# Pros and cons of having horses where you live



## Beau Baby (Oct 28, 2008)

I live in Alberta and its like Illinois. Big con is the winter, we get 4 1/2 months of summer and the rest is snow covered winter. I keep the horses at home and its always hard worrying about water, blankets, feed, proper fencing, etc. and its made all the much harder because we get down to -50 celsius. 

Some pros are that in Alberta there are A LOT of stables and quite a few cross-country courses {for us eventers}. Or at least in my area theres lots of stables. We can get a lot of grass but drought lately isn't helping.


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

Shropshire, England

Pros
- quiet roads
- nice horsey people
- good show atmosphere
- pretty views when out and about
- lots of showing/ competition opportunities

Cons
- short trails
- where i live especially, no off road trails
- expensive land
- expensive but poor quality hay and haylage is expensive
- small areas of land- by that i mean lots of properties in a relatively small area and lots of field boundaries
- planning permission for everything!


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## drafteventer (Jul 6, 2009)

Up North, NY

Pros- Hay is made right on property, semi-close feed store, 160 acres of trails right in my back yard, good horse people are semi-close.

Cons- Harsh winters, hard to get a vet out (because it's in the middle of nowhere), no other horse people in my town, small selection of shows


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## upupandflyaway1 (May 10, 2010)

Northern California:

Pros:
-A lot of big shows locally (english and western!)
-Lots of schooling shows
-Trail riding in close proximity, you can go to the beach or you can go to the mountains; each about the same distance.
-The winters are bad but tolerable, we don't get snow so thats never an issue.
-Lots of reputable trainers


Cons:
Summers are HOT, like 100+
The winters it rains, a lot.


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## iridehorses (Oct 22, 2007)

I moved south from Bucks Cty, PA and enjoy the mild winters.

Pros: Mild winters
Relatively cheaper land (then in PA)
I grow my own hay
Within an hour's drive from 100s of miles of trails
Quite a few horse people locally

Cons: It can get quite humid for ~3 weeks in the summer (although this year it came early and hasn't left yet)
Having the horses on the property makes vacations somewhat difficult but I've had horses with me for 30 years so I've managed.


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## ridergirl23 (Sep 17, 2009)

Beau Baby said:


> I live in Alberta and its like Illinois. Big con is the winter, we get 4 1/2 months of summer and the rest is snow covered winter. I keep the horses at home and its always hard worrying about water, blankets, feed, proper fencing, etc. and its made all the much harder because we get down to -50 celsius.
> 
> Some pros are that in Alberta there are A LOT of stables and quite a few cross-country courses {for us eventers}. Or at least in my area theres lots of stables. We can get a lot of grass but drought lately isn't helping.


same, except for me theres planty of dressage barns


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## GraciesMom (Jun 17, 2010)

I live in Missouri, USA.

Pros: Good trails
Lots of horsey people
Lots of rodeos and clinics

Cons: Very hot summers, very cold winters
Not a lot of jumping shows


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## TheRoughrider21 (Aug 25, 2009)

Northern Wisconsin, America

Pros
-lots of good riding trails
-people that don't mind driving past horses
-lots of forests/swamps/woods/open fields to switch things up
-lots of wild animals to see on a trail ride
-90 degree summer weather

Cons
-harsh winter lasting 9 months
-humid in the summer
-either way too dry or way too wet in the summer
-snow that makes trail riding impossible
-not many dressage/jumping/english riders
-the 3 months of summer are used for road construction so pulling a horse trailer can be difficult at times.

Even though I have more cons than pros...I love Wisconsin. Wouldn't trade it to live anywhere else...except maybe Brazil or Argentina. =)


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## Tennessee (Dec 7, 2008)

In a small town in Tennessee, and danged proud of it. 

Pros: 
- Lots of people ride, so you may tons of friends.
- You can ride down main street and not get run over.
- Some towns still have hitching posts for horses.
- Lots of different places to ride trails, and since there are flatlands and highlands, there is a big variety of trails to go on.
- If you ride western, then you will fit in great here. 
- There are tons of saddle clubs and rodeos around here.
- Horse riders get respect. LOTS of it. 
- You either grow your own hay or buy it from your neighbor. (in my area at least)

Cons: 
- Very POOR economy, so don't expect your horse to sell for a good price.
- Lots of backyard breeders and horse traders.
- Bipolar weather. You can be out riding on a nice summer day one minute, and then next you are having to gallop back to the farm so that random rain doesn't ruin your leather saddle.
- Not many shows for English riders.
- Everybody competes in the same thing, which is not always a bad thing, but there is not a lot of variety in disciplines.


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

I live in Oregon...

Pro - 
*Awesome Pinto horse shows!
*Pretty decent weather. No extremes.
*A variety in equestrians. Not set on one discipline.

Con -
*Not a lot of great trainers. We have Skip Brown (Drunk all the time) and a whole bunch of newbie trainers.

*It does get a little wet, depending on where you live.

*It also gets really dry, depending on where you live.

*Grass grows well. Lots of hay farms.


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## midwestgirl89 (Jul 7, 2009)

Tyler said:


> What state and/or country do you live in? What are the pros and cons of having horses in that area?
> 
> I'm in Illinois, America. For me the biggest con of having a horse in Illinois is the winter. It last a good while, so I have to worry about keeping water thawed, quality hay stored, and the barn in good shape.
> 
> A great pro, however, are that it's very humid in Illinois so vegetation grows thick. My horse and goats thrive off of the pasture during the summer months.


I'm also in Illinois-a little farther *further?* north and for the most part it's the same. 
I agree absolutely with not liking the winter. Last year and the year before we had a lot of ice so we had to make sure we kept that under control so no accidents. Fortunately we have a guy here in galena who gives us a good deal for hay so there's no worrying there.
pros-I love that i live in a rural area and can keep all the boys here at the house.
Trails are decent and there is a really nice park with awesome trails and friends with lots of land within an hour distance.
cons-pretty much the winter is the biggest concern. I heard of a few folks in the area last year who lost some horses due to broken legs on the ice.
and yes the horse economy is down so if you want to sell, not so great, but if you want to buy-it's pretty good. we just bought a horse three months ago or so for only $350.


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## snazzydandy (Jan 7, 2010)

Northeast Missouri
Pros- lots of places to ride, with out having to haul the horses. 
good pasture, 
horse friendly people
Cons- weather that can change on a whim
cold winter, ice
not very many horse groups in my area


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## ilyTango (Mar 7, 2010)

Southern Ontario, Canada
*PROS*
-almost all the land around us is wide open potato, wheat and/or hayfields, perfect for riding, there's also forest and other scenery
-good neighbours that will let you ride on their land
-nice summers
-horses are CHEAP!

*CONS
*-really bad winters
-not a lot of other people with riding horses close to us
-very very VERY windy


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## barrelracer892 (Apr 3, 2010)

I live in Georgia, WAY North Georgia in the mountains.

The pros of having my horses here are:
~There is a covered arena about 20 minutes from where I live
~Lots of shows around the area
~Almost everybody that lives in my little town rides horses
~The stables I learned to ride at and presently work at is 10 minutes from my house so I am free to trailer or ride my horses there anytime I want to ride with friends or goof off around the barn
~Lots of land to ride on, which includes fields to run in, woods to weave through, and PLENTY of hills and mountains to climb
~Summers are warm and winters are cold. We have 4 seasons. The mountains are absolutely beautiful in the fall when all the leaves turn colors, and the snow is great to ride in during the winter
~There are tons of people that sell hay, so the town always has plenty of it


Cons:
~It gets very slick after it rains at my house so I have to wait a while for the ground to dry out. If I want to ride when it's slick I have to trailer my horses to the covered arena in town or to the local stables arena that has good footing
~I would love to get my pony into jumping because he absolutely loves it, but NOBODY around here rides English. The closest area that does is about 1-2 hours away.
~Land is VERY expensive. If you want to buy a couple of acres, you better have lots of money. It's about $10,000 an acre.
~There are a bunch of people moving here and selling real estate and building sub-divisions, so if you look at a mountaintop you see houses all over it. It's hideous.


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## Starlet (Jun 3, 2010)

I live in Minnesota.
Pros:
~HOT summers
~Lots of other riders
~Beautiful trails
~Lots of lakes to take your horse swimming in
~Lots of big wide open country (we live in the middle of nowhere with our corn feilds)

Cons:
~The winters are looooonnnngggg and cooooollllddd and horrible.
~Bugs eat my horses alive in the summer regardless of how much bug spray i put on them!
~Not a bunch of places to board where i live.
~It can get wet and rainy. (atleast it has bee this summer)

Overall its nice though


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## ellygraceee (May 26, 2010)

The 'Gool, Queensland, Australia. 

Pros? 
- All the local (2hrs away) EA competitions are dressage
- There aren't very many local(ish) riders so we're all pretty good mates
- No snow, no absolutely blistering heat
-Very quiet around here
- I don't have to board around here
- Chaff is easily accessible
- Trainers are of amazing quality and love to travel to us, even if it's only once a month.

Cons?
- Closest dressage comp is at the very least 2 hours drive.
- So far away from all State level comps (2 State comps this holidays, 40hours worth of travelling).
- It never rains so all feed our horses get comes from us - no grass.
- Dressage? In a campdraft area? Yeaaaaaaaaaaah right.
- The local saddlery, while amazing with their ability to order dressage things for me, is campdraft/stock work based so isn't fantastic for quick stop ins for whips, joddies, etc.
- Only certain horse feeds are availiable. 
- Seed ticks are the devil's bug. 
- My school's equestrian team has four riders.. Compared to other schools with 10+ riders.


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## paintluver (Apr 5, 2007)

Southern Minnesota
Cons:
-COLD winters
-Hard to keep hay
-need to keep water thawed
-Not many "horse friendly" places (Around me)
-Not many stables

PROS:
-Fun shows
-Good summers
-Most people are nice
-Lots of different things to get horses use to (Deer, cows, pigs, tractors, etc)


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## AmberPick (Jul 13, 2010)

TheRoughrider21 said:


> Northern Wisconsin, America
> 
> Pros
> -lots of good riding trails
> ...


I am orginally from West Central Wisconsin (Eau Claire area) and that is where all my horse experience is!! As much as I love Wisconsin (if it could be summer all year round it would the sooo perfect) I live in North Carolina (husband is in the military) and will be moving to NW Florida, where we will be (finally) purchasing a horse. I'm so worried about the heat.. I only have experience in keeping horses WARM!! LOL


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## Missdv (Nov 4, 2010)

Eastcoast Florida, Cocoa

Pros
Having my horses on my property, can play with or ride them whenever I want
Mild weather in winters, usually 50-60
great grazing, grass grows year round
Great trail rides, lots of wild areas, hard endurance riding.

Cons
Raining most of the summer-hurricanes/tropical storms
summers are hot and steamy, lots of flies and biting creatures
parks are shutting out lots of riding areas for hikers to use
riding areas becoming few and far away, having to trailer to ride

My neighborhood building up with lots of folks with lots of dogs, my horse hates most of them, it's a gauntlet now!!( they have an acre, how many dogs can I put on it to bark at everyone coming by!!!)


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## Luvs2jump (Oct 11, 2010)

_SE Michigan_

Pros: 
-Beautiful secenery for tail riding
-Some counties are taking action to help people trail ride like part of the Orchard trail
-Good quality hay can be grown

Cons:
- Not a lot of land to own horses at home and if it is available it can get expensive
-The cost of boarding at some of the barns around (lucky I found a good one that's not cheap and not expensive)
-Not a lot of horse people around like in KY or TN
-Poor quality of major roads


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## faye (Oct 13, 2010)

I live in North wales in The UK.

Pro's:
Lots of hills to do hill work on
Lots of land for ponies
Quiet roads to ride on
Plenty of bridle paths to ride on
Local beaches to ride on less then 10 mins drive in the lorry
Lots of local riders clubs that run small shows, dressage and clinics.

Cons:
Expensive haylege and there is a shortage.
The weather in winter: freezing cold and horrificly wet. The weather comes straight in from the atlantic and hits the north wales coast. we are already up to our knees in mud and the temps are below freezing.
Land is expensive!!
it is a long drive to the nearest MAJOR shows and qualifiers


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## Cowgirl140ty (Jan 7, 2010)

Central Florida (Citrus County)

Pros: 
~ About 20 mins from Ocala (tons of tack shops, barns, trainers)
~ A lot of vets in this area
~ Land is decently priced
~ A lot of horse people
~ Cattle working competitions very close
~ NBHA shows close
~ A wide variety of shows
~ Close to a feed mill (cheap custom feeds)
~ Have hundreds of acres to ride on (5 min horseback ride to get there)
~ I also live very close to an old mining area... gives me lots of hills to climb and work horses on to build muscles 

Cons:
~ Very hot in the summers.
~ Grass grows, but offers no nutrition
~ Very sandy 
~ Winters are crazy (70s in the day, 20s at night... 50 degree change in a few hours)
~ Hay is very expensive ($7 a bale of coastal, $20 for a bale of alfalfa)


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## Katesrider011 (Oct 29, 2010)

I'm from north Mississippi. 

Pros: 
Lot of horses here. 
Country environment. 
Lots of horse people here. 

Cons: 
Weather is either too hot or too cold, never an in between. 
HUMID
I don't like rodeos, and that's mostly what's here that you can see horses in. (Well I don't like the bucking and let's see how long I can stay on kind, the barrel racing and such is fun to watch)


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## Belmont Jubilee (Dec 5, 2010)

upupandflyaway1 said:


> Northern California:
> 
> Pros:
> -A lot of big shows locally (english and western!)
> ...


Would you own a horse in San Francisco proper?


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