Tennessee horse owners

[WildLittleWren]

We currently live in Florida, and I have lived in Florida since I was 13 (35 now). I lived in Ohio until I was 13 when my dad transferred to Florida for his job at the time, and have been in Florida since. While we did own my first horse when I was in Ohio, we boarded, and I never really had to deal with horse keeping issues, aside from when to blanket, when not to, keeping water troughs from freezing over, etc. Our family just got a great opportunity to relocate to our absolute favorite state, Tennessee. We would be in Ashland City. I’m looking for horse keeping advice in Tennessee. Things you wish you would have known, or things that have made your life easier. As it is, our biggest concerns in Florida are the heat, hurricanes, and bugs…pretty much what I deal with. I’m just curious what challenges horse owners experience in Tennessee, anything I should be aware of before the move, etc.

I currently have two mustangs and a pony. We will be relocating all three with us. We will have 5 acres, and until we get it fenced I have a family member who will allow me to keep them on a relatively decent size dry lot with 2 fully enclosed stalls literally a stones throw from the property. I imagine we will probably not have our barn and pastures set up until at least 4-6 months of moving in and getting settled. We are also looking at probably a 4-6 month timeframe realistically as we have to coordinate the modular home being set up and ready for us to move into, so more than likely we will be making the move February or later. What is the weather like around that timeframe? I am trying to anticipate any issues ahead of time.

Also, I will have no friends, no riding buddies, no one other than family when we move up. I would love to meet a few others in Tennessee and ask what the horse community is like, if there are any trail riding groups in the area, etc. I mostly trail ride, do obstacle challenges, and maybe in the future a few fun open shows, depending on what is available in the area. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[Texarkana]

I moved from PA to middle TN in 2006 and lived there for 11 years.

Beautiful area in Ashland City. I lived in western Davidson county for awhile and had a number of horse sitting clients in Ashland City.

Horse services were shockingly limited as compared to what I was used to in PA. With that said, once I finally sourced all the services I needed, they were excellent.

Weather in February is a mixed bag, but it will probably just be wet and chilly. Usually that time of year you have daytime highs in the 40s/50s and lows in the 20s/30s.

There are quite a number of COTHers in that area. Hopefully they can get you hooked up with current riding buddies. Middle TN has a lot of population turnover in general.

I’m excited for you!

[walkinthewalk]

I’m down in the SE corner of Bedford County. Weather is REALLY fickle in February- March. We do see ice events more than snow, but 2” of snow will shut half of Middle Tennessee down, except for those of us who moved here from further north:)

I do have heated water tubs outside and heated stall buckets for the nights it gets below freezing because:

1. My horses are now mid-20’s with some health issues.

2. I retired here from PA by way of five years in SoCal 17 years ago, and I have more than paid my dues for busting ice, lollol

If you won’t have shelter by the time the cold weather gets here, I would suggest a light weight and maybe even a medium waterproof blanket for each of your crew. If they are pretty hardy & healthy, a light weight waterproof should be fine, even on the most blustery days.

No hurricanes but we do see our fair share of tornadoes and straight line winds - straight line winds can cause more damage than tornadoes.

Download a weather app from one of the Nashville TV stations and set it up for weather alerts. You probably already have a NOAA weather radio, if not, one of those might also be a good idea. They are available at grocery stores.

I can’t get the link to work but Tennessee Equine Hospital in Thompson Station is an excellent facility. I don’t know how they compare to the equine hospital at UT Knoxville but UT Knox is a four hour drive, while Thompson Station is probably an hour or less from you will be moving to.

I can’t help with farrier’s or local vets up your way but hopefully others will come in and comment.

Far as trail riding, on your side I would check to see if the Natchez Trace Horse Trails are still open. There’s a combination of very easy to you-&-your-horse -had-better-be-really-good trails on the Trace and some of it goes clear into Alabama, if it’s still open.

I also rode on horse trails in the state game lands in Columbia years ago but I’m not sure if they are still open; Imwould not suggest riding alone in that area. We never ran across anyone but some areas were very remote:)

Heat, humidity and bugs sadly are an issue here, too, lol. As are those humongous big black horse flies with stingers the size of a 1/64” drill bit. Nothing deters them and they favor dark colored horses - and my husband when he was on the 4-wheeler the other night. Thankfully they aren’t around too long.

We also have a lot of ticks, so keep your property mowed down. If you have a place to lock them up at night, chickens are great for keeping the tick population down but coyotes & Hawks like them for a midnight snack and snakes will eat the eggs.

[cutter99]

I am in Middle TN, about an hour east of Nashville, and relocated here from Pennsylvania about 6 1/2 years ago.

I will second Tennessee Equine as a great facility. I have a local vet, but use Tennessee Equine for the more complicated issues at my local vet’s recommendation.

Horse flies are terrible starting around the beginning of August until the end of fly season. Ours are the size of hummingbirds I swear! I use Equi Spot every 2 weeks starting March 1 until November 1. It does an excellent job keeping ticks off my horses, and helps a little with regular flies, but the horse flies are something else. I also use a lot of fly spray and SWAT.

We had a farm in Pennsylvania where we made our own hay and sold the excess, so I was spoiled when it came to hay. It is harder to find good hay here and it is more expensive. Find a good hay supplier and treat them like gold! Buy as much hay as you can afford and have storage for. Buy it early in the season. There are some excellent feed stores, and you can get most brands here.

I do not blanket as my horses are used to living out, and even in Pennsylvania it was never an issue. I do keep a couple blankets on hand for emergencies.

I used to put out a heated stock tank, but am also lucky enough to have a spring which is set up to flow into a 400 gallon tank that keeps continually flowing so it doesn’t freeze solid. I occasionally have to break the ice of the top, but probably less than 10 days a year. We also install Ritchie Waterers this year, which sit on geo thermal tubes, so they are kind of self heating.

During the summer, I ride as early as possible to avoid the heat and humidity. After about 10 a.m., you just want to melt!

There is tons of excellent trail riding in TN!

[WildLittleWren]

@Texarkana

I moved from PA to middle TN in 2006 and lived there for 11 years.

Beautiful area in Ashland City. I lived in western Davidson county for awhile and had a number of horse sitting clients in Ashland City.

Horse services were shockingly limited as compared to what I was used to in PA. With that said, once I finally sourced all the services I needed, they were excellent.

Weather in February is a mixed bag, but it will probably just be wet and chilly. Usually that time of year you have daytime highs in the 40s/50s and lows in the 20s/30s.

There are quite a number of COTHers in that area. Hopefully they can get you hooked up with current riding buddies. Middle TN has a lot of population turnover in general.

I’m excited for you!

Thank you! We are as excited as well, especially about the extra room we will have! We are currently in a much smaller house, and the entire family is looking forward to having more room and privacy. It’s a bonus that I will be working for family…helping train my aunt’s shorthair and wirehaired pointers for field trials and taking care of them. We are moving in part to help with my aunt and uncle (my uncle has dementia, and my aunt is getting up there in age)…they have 47 acres and she runs a show/breeding business with pointers. My husband can keep his job because he works remotely. I will lose my position here, but will be making about the same amount of money up there, and doing something much more exciting than land planning! I will also be able to work from out of the home, which gives me more time with the kids than now, while I am working outside of the home 40 hours a week. The other reason we are moving is because we LOVE Tennessee and we have wanted to move there since we got married 11 years ago. Now is the time, all the stars have aligned and it’s actually going to happen! A dream come true for us.

The good news is until I find some good trails and good riding buddies, I have 47 acres to explore and ride on in the meantime! I am a little overwhelmed about everything we will have to do when we get up there…new doctors, new orthodontist for my daughter, new vet, new farrier, etc. We have never made a move this big as a family. The biggest move we made was from a rental into our own home nearly 9 years ago now. Moving cats, dogs, horses, and 6 children to TN is going to be a feat but I’m trying not to get too overwhelmed and doing my research NOW, so I feel more prepared when the move happens.

[WildLittleWren]

@walkinthewalk

I’m down in the SE corner of Bedford County. Weather is REALLY fickle in February- March. We do see ice events more than snow, but 2” of snow will shut half of Middle Tennessee down, except for those of us who moved here from further north:)

I do have heated water tubs outside and heated stall buckets for the nights it gets below freezing because:

1. My horses are now mid-20’s with some health issues.

2. I retired here from PA by way of five years in SoCal 17 years ago, and I have more than paid my dues for busting ice, lollol

If you won’t have shelter by the time the cold weather gets here, I would suggest a light weight and maybe even a medium waterproof blanket for each of your crew. If they are pretty hardy & healthy, a light weight waterproof should be fine, even on the most blustery days.

No hurricanes but we do see our fair share of tornadoes and straight line winds - straight line winds can cause more damage than tornadoes.

Download a weather app from one of the Nashville TV stations and set it up for weather alerts. You probably already have a NOAA weather radio, if not, one of those might also be a good idea. They are available at grocery stores.

I can’t get the link to work but Tennessee Equine Hospital in Thompson Station is an excellent facility. I don’t know how they compare to the equine hospital at UT Knoxville but UT Knox is a four hour drive, while Thompson Station is probably an hour or less from you will be moving to.

I can’t help with farrier’s or local vets up your way but hopefully others will come in and comment.

Far as trail riding, on your side I would check to see if the Natchez Trace Horse Trails are still open. There’s a combination of very easy to you-&-your-horse -had-better-be-really-good trails on the Trace and some of it goes clear into Alabama, if it’s still open.

I also rode on horse trails in the state game lands in Columbia years ago but I’m not sure if they are still open; Imwould not suggest riding alone in that area. We never ran across anyone but some areas were very remote:)

Heat, humidity and bugs sadly are an issue here, too, lol. As are those humongous big black horse flies with stingers the size of a 1/64” drill bit. Nothing deters them and they favor dark colored horses - and my husband when he was on the 4-wheeler the other night. Thankfully they aren’t around too long.

We also have a lot of ticks, so keep your property mowed down. If you have a place to lock them up at night, chickens are great for keeping the tick population down but coyotes & Hawks like them for a midnight snack and snakes will eat the eggs.

We will have shelter for them…well, 2 stalls. We will also be finishing a barn that is on the back of the property we are purchasing, its huge, and just needs round pen panel type stalls put in it, and I would like to add 3 sides so that it breaks the wind and any driving rain, but it probably would not be finished until next winter. They will have stalls they can get out of the wind/rain from, but knowing my two mustangs, they probably won’t take advantage of it. So, I’m thinking I’ll buy blankets now and get them used to blanketing. My daughter’s mustang is going to be super difficult to blanket, so I’m going to start working with him now so it’s not such a huge deal. My mare I am sure will adjust well to one, she is finding she quite enjoys the pampered domestic life. Both are young (5 and 6), and my youngest daughter’s pony is young as well. The pony has some health issues, but the other two are healthy and hardy.

Our ticks down here are horrendous as well and we live in the Ocala National Forest. Luckily my property is cleared so we haven’t had a ton of issues, and we keep our yard treated. Good to know they are just as bad up there!

As far as heat and humidity, any type of relief from Florida is welcome, even if its very minor. I do know when we have visited up there each summer it feels different. It may be hot, but its not suffocating like Florida…at least when we were up there. Thank you for all the advice, it is greatly appreciated.

[WildLittleWren]

@cutter99

I am in Middle TN, about an hour east of Nashville, and relocated here from Pennsylvania about 6 1/2 years ago.

I will second Tennessee Equine as a great facility. I have a local vet, but use Tennessee Equine for the more complicated issues at my local vet’s recommendation.

Horse flies are terrible starting around the beginning of August until the end of fly season. Ours are the size of hummingbirds I swear! I use Equi Spot every 2 weeks starting March 1 until November 1. It does an excellent job keeping ticks off my horses, and helps a little with regular flies, but the horse flies are something else. I also use a lot of fly spray and SWAT.

We had a farm in Pennsylvania where we made our own hay and sold the excess, so I was spoiled when it came to hay. It is harder to find good hay here and it is more expensive. Find a good hay supplier and treat them like gold! Buy as much hay as you can afford and have storage for. Buy it early in the season. There are some excellent feed stores, and you can get most brands here.

I do not blanket as my horses are used to living out, and even in Pennsylvania it was never an issue. I do keep a couple blankets on hand for emergencies.

I used to put out a heated stock tank, but am also lucky enough to have a spring which is set up to flow into a 400 gallon tank that keeps continually flowing so it doesn’t freeze solid. I occasionally have to break the ice of the top, but probably less than 10 days a year. We also install Ritchie Waterers this year, which sit on geo thermal tubes, so they are kind of self heating.

During the summer, I ride as early as possible to avoid the heat and humidity. After about 10 a.m., you just want to melt!

There is tons of excellent trail riding in TN!

I am very excited to hear there is a lot of trail riding in TN. There is in my area currently as well (Ocala National Forest), but I wasn’t sure what was available in that area of TN. I do know I would get lost in a round pen, as people have joked, so I would definitely need to make some friends to show me around. Sadly, my internal GPS was never installed.

How are the mosquitos up there? We have mosquitos even during the day here if its rained lately. It’s absolutely insane and drives myself and my horses bonkers. We use lots and lots of fly spray and citronella!

[cutter99]

@WildLittleWren

How are the mosquitos up there? We have mosquitos even during the day here if its rained lately. It’s absolutely insane and drives myself and my horses bonkers. We use lots and lots of fly spray and citronella!

I don’t have a ton of issues with mosquitoes, and have a small creek just off our property. But flies and horse flies are another story!

[walkinthewalk]

As long as you have a trailer, yes there is good trail riding, it just depends how far you want to travel. There’s a lot of fantastic riding at East Fork or Big South Fork in the Jamestown area.

@cutter99, did all the trails at Long C in Westmoreland get shut down? I heard the entire place is closed - campground and all:(

There are trails in the Walter Hill area on the east side of Murfreesboro.

Mosquitoes: depends how much moisture you have in the ground. Even though we are surrounded by woods, We sit really high with good drainage and our pastures are big. I saw my first two mosquitoes last night - both had the nerve to try and land on me, lol. Keep your property void of stagnant water.

We have Brown Recluse spiders and Black Widows. Don’t kill the blue wasps which are also known as Mud Daubers. they build stick like mud houses, stuck together. They are not only non-aggressive but, from what I’ve read, they are the only critter that can safely kill a Black Widow.

I have pest control on the outside perimeter of the house only. Anything that lives in/near the barn needs to stay out of my sight and it can live:)

I have pipe panel stalls and love them, especially for air circulation. They started as a temporary fix but they are still in place 17 years later:)

The due south and southwest side of your barn will take the worst weather beating. If that’s one of your open ends, try to at least close part of it in, or all of it, with a minimum 10’ sliding door. I also highly recommend an overhang on the SW side as that will help keep the afternoon sun from beating thru that side of the barn.

Check with your electric company to see if they will provide a mercury light. Duck River put one on a light pole just below the SW corner of the barn. We pay them $6/month and that includes any sort of repair from wear or weather. Works for us as we are too old to be climbing that high in extension ladders:)

we also have aYellow mercury light over the man door on the other end of the barn. We own that one but it’s only about 13 feet off the ground:)

[ChocoMare]

Check with @Fessy’s Mom - she relocated to TN a few years ago too.

[WildLittleWren]

@cutter99

I don’t have a ton of issues with mosquitoes, and have a small creek just off our property. But flies and horse flies are another story!

Hey we have flies, horse flies, AND mosquitos down here. The mosquitos are what drive my horses and myself batty! We have big horse flies down here too, but the mosquitos are the biggest issue. It’s enough to drive you insane.

[Djones]

That’s a really pretty area of TN with access to trails.

One thing I’ve observed in my travels in TN, showing, etc, is that it is a very, very conservative state in a general sense and there are a lot of folks who ain’t never been nowhere and they really will be surprised that you’re from an area that doesn’t have a Kroger grocery, for example. Just a super small world view, does that make sense? And I’m sitting in equally Conservative Alabama, so no harm meant in saying that.

[WildLittleWren]

@Djones

That’s a really pretty area of TN with access to trails.

One thing I’ve observed in my travels in TN, showing, etc, is that it is a very, very conservative state in a general sense and there are a lot of folks who ain’t never been nowhere and they really will be surprised that you’re from an area that doesn’t have a Kroger grocery, for example. Just a super small world view, does that make sense? And I’m sitting in equally Conservative Alabama, so no harm meant in saying that.

I’m sitting in the middle of Florida in the same situation Djones. So unfortunately, I think we will be moving from one super conservative area to another. However, we will be a little more remote in the location we will be at in TN. I also have a turning 15yo son who is going through some issues, which I don’t think will be widely accepted where we are located. I understand he may not be understood/accepted up there either, but I also think it will be a nice fresh start for him and we will be remote enough that we aren’t going to run into as many issues.

[Djones]

Sounds like a good plan! Best wishes on your pending move!

[Texarkana]

Cheatham County schools are pretty good and less conservative than one would expect given the community. :yes:

(Don’t get me wrong, the community is hella conservative :lol)

[littlebaypony]

I’m in north Alabama, a little over an hour south of Ashland City. I don’t know what Tennessee offers but go to Alabama Obstacle Challenge Series to scope out some options. Paint Rock Equestrian Center hosts both competitions and play days. Also, in Lynnville, TN Goodman Equestrian Center has permanent trail obstacles and some trails to ride. I also highly recommend Tennessee Equine Hospital in Thompson Station especially Dr. Christine and Dr. Liberty Getman. Super facility, super people and the prices a quite reasonable. They also understand when you give them a budget on a horse. I have a worthless pasture pet that has had respiratory problems and a keratoma and they were very understanding of my not wanting to go into debt with him.

[littlebaypony]

Thought of something else, south of Nashville are Hillsboro, The Mells and Cedar Knob Fox hunts. Most years they have Hunter Paces to raise funds. These are glorified trail rides. They welcome those that want to get all dressed up their best hunt attire and those (like me) that prefer jeans and a T-shirt. You can gallop
and jump or mosey along enjoying the countryside. I’ve met nice people and thoroughly enjoyed places I otherwise never get to ride.
Also, for trail rides, find Suzie Peck on Facebook. She’s in Petersburg, TN and loves to trail ride her draft horses. She’s to only person I know of that has the owners’ permission to ride at Milky Way Farm, another beautiful and historic place to enjoy.

[walkinthewalk]

Check ahead on schooling for your son. Being retired, I only know what I see on the news but virtual learning and/or in person learning has become a real Cluster-you-know-what in Middle Tennessee.

I have not heard anything about Cheatham County on the news, but some of counties surrounding Davidson County (Nashville) have been so up and down trying to decide which way to go or how many days for THIS and how many days for THAT, parents are ready to hang their school boards out to dry.

That kind of unrest is unsettling enough to a child that’s pretty unflappable, but it’s a huge upset and challenge to children with any sort of issue:(

[WildLittleWren]

Thank you everyone for the advice! Walkinthewalk we will more than likely be online schooling at first, but I am also looking into homeschooling, because the virtual learning in our county in Florida is a mess. The amount of work they have my 6yo doing is ridiculous. With what I have going on with my almost 15yo I really feel with him at least homeschool I think is our best option at this time.

[Tarlo_Farm]

Make sure you get your horses trimmed by your regular farrier just before moving so you have time to find a new farrier. Bring plenty of your own grain for the same reason. Premethrin works to keep all flies away. I buy in concentrate and mix sometimes as much as 50/50 for the biting stable flies and the horse flies (here in Michigan). Your horses might not have much of a hair coat this first winter, so while I’m not an advocate for blanketing, you might have to this first year. My rule of thumb is I don’t care if my horses are wet, I don’t care if it’s cold. I just don’t want my horses cold and wet. Good luck!