# Horse property hunt: Cant decide what's more important!



## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

I'd put a property that checks MOST of the boxes, and in particular the boxes that have to do with the kids, as a priority. If the house is good, in quiet, safe location , in good school district, then take it!!!


as for riding, they can take lessons at a stable, for awhile. or, find a neighbor who will board a couple of horses. Do you already have them?


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

Welcome!! 

Wow that is a tough decision. But I think the perfect location, access to trails and a barn already there would be a winner. 

I can't tell you how aggravating it is to constantly have to trailer to get to good trails! I think long term the property might work well, but the short term is the issue. 

Much cheaper to have grazing space if possible. Is there any pasture land nearby that you could maybe rent? 


Also would get some estimates r/t the drainage issues, that could turn into a nightmare...


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## FiveLittleTemples (Nov 24, 2018)

We don't have any horses yet, so I would hope to be able to work on the pasture drainage and grass before we get them. We'll probably start horse shopping once we are settled in. Maybe in about a year. 

The barn needs some slight remodeling. They turned it into a rough "summer home" but it still has one stall with space for 2 more if we take out the wood stove they put in, as well as we need to fix the glass window and and re-open the barn door up. The slider is still there but they boxed in the opening and put a small door instead. I wish it had a loft, as hay storage will be tricky with 3 stalls. It would be 3 12x12 stalls and an 8 ft aisle across the front. 

I do hope to get the kids involved in 4h and showing once we get the horses. It's a very horse-friendly area, so there may be something nearby where we could board temporarily or even a friendly neighbor who might let us have access to their riding ring or arena to ride in. With the quiet streets in the area, riding to a neighbor's house would be very safe. We were at the property for over an hour and not a single car drove by, and the speed limit is 25mph.

Thank you for your replies!!


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

With that small of space you may need to just keep a round bale out in the turnout space, so would be good to consider a little covered area for that with the stalls or shelter of some sort opened out to it. That would give the horses the most freedom


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

If the house is good, the barn is decent, and it has access to trails, I'd take it. You can always board for the winter somewhere with an arena, or find pasture space to rent.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

_*WELCOME to the Forum!!*_
What a exciting first post to make... 

So much of the answer depends upon a location, a state you are looking for this home in because of climate and the weather trends...

If the house is solid and of size your family can live comfortably...
A good location for getting to work...
Good schools along a bus route so kids are brought there and home to you at days end...
Close to shopping, doctors and other entertainment you do need sometimes...
In a safe, desirable area with low crime...

So...your concerns...
Land drainage is critical or you're right you have a mess...
A barn needing renovations is workable especially if you don't have the pressure of horses coming home immediately.
Hay storage can be done in a out building, or raised storage area with correct protection {tarps}...
Unless you are going to buy 5+ acres _of pasture_ you can forget the grass when you also put in 3 horses..
You buy smaller acreages with the mindset of feeding hay year-round, period.
Any pasture grass you manage carefully with limited time on it and time to re-grow and recover very important.
For every hour your horses will be out on grass they will be eating and 3 animals on less than 2 acres does not give much grass to eat.
Plan on a sacrifice lot/paddock about 1/2 acre in size fenced off from the pastured area to keep the horses in the majority of time...
You _must_ plan before ever bringing home horse #1 what you are going to do with that volume of manure._ Horses make a lot of poop..._
My immediate thought was that spongy ground could be a overgrown manure field and yes indeed it is going to be a BIG mess when hooves churn and it gets wet from rain/snow.
You must have in place your support services before the animals come home no matter where you buy land...
Ordinances, zoning laws can and do stipulate these things so smell, stench and potential disease is not a issue for others in the neighborhood.
Vet, farrier, hay and feed suppliers...you kind of need to know they can get into you to make deliveries when you say the land is not flat, it is a concern of what it would take to cut a road to the barn and level out some space..

So, the "wet/mucky" look...
The county where this land resides in should have topographical maps you can see lay of land, streams, flood plains, elevations all mapped on them that should give you some idea of what is happening.
Today, easy to access and find this information with a simple search.
Use words like "GIS mapping of ....county, state of ..."
If you know the exact address, the plot/tax identifying number you can really pinpoint terrain details.
Know and be sure of zoning laws for the area...just because the people have doesn't mean you can...zoning changes do effect property sales.

As for the state park lands...
Are they legally accessible direct from the backyard or did the current owners cut and put in a gate?
Some state parks have walking/bicycle trails besides horse trails and they can be on opposite sides of a park from where you are and not allowed to ride across to access is a possibility...do check that.
Check you not need a special permit, insurance coverage or things mandatory that could make utilizing this park unfavorable to horses..
Check wildlife, hunting if allowed and poaching issues as your property backs to this it affects you.

It sounds do-able, but you won't have a lot of leftover land and you _*will*_ need to feed hay,_ a must year-round._
You need to have a backyard where your kids can play safely away from the horses for everyone's protection.
A place to park your vehicles...
A garage to store needed lawn mowers and equipment...
Safe fencing for your children and then perimeter fenced so your animals remain safely confined to your acreage, not escape into park lands or down a road...
Biggest is a sound house with roof, heating, safe water, septic, insulated against hot and cold ...
A nice area to live in where crime is low, police presence is high and taxes are affordable...heavenly to find and afford.
Some in-depth checking on your own, not just what the realtor tells you about the place and area...
A home and land inspection might be one of the smartest investments you could do prior to purchase as these inspections uncover issues you have not even thought about yet...a good inspection is so worth it on a used home.

If it is meant to be, a work in progress and soon dreams become reality.:smile:
Good luck and keep us informed how the search is going...
:runninghorse2:...
_jmo..._


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

BTW where in Ohio is this park with trails? I'm not asking for specifics, just general area like closest town or something. 

I have relatives in Ohio and have been looking for places to ride there as I am not sure where any trails are. I recently heard of a place in SE Ohio, but can't recall now what the place was called :smile:


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Last year I found a great horse property in western MA. I had looked for a couple years, off and on. I don't have children at home any more otherwise I might have had some different ideas, but when I was shopping my priorities were:

1. good pasture (lots of criteria for that but at least five acres of it for two horses in this climate)
2. access to trails 
3. good barn
4. good house

In that order. You can build or alter a house or a barn, but you can't make trail access nor land. We have 25 acres which once was all pasture, but there is only 5 acres which has been kept clear. We'll probably add a few more acres of pasture over time, but we can also use our neighbor's fields if we need to. Creating pasture out of regrown forest is a task which takes years of effort, so we didn't even look at all the gone back to woods acreage for sale cheap. Our house is more than twice the size of what a retired (and retiring) couple needs, but that was a compromise we gladly made because of the pasture, the trails, and the nearly-new three-stall horse barn complete with electricity and frost-free hydrant. 

Before we moved here, we did not have any of the four criteria above. The horses were in a dry lot with a shelter, without access to trails without hauling out. The only better thing was that I could use my neighbor's arena, and take lessons there -- no arena here (yet). Believe me, it will get old, hauling your horses everywhere. You'll have to add about three hours minimum to anything you do with them --hooking up, loading, driving there, unloading, doing all that in reverse, and then cleaning out the trailer. And that's if everything goes smoothly, which it will not always. Given the property you are looking at, I would board somewhere with an indoor and trail access. 

Having pasture enough to keep your horses grazing the whole growing season is huge. I didn't feed any hay from May to November, except entertainment hay when they were standing in front of their fans all day in deerfly season. Horses benefit enormously both physically and mentally from grazing. I LOVE having enough pasture, more than I can even say.


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

The wet and mucky would turn me away unless the area had recently experienced huge amounts of rainfall. My first place was like that with water draining on my property from across the road and it was a pain dealing with mud for most of the year. 


This time of year the real estate business moves a little slower usually so maybe you can take a little time to see if there's something a little better suited to your needs out there.


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