amount of property needed to have healthy happy horses

[equisician]

Hello! We are slowly starting to put our in-town house on the market and at the same time are looking around for a home with property that has room for a small barn, area for grazing & turn out plus arena (has to be large enough for jumping). In your experience what is the smallest amount of property one can have in order to do what I am describing in an effective / successful way? We've been looking at houses on approx 1.25 acres and it seems almost impossible to satisfy our goals with such little space, especially when ponds and pools are very popular. Thank you in advance for your answers and wisdom!

Adriana/Equisician

[grandprix84]

In my opinion, 1.25 acres is just enough to have a small barn and enough small paddocks to be able to rotate 1-2 horses around and keep grass growing year-round. It is not enough for an arena... add .5-1.0 acres for a proper arena. I have 1.25 without a pond and it works for my horses, but I have to go off site for arena use. Good luck!

[Delia]

If you have a little extra time, take a ride through Saddle Trail in Wellington.  Originally the properties were designated to be 2 acres, more or less.  You'd be amazed at what can be done with that amount
of property.  Our neighbors have a rather large 4 bedroom house w/ pool, decent sized arena, 14 stall barn w/ small groom's room & bath (too large/illegal for the property) & about 4 decent sized paddocks.
Their property is 1.9 acres.  Where we lived in NJ horse property w/ infrastructure determined the number
of horses allowed (1.5 per acre).  Here in Wellington, stalls are the determining factor.  Makes no sense since horses require more than a stall to live in.
Good luck in your new adventure.

[polomare]

1.25 acres is very, very tight for what you are describing.  If you have two retired horses and you don't ride, you can get away with it.

Yes, people in Saddle Trail have pulled off amazing feats of spacial engineering, but please keep the following in mind, 1) The vast majority are seasonal residents who are only here 12-16 weeks a year. . . and 2) The vast majority of horses who live there are very valuable show horses that only get very restricted turnout.  Hence the appearance of healthy "pastures" (if you can call a 20' x 30' fenced square a pasture).

If you are absolutely restricted to 1.25 acres, I recommend you buy an empty lot rather than a place with a house already on it.  As in the case of the homes in Saddle Trail -(which remember were originally built intending to be equestrian properties from the start.  Very few if any of them were existing residences, built without horse ownership in mind and then later adapted to the equestrian lifestyle) -some intelligent planning can go a long way.

Rectangular lots are better than squares as it allows for at least one long pasture down the side of your property where a horse can stretch its legs and canter.  Build your house as close to the road as you can stand/are allowed by code and then build your stalls immediately behind the house.  This is so the house and barn can share the same (short as possible) driveway.  Asphalt takes up an annoying amount of space 

Fill in the pond and forget the pool.  You will need every square inch.  One bit of advice that seems counter-intuitive: NEVER put your perimeter fence line on your property line.  Always recess your fence by several feet, leaving an "alley" around the perimeter of your property.  This is important for so many reasons I won't go into here.  Just keep it in mind when planning your site, as it is several more feet you lose all the way around.

I strongly encourage you to make every effort to purchase 2.5 acres in lieu of 1.25.  Skimp on the house if you have to.  You can always tack on an addition later as money allows.  One thing I can PROMISE you, you will never, ever later say: "Gee, you know, we just have too much land!"

Best of luck in your endeavor!  It is a buyer's market now.  Hopefully you can pick something up that is a steal.

[Admin 1]

We were the 4th house in Saddle Trail and we have just over 3 acres which includes a small house, 13 stall barn, apartment, large ring and a pool .... But we planned from the very beginning to have everything.  Just took 23 years to get it all built!

The reason we picked Saddle Trail was because of the bridle paths.  I knew some day all of the property around us would be built and wanted to have the ability to ride off of the property without having to ride down the side of roads.  I would look for a park or some place to ride near your property.

I also love the HORSE GYM treadmill to give the horses an additional activity without having to be in the paddocks all day.  Really saves the grass and the horses thrive having access to one.

Good Luck!

[equisician]

Thank you thank you thank you everyone! I think you saved us a lot of trouble by suggesting we look for 2.5 or more. I am very grateful for your posts (and horsey wisdom :-)

Adriana/Equisician

[deb be]

I think its worth saying to not skimp on gates between pastures on small lots - make it so if they're all opened up for riding time  you have more space and feel like you have alittle more elbow room versus being all kooped up in small individual spaces that are dead ends.

Have the gates at the sides by the fencelines versus the middle.  (atleast that worked for me in my situation around the barn and adjoining area).  Nice long straight lines.

My TB every so often likes to act like a TB and he needs the room to stretch out,  theres nothing like a spare acre with not too many trees.  (and then I worry still that he'll fly around and hit a tree or something)

Depending on where you go,  don't be surprised if you wind up riding on your lot versus trail riding due to dogs, atv's and motorists who don't care about you or your horse.   At one time they spoke of making the M c a riding trail.   Ha to that one.     No where is perfect.  Be sure if you buy is HIGH AND DRY.

[equisician]

great advice about fences and high and dry - and I totally agree about the ATV's and crazy drivers and such...actually I do not trail ride anymore - EVER - not even a quick hack around the block.....its sort of a deal I made last year with my loved ones. They put up with the jumping but draw the line with anything that involves vehicles or dogs that could get me. (at least with jumping I have some control over who I ride, what I jump, safety gear, making sure I'm not alone, etc...) with trails or roads you are at everyone's mercy and just about anything could happen. Some of my clients who use me as their exercise rider have been a little bummed out about it because they want their horses to get a break from the arena and same old scenery, but I simply will not do it. We do not live in a culture of respect so you are truly risking you life whenever you have to trust others to be decent, responsible human beings.

Sorry to be a dark cloud! 

Adriana/Equisician

[deb be]

Something else comes to mind,  I see horses with access to the entire area around homes sometimes and it looks sooo cozy and quite frankly I'm alittle jealous that they appear to get away with it.  I could never leave mine be loose around the house.  Theres just too many places for them to get tangled up, banged up, lacerated  or whatever.  They get into enough mischief as it is.  My husband wanted to park a tractor in their field and I said no way........     

Once I tried letting my mare eat around the back of the house where the grass was good while I cleaned her stall,  I looked up and there she was heading into my duck pen & about 1/2 way in already for a few ses of their food in spite of all the grass.  Its a very small enclosure.  If I hadn't stopped her in time it might not have been so funny.  Horses are just like us,  they get away with as much as they can.

[equisician]

Horses are just like us,  they get away with as much as they can.
[/quote

LOVE THIS LINE, you bad girl with bad horsies!!! :-)

[mysterypickles]

Something else comes to mind,  I see horses with access to the entire area around homes sometimes and it looks sooo cozy and quite frankly I'm alittle jealous that they appear to get away with it.  I could never leave mine be loose around the house. 

That's an excellent point. When we first moved to our new home we tried to do this. The yard was clean and 'safe'. We had built a small 30'x40' paddock to close them (my small horse and mini) in at night for safety, and thought they would enjoy being loose on our 1.4 acre fenced property during the day to graze, etc. Well, what we ended up with was NO grass, they ate it all and destroyed the root structure, a busted side mirror on my husband's car (he was thrilled), a dent in the side of my car, and our nice screen porches (front and back of the house) were torn up and decimated by my horse (the mini was always the good one, my horse way too curious for his own good). We finally saved enough to invest in some good fencing, and now they have a truly safe horse area, and our home and cars are safe. I'll never make that mistake again!

[Delia]

My husband thought it would be great to let the horses roam the property while the paddocks were recovering.  Truthfully, the horses loved it and were very good - heads down munching - until a scary utility vehicle roared down the road.  Now the yard has divits, etc.  That part was easier to deal with than the searching for and picking up horse puckies all over the place. 
Sounds good - Yes.  Practical - No.  Becomes labor intensive after a while.

[deb be]

With it being said for so long now that its a buyers market,  have you done much shopping around for a ready made place?  You could probably get alot more bang for the buck buying an existing farm.  It all has a way of adding up going to Home Depot and Tractor Supply etc.  The lot next to us went up years ago and we snatched it right up with no haggling and have never regretted it.  We were lucky lucky lucky as its a great lot.  But it took lots of time and $$$$$ and plenty of elbow grease.

Boarding has its perks too so enjoy it in the meantime.  I always thought it would be fun in the off season to be at the extra 'ritzy' places with a fancy barn and lots of wide open space and someone to ride with all the time on good trails.  Now I'd be glad to have someone to ride with on my lot but I'm not insured for it with the homeowners policy........  Everything has its trade offs,  theres nothing like opening the back door and hearing the welcome nickers.  Take it as it comes and enjoy the ride.   

[polomare]

theres nothing like opening the back door and hearing the welcome nickers.   

Amen. I wouldn't give that up for all the world.

[lisa@loewenberg.net]

Better to have too much land than not enough. I suggest get  help looking for the best deal. Mark Loewenberg 561-214-0370 knows all the ins and outs of horse property in our area. Lots of properties not yet listed but able to get clients info before they hit MLS.

[equisician]

Thank you Lisa, we are still looking!

[lisa@loewenberg.net]

Try Caloosa. We LOVE it here. 5 acre lots, common park 35 acre jump field 2 rings and miles and miles of trails.