; they always have many days the same temp or hotter. It just lasts longer in Florida. You get 90s+ for the highs for 4-6 months, instead of two.
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LOL. Yeah, I’m not living in Ohio either. I would like to find some sort of middle ground behind living at the gates of Hades or the arctic circle. I guess if I didn’t have my own place and could just go ride and enjoy my horse I might feel differently. There’s a lot to be said sometimes for boarding.
But when I'm outside at 8 am and already soaked in sweat cleaning stalls and spreading poop and mowing etc when it was only May, it doesn't engender much good will. We already had several days in NE FL over 100 degrees in Mid may, which is ridiculous. Coupled with the traffic and overcrowding and skyrocketing insurance and land prices and everything being paved over at every turn etc etc etc. But yeah from November until about February the weather is really nice for horsey stuff. Like I said, for the snowbirds. which we will be one day hopefully sooner rather than later when we can get the h out of here after easter and not come back until Thanksgiving.
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I did it for 27 years. When I was training, I was on my first at 6am and done by noon - then headed to the pool or beach with a marg. When I was in an office job I rode after the afternoon thunderstorms around 5-6 and it wasn’t bad. Never had a covered. Gatorade, gallons of water, and sun shirts (the baggy kind, I like Columbia brand). Be efficient with your rides - I almost never rode a full hour when it was really hot. Winters were totally worth it 
lol! I mean, a lot of people would roll their eyes at my thinking Ohio is the tundra. It may not get feet on feet on feet of snow every winter but it’s cold enough dang. If I didn’t have horses, I’d probably live in south Florida, Mexico, or on a Caribbean island. I’ll take the gates of Hades any day 
I know several horse people from both Ohio and Florida that have ventured to Tennessee or the Carolinas in the last 2-3 years. Seems to be the up-and-coming areas, and they supposedly have more moderate seasons.
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Tennessee is really nice. We were considering it for last few years in our investigating various areas. Unfortunately most of the exodus fleeing florida seems to be going there, and the throng people living here is one of the things we want to get away from so TN has dropped down the list.
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It seems like when i was growing up in S FL it was still super hot but not as hot as it is now. Yes i know, global warming climate change etc.
Then when i moved to NE FL it was so much nicer. It didn’t really get warm until mid June-ish and the heat would break around September. Now it gets hot as hell in late april and it doesn’t break until November.
I lived in the Knoxville area for 4 miserable years. Migraines, allergies, and a lack of an equestrian scene or decent boarding facilities with knowledgeable management sent us running to Ocala.
I was born in Ohio. In 1969. Lived there until I was 7. My mom moved back 20 years ago. I visit often. I grew up in south Florida. First Miami. Then Broward County. Until graduation. Went to college in Tallahassee (N Fl). Finished undergrad at FIU. Miami. Graduate school at Barry. Miami. So pretty much a Floridian. In 96 I moved to central Florida. Have been here since. It’s definitely getting hotter in the summers. Weather can be erratic. Especially the summer afternoon thunderstorms. Lightning is FIERCE in my area of FL. In the 25 years I’ve been at my farm I’ve lost 5 live oaks. One burned to the ground from the inside. The others just got struck and slowly died. Lost multiple tvs and cable boxes. Thankfully never a horse. I ride before 10 in the summer. In the evening the bugs are too bad. It’s a really beautiful place. With trade offs. Don’t love how red my county is but whatever. Hay is astronomical. Housing prices, taxes and over development is rampant. I live in my little piece of heaven surrounded by over development. Battling the heat. Getting old. I plant flowers everywhere. My barn is surrounded. It’s my heaven. I’m not going anywhere.
My point is … every place has trade offs. Life is what you make of it.
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Forgot about the hurricanes. Lost a barn roof and house and extensive tree damage in 2004. Last year … was it last year ? Milton took out 250 feet of my fence line. But every area has natural disasters. Florida gets hurricanes. And being inland hasn’t been safe for a long while here.
I’ve lost all my big oaks to lightning over the 20 years we have been here at our place, and unfortunately one horse.
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People say Aiken is hell in the summer too. Yes, it’s hot and swampy. But I’d rather that than frozen water buckets, frozen water lines, ice, mud season, snow… guess a matter of which you’re more willing to deal with, lol
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A former trainer of mine is in Ocala. Look up Yvonne Berkhout Dressage. She is an excellent trainer, and provides top notch horse care.
So you snowbird… and you spend 2 months here. During the perfect weather seasons. That’s not a resident report.
I’ve done both… and it’s not all it’s cracked up to be after April until October. It’s super hot, the cost of paying for horses down here cancels out any savings of living up north. From the hunter/jumper side, these barns all full-training and it’s $2800+ per month with a heavy focus on showing. Shoeing is $325+.
Everyone will use the excuse of hay and grain being so expensive here. EVERYONE.
I mean… even my freaking braider just went up $5 from winter circuit to summer circuit. I was like… $125 was pricey for a mane and tail… why exactly is it now $130 for 1 day? Come on… are we using TARIFFS? Gas went down slightly, so unclear what’s so cost prohibitive that you had to tack on an additional $5 for braiding for each day for each horse.
As for the beaches, sure, they’re nice but it requires you to schelp an hour and a half in traffic in either direction to get there. It’s also hot as hell by 10-1030 in the AM, so you better have a good morning work ethic or flexibility. Most barns don’t stay open late like they do in the mid-atlantic or northeast, so it’s challenging to find someone open to letting you do evening or even late afternoon rides. Not to mention… between June and September, it typically rains during that gap.
Hopefully this will change soon, but right now, in Ocala, Publix still rules supreme. If you can get out of there for less than $100 of standard groceries, you should get a prize.
We snowbirded as renters, then bought a winter home, and then moved her on a perm basis. I’m good for another few years, but this isn’t going to be the final spot for us. I hope that when the Shoppes on 80th at WEC open that other bigger businesses will perk up and more creature comforts will come this way, but I think that’s all probably 3-5 years out minimum. So Trader Joe’s or CostCo are all about an hour north or west of us.
Also, make no mistake. The houses cost less. But if you want to be insured, you have to slap a new roof on them every 7 years. You also can’t have older HVAC or water heater. If it’s older than 10 years, there’s a lot of insurance carriers that will deny your claim… AFTER you’ve closed. Ask me how I know. So you get to buy it on a panic mode. Really great for negotiations… bc you’ve only got like a month to get it all done.
WEC is great. It’s nice to be that local. But I would come down in July or August and rent for a month or 2-3 weeks minimum before just blowing up your life elsewhere.
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She’s very active on the local pages. I have seen pics of her farm from posts and it does look positively lovely.
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Jeeze there’s a lot of hostility in this post
My mare had all four shod and pads up front and it was $225. Barefoot trims $50, fronts shod $125. 2016-2021 in Ocala, 2021-2024 in Tampa.
Are there farriers that charge insane prices? Yes of course, but that’s true everywhere. Doesn’t mean there aren’t affordable options that are also excellent.
This is true everywhere. Ohio, Georgia, Florida, Food Depot, Kroger, Public, Winn Dixie. Groceries have skyrocketed everywhere.
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Florida shoe prices for a GOOD… no EXCELLENT farrier. Is 4 shoes with pads $250-275. (Front pads and pour ins only. Back just shoes). Former president of the AFA in Fl. Trims $50. This is now. Current 2025. Prices have gone up. And the insurance shit show is real. Regarding AC. Plumbing and roof
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I haven’t seen shoes with pads for less than $350.
Plain shoeing with even TB farriers (which tend to be cheaper than sporthorse) still were $300. This was from 2021 going forward. Current farrier is $395. Multiple people have told me they’re paying over $400. Soooo would love the recommendation!
Meh… I don’t agree. I’ve shopped in plenty of other food stores in different regions. Publix is still grossly more expensive than other places. Kroger is much less expensive, but you can only get it delivered here. They have a monopoly here, so there’s a ton of price-gouging. Today’s rate for ground beef: $6.99/lb. Totally ridiculous.
Also, I’d love to know who is charing $225. As mentioned in my other post, been here for 4 years and haven’t had a farrier bill for plain steels that was less then $300. That’s multiple different places and multiple different farriers. So yours is the exception, not the rule.
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I pm’d you who I used in Ocala.
