Hi! It’s looking like we will soon be relocating to the New England area, currently looking towards Vermont. What can you tell me about the horse scene there? Not sure what area of the state is the most “horsey”
I ride dressage so I’d love info on trainers, barns, local shows to put on my radar. What is the going rate for boarding and training there?
The upper valley area of VT and NH is pretty good for horse events. GMHA is in Woodstock, Vermont and has sanctioned and non sanctioned shows. There’s a good eventing scene as well with Huntington and Hitching Post being in the area.
Welcome! I am in central VT, 20 minutes (or 10 miles in the saddle) from Green Mountain Horse Association (South Woodstock) which is a wonderful, historic venue that holds events from May-October: https://gmhainc.org/
In addition to our dressage events, we also host several events during the season for Central Vermont Dressage Association.
This is a fabulous area to be in for all things horsey, though leans eventing/trail/endurance. Most people I know have their horses home or at a small private barn, so I’m not super up to speed on going rates for boarding. I’d connect with Ruth Hogan-Poulsen (https://ruthhoganpoulsen.com/), Sue Berrill (https://www.sueberrillequestrian.com/) or folks at Kaleidoscope Farm (https://www.kaleidoscopefarmvt.com/) as starting points.
Happy to answer specific questions either here or via PM.
Just for awareness, housing of all types and at all price points is a huge concern throughout the state right now. Coming into summer, more generally becomes available, but if you’re fairly sure you’re heading this way start your housing search ASAP and if you find something that feels like a realistic option, be decisive and move quickly. I can recommend realtors in my part of the state who specialize in equine properties (but work with all kinds of clients):
Would love some realtor info! Thank you so much for the info!!
Just sent you a PM 
As a multi-decade northern New England horse person, I’m stopping by to add my congratulations.
In my salad days, Maine had the Poulins, and Vermont had Denny Emerson. The latter is a terrific writer – apparently descended from Ralph Waldo Emerson – and is active on FB still. GMHA is like Mecca to some of us still.
MANY people on Emerson’s FB page, or his Tamarack Hill Farm page, can help with the Vermont horse scene and maybe find you a farm, too.
Thank you so much! The more we are looking into this move the more excited we get 
Depending on what you’re looking for Joy Congdon is in Vermont as is Lucile Bump. Both are amazing.
Two more great suggestions, embarrassed I didn’t mention them. Clinics with each already being advertised for this summer (hopefully these FB links will work)
Vermont is a bit of a hidden treasure for dressage. We are a small population state, but have a high per capita involvement. Here’s an older thread about USDF medals: USDF Medals by State and Population. Note the leading state for USDF gold, silver, and bronze medals based on extrapolating per million residents. (BTW, Vermont’s population is under 650,000. We are a tiny state!)
There are robust schooling show series (like the Champlain Dressage Schooling Series) as well as access to USDF/USEF competitions within reasonable driving distance in VT, NY, and MA.
VT is in USDF Region 8 Many of us are members of either CVDA or NEDA
There’s also a robust eventing community with lots of connections to the dressage community.
As mentioned previously, GMHA is a great resource in the state.
Not to take over the OP’s thread, but we have considered moving to Vermont as well, but ignorance has largely kept us put. For those who keep their horses at home, how do they continue to train throughout the winter? What are some towns you recommend to look into, both for buying our own property and/or boarding out? We are most familiar with the Ludlow area, but have been to Woodstock several times. I know there is so much information about which areas of Vermont run warmer or colder than others, have better access to healthcare, etc. but we’ve found it a bit overwhelming, as we only know one person who lives there. Feel free to PM, though maybe other would like to read some of your answers.
It ranges from:
-You don’t, horses are off from roughly Jan-Mar
-You keep light hacking when the footing allows. Riding in the snow is gorgeous and a great workout. Riding on the ice is dangerous and scary.
-You go to Aiken/Florida so you stay in full training
If your horses are home and you don’t have an indoor (I don’t) I wouldn’t count on being able to trailer out to places that do. The proportion of dirt roads here is very high, and it’s questionable that you can haul on them through most of winter and into mud season (that is it’s own, distinct season here).
It’s so hard to say because…it depends on what you need for your life (personal, professional, and horsey). Chittendon County/Burlington is the primary “metro” area, most highly populated, greatest concentration of services and amenities. The Upper Valley region is also a place with a high concentration of professional services/jobs- it extends on both sides of the Connecticut River with Lebanon/Hanover (NH) and Norwich/White River Junction (VT) as hubs. This is because of Dartmouth (the college and the medical center).
My husband and I are both 100% remote, desk jockey mid-career types and that’s the only way we can live here. We would not be able to work in our professional fields living where we do. Cell service is frustratingly spotty, fortunately we have a very strong private/public partnership for providing high speed internet or it would be a non-starter. (We live smack in between Ludlow and Woodstock, so the area you’re familiar with).
We chose this area because of proximity to GMHA and its trail system. I can ride out my driveway and have access to literally hundreds of miles of trails; I could ride for hours and hours without ever needing to stop if I didn’t want to. I take an occasional dressage lesson but I mostly ride trails/endurance, so this is a great spot for me. May not be as great for someone who doesn’t have an indoor and wants to stay in competition shape all year.
If there are specific parameters that would be important to you, happy to share my opinions.
I live in Ferrisburgh, VT between Burlington and Middlebury. We have a 40 acre property where I keep a few broodmares, youngsters, and retirees. I currently keep my riding horse at a nearby boarding barn to have year round access to an indoor. Some of us who don’t have indoor arenas at home, ride at home during the spring-fall and then board over the winter. The barn where I currently ride has some clients who go to FL for the winter; those stalls get filled with other client horses that keep their horses home from spring-fall. Many of the training barns allow haul in lessons or else the trainer does some traveling to teach clients. There are many different options depending on specific situations. Dirt roads can be dicey in mud season and winter, so trailering out during those times can be difficult or impossible at times. I’m fortunate to be just off a major paved road (route 7) with the training barn also just off that major road so I CAN trailer back and forth year round, but that’s definitely not typical given how common it is for horse facilities to be located on winding dirt roads.
The area where I live is close enough to the college town of Middlebury and the college city of Burlington to have access to good health care (UVM teaching hospital is in Burlington), arts, etc. while being rural enough to have numerous horse facilities. We are near Lake Champlain so the weather is a bit milder than for folks at higher elevations. Areas like Woodstock are super expensive. Ludlow is ski area adjacent so is geared towards that industry.
In my area we still have a sufficient number of competent veterinarians, but the nearest hospital for emergencies is 2 1/2 hours away (Rood and Riddle in NY). The local full service and surgical equine vet facility (1 hour drive) was sold a few years ago and no longer offers colic surgery, hospitalizations, etc. though they still have some specialty services and some elective surgeries (with a vet who comes a few times a month).
Thank you for your answers! I am a dressage rider primarily, but LOVE trails, and if I didn’t do dressage, I would do endurance. That being said, while I am not opposed to hacking in the snow for a few months during the winter, I would need access to upper-level trainers the rest of the time. I’m not going to the Olympics, but would like my Silver at least. Who knows if I can manage, but I want to try. Going to Florida will never happen, so I am not going to even worry about that 
. I would really love to have my horses at home if possible, but feel like unless really hit the jackpot with finding a property, boarding out is probably in my future.
I am not a fan of more urban areas, though for practical reasons, I would need access to decent doctors for me and my kids. We don’t ski, so our familiarity with the Ludlow area is happenstance, but we do really like how close it is to Boston, if we ever so needed to get to some good specialists. It is also relatively easy to get to any activities we want to do, like hiking, biking, berry picking, zip lines, plays, museums, stores, and the like. I remember we were in Woodstock one summer, and a GMHA show must have been going on, because dozens of horse trailers passed through the downtown area. I was trying to figure out what direction they were all coming from, in order to locate some horsey areas, but wasn’t able to do so.
As for jobs, I can do mine anywhere, but my husband’s is probably more limiting. He’s in the process of switching fields currently, and was hoping Vermont is more open to remote work than where we are now. We would just like some reasonably easy access to decent schools and ability to take care of business-aka not a two hour drive to get groceries or to see our PCP.
We’ve heard about mud season, and I’ve worried about that as far as keeping horses at home. Unless it’s an established property,not seems like a lot to install properly and then manage. We live in mudsville now, but I know it’s way worse in Vermont.
Very good feedback! My friend, who lives up near Woodstock, has mentioned the Lake Champlain area to me as an option, since it tends to be milder. Though I do really love the mountains and the hiking, and I don’t know what it’s like in that area. I hadn’t considered the veterinary scene, so thank you for that insight. As for boarding, I was definitely wondering if people keep horses at home and then board during the bad weather. It’s common where I live currently, as there are a lot of boarding facilities here, though many are the lesson factory type without access to good dressage instruction. It really only works if you can get in at one of the facilities with good instruction, or are close enough to a decent trainer who will agree to travel. That can be tricky, and so many people’s training stalls out for that reason.
There’s plenty of hiking here in the Champlain Valley, and easy access to the mountains for more.
While the greater Burlington area is “metropolitan” it’s still much more rural adjacent and less urban than big metro areas like Boston etc. Burlington is a city of under 45,000. You can get to rural areas in as little as 10-15 minutes drive away from Burlington.
Burlington is in Chittenden County. Real estate prices drop a bit in the adjacent counties. We are in Addison County just south of Chittenden. Woodstock is in Windsor county and typically has very high real estate values.
The UVM Medical Center in Burlington is a good teaching hospital. For world class treatment Dartmouth Hitchcock in NH and all the Boston Hospitals are within a reasonable drive. (Boston is 3 1/2 - 4 hours from Burlington and 2 1/2 hours from Woodstock) FWIW, the Woodstock area --like many of the mountainous areas – has terrible cell phone service. GMHA is in a cell phone dead zone.
My husband works remotely for a major tech company in CA. We are broadband challenged in many areas of Vermont so remote work is partly dependent on what kind of internet service is available. My husband has a one room office in Vergennes that has commercial grade internet service so he can work remotely. Just 5 minutes away at home we are stuck with DSL, though fiber lines are being run now so we will have access to a more robust broadband service by the end of summer.
There are quite a few boarding/training facilities dedicated to dressage and others that are primarily eventing based hat sometimes have boarders that are dressage focused. (I’ve been that dressage person at the eventing barn!)
Bennington / Shaftsbury in the south has a lot of good barns.
I have friends in Vermont who bring in a fantastic trainer for monthly clinics, and take regular lessons over video. They’re in the Shelburne/Charlotte area (just south of Burlington).
Fir reference on DHMC, Dartmouth College is on the banks on the other side of the Connecticut River. DHMC is a short drive from there, so in bad weather it might be 30 min from Woodstock. A definite close and excellent option.
I’ll echo the lack of cell phone reception all over that area! I’ve definitely parked in the lot outside the Hanover Co-Op to make a call because I had good reception.
(I went to school up there and am back most years to visit; rode at the school barm, so don’t have helpful info to contribute about the dressage scene!)
Having lived and ridden primarily dressage in Maine, SW New Mexico and Southern California, my suggestion is to research barns and trainers first, then worry about buying your own spot.
While Vermont is plenty dressage-y, it wouldn’t be an endless chore, in fact it sounds like fun, to pick a handful of places and visit, during mud season, like ASAP, if possible. While you may get a sales job from the owners, you’ll definitely find people willing to share the downsides of the area.
FYI, if internet is critical, Maine’s then governor, now our senator, Angus King set up schools and libraries in the entire state with hard copper wire broadband more than 20 years ago. Lots of smaller communities have subsequently created high speed fiber networks. Maine’s weather is similar to Vermont’s and has a similar dressage scene, though definitely without the wonders of GMHA.
Cell service is definitely no better, though you may be able to have landline. They’ll have to pry mine out of my cold dead hands.
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