Where is this magical place?
I’m in central VA, and April - June I mow once a week, sometimes more, but it only takes me 4 - 5 hours to mow the whole thing.
FL ma’am. Bahaia grows tall and fast.
I currently have two half acre grass paddocks and my two horses can’t keep up with the grass in season. On full turnout. I do keep one of them stalled during the worst summer days. 10 acres and I wouldn’t buy any hay really. I had 5 acres of neglected lawn sod once with 3 horses. I used 6 round bales yearly. It needed mowing about every other week.
We started mowing last weekend.
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I’m at this point now. I think having a child changed my perspective on these things. Before I was a parent, it was in the back of my mind that I could fall off and no one would find me until my husband got home, but it seemed unlikely enough that it didn’t worry me. Now I worry about who will take care of my toddler if I’m lying in the field injured. The risk quotient definitely changes for me with a child in the equation.
I somewhat miss the social aspect of boarding, but no so much that I would choose it over having my horses at home.
Something I do miss is the exposure to other parts of the horse world that I may not otherwise interact with. Whether it be little things like a new fly spray I hadn’t seen on the shelves yet or big things like training techniques or medical procedures, I appreciate knowing what is new out there. Otherwise it’s easy to exist in a vacuum. COTH helps with this, but I also make it a point to try to stay involved with the outside world somehow. Lessons, shows, horse events, volunteering, or even just taking time to trail ride with horse friends.
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Pro tip: put a nest camera on the arena and tell DH or a friend when you’re riding, or tell them you’ll check in when you finish.
I had this same problem for a hot minute but since I am a trainer I have to ride during the day. The camera gives DH and me piece of mind (bonus is you get any antics on film to laugh at later).
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The more crap you build, the more crap you have to maintain. Well, I knew this before I bought land, but I still think it’s important. I don’t believe in stalling horses, so I did not build stalls (I do have a run in, in which half is dedicated to a covered x-tie area). I don’t have to clean stalls ever or waste money on ground up forests for my horse to crap on. I don’t want to maintain an arena (or pay for one) so I ride in the field (better horse conditioning too). I made this easier by picking a place with a climate I like (I despise winter, now live in NC) with good soil.
Also, yes to others who have said neighbors are CRITICALLY important. I have to travel a lot for work. My awesome neighbor who is a trainer (so she never goes anywhere) makes this much easier (& I help her in return).
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One thing to consider about this is that it may not be the social aspect of riding that is missed, but the safety of having other people around while you are riding.
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This! I realized I’m not quite as brave of a rider when I’m riding at home. My DH travels a lot and more often than not, when I ride I’m all alone. I have a very secluded property and no neighbors would have any clue if anything were to happen, so I don’t push it. If a horse is acting fresh, I may stick to just w/t or even get off and lunge. If the temps drop and the wind picks up, I’ll often skip riding that day since I know everybody will be extra spooky. I keep jumps tiny until I know my DH is home to keep an eye on things. Overall, I guess I’m just a little more conservative try to minimize my risk.
It’s just another one of those things you don’t think about until your horses are home! When I get into the routine and make riding a priority, I DO ride way more than when I was boarding (my trainer’s barn was an hour commute when I boarded) but I also will take extended breaks (i.e winter off) because my horses are out 24/7. That wasn’t an option when I was showing year-round and horses didn’t get much winter turnout when boarded.
The flip side to the (very real) risks of riding home alone is never having to share the arena. No more scheduling rides around flocks of screaming children on ponies or insane teens jumping sticks bigger than they have business jumping or summer camps or pony parties or drunk ladies that can’t steer.
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Man. Sounds like you have some stories 
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Yep. Boarding is fun! 
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I think I know in my heart this is true, but I love researching the new steel fencing options and imagining durable, maintenance fences for life 
Then you have to maintain the ground around the posts. The ground gets lower and lower or in floods it gets higher and higher.
The rule of fencing was taught to me from having dogs and chickens share a small area.
In order to be optimally prepared you’ll need:
Fencing.
Contingent 2nd level fencing
Possible 3rd level fencing.
Never have 1 line of fencing. There must always be contigent fencing.
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I would never get those. Horses bolting into it will be broken into a million pieces
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We have V-mesh fencing on steel pipe posts every 8’ and a top pipe, set at about 5 1/2’ and with a 10’ gap on the bottom, that are some 80 years old right now and still look like new.
Never had a horse hurt on those, that were anything from broodmares and offspring to horses of all ages and sexes.
Our old stallion pens had those fences between stallions and they never did fight over those but just posturing in play, never touching the fences.
We did have some such old fences, with a board over the top, at barely 5’ and one stallion reached over the top and hung some front teeth on the mesh on the other side and broke them.
That is an injury seen in stalls with open tops, when a horse reach below the door and grabs something, but rarely on pasture fences.
No matter what fencing, some horse, somewhere, will find a way to get hurt.
All we can do is build best we know how for the situation and horses fences will contain, and hope for the best.
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there is a lot of V Mesh near us set on wooden posts (locus?) in the 1950s that is still in very good condition, so 70 some years still functional
Re: the “no one will find me if I fall off” … Riding alone is definitely a safety risk. If you’re going to do it, assuming you’ve got a cellular signal, the Apple Watch has fall detection and will call emergency responders if it detects an impact and you don’t turn it off after it beeps at you to ask if you’re okay.
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How particular you are will drive a lot of your experience. If you aren’t happy until everything is just so and sparkling clean, you will either need to give that up or hire it done.
Don’t buy woods and think you’ll turn it into pasture. just- don’t.
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I know they’re supposed to come apart under a certain amount of force, like frangible pins in cross country jumps.
Centaur fence. I will never use anything else. Yes, it’s absurdly expensive, but my maintenance amounts to a few ratchet clicks ONCE a year (I have 6.75 acres cross fenced: fence around the house, two large pastures, an arena, and a paddock), it does not break, and does not break the horses.
Having young horses that do all sorts of stupid things, it’s great peace of mind to know they can’t hurt themselves on it (ok, if they really want to they can, but you know what I mean).
It doesn’t require painting or pressure washing, can be easily installed on hills, and isn’t subject to an exact measurement between posts. We have rocky soil and couldn’t put posts in some places so we moved the post 2 feet - no big deal - unlike board fencing.
This stuff is magical.
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Leaf blower = no more sweeping, more time riding 
