Buying a horse in the US

My American husband wants us to move to Virginia, we are in the middle of debating it as i'm not that keen on going. Again about an hr/hr away from Dulles airport. Have looked at the Warrenton area and Middleburg.
I am taking my horse with me if we go. Yes it will cost 5-10k but even though my horse is not anything majorly special he is a quality allrounder, safe, sane and well trained, young and that is worth A LOT out there.
I dread to think what a decent dressage horse would cost! I would import one from here or elsewhere in Europe.
That area of Virginia is very horsie and as close to England as you would get in the states. There are lots of show centres around there.
They don't have bridleways. They get permission from landowners to hack acorss the neighbouring farmland and estates in return for keeping an eye out on fencing/livestock ect. They rarely go on roads.
Iv'e done quite a lot of research into it and have visited a few times. The horses graze in fields, in the spring/autumn it looks like England. The winter is colder than here but not too horrendous, it does snow though. The summer is MUCH hotter and humid with bugs! The ground is rock hard in the summer and hard to ride on. The stables I saw had fans in them or air conditioning to keep the horses cool.
It is a very Dressage, Eventing place to be. They are very into their hunting. It is hardcore hunting!!
It's nice.. i'm just not sure. Good luck with whatever happens.
 
Thanks firewell. sounds like we are pretty much in the same boat. I totally understand how you feel, i am a little unsure my self. We are heading out there for a few days next week so fingers crossed that will make my mind a little clearer. If my mare was rideable i would have no worries, but the vet has advised not to fly her and taking an expensive lawnmover is not really an option. Are you looking to livery your horse or a house with land? Livery seems to be either very reasonable or seriously expensive.

Fingers crossed for the both of us
 
Not hugely helpful on the horse front but I used to live in Columbia and it was lovely and there were quite a few riding places not far from where we lived.

Good luck and hope it all goes well :)
 
Firewell said:
My American husband wants us to move to Virginia, we are in the middle of debating it as i'm not that keen on going. Again about an hr/hr away from Dulles airport. Have looked at the Warrenton area and Middleburg.
I am taking my horse with me if we go. Yes it will cost 5-10k but even though my horse is not anything majorly special he is a quality allrounder, safe, sane and well trained, young and that is worth A LOT out there.
I dread to think what a decent dressage horse would cost! I would import one from here or elsewhere in Europe.
That area of Virginia is very horsie and as close to England as you would get in the states. There are lots of show centres around there.
They don't have bridleways. They get permission from landowners to hack acorss the neighbouring farmland and estates in return for keeping an eye out on fencing/livestock ect. They rarely go on roads.
Iv'e done quite a lot of research into it and have visited a few times. The horses graze in fields, in the spring/autumn it looks like England. The winter is colder than here but not too horrendous, it does snow though. The summer is MUCH hotter and humid with bugs! The ground is rock hard in the summer and hard to ride on. The stables I saw had fans in them or air conditioning to keep the horses cool.
It is a very Dressage, Eventing place to be. They are very into their hunting. It is hardcore hunting!!
It's nice.. i'm just not sure. Good luck with whatever happens.
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Hey Firewell - If you do go my sister lives about 10 miles from Warrenton and she is a lovely person - she would be a great contact to have as she practically knows every horsey person in that area. She would make you feel very welcome. :)
 
Orangehorse said:
I will defend my statement about limited hacking.

It depends where you live. My sister bought her house just because it was next to a forest where they could buy a permit to ride across a huge area, but if you had no permit the rangers wouldn't let you ride. And the riding is closed sometimes due to weather conditions. My sister said you do not ride down a road as you risk being run down by a lorry. This is near Seattle.

There isn't the bridlepath system like in the UK. So you don't tootle down the road for a little hack. I daresay that the livery yards do have access to good hacking, and I have also ridden in Montana across vast distances, but the land was still owned by someone and we had permission and I understand that there are various state lands that are available, in the right place. There is no right to ride like there is in the UK on a bridlepath so if you are in the middle of a vast arable district where do you ride your horse?
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Veeeeeery geographically dependent. When I kept my horse at a yard in County Durham, I had to ride down the A68 to get anywhere near a bridle path and dodge lorries and buses traveling at 60mph. I barely hacked that year. In South Lanarkshire, things have improved and I only have to dodge tractors, vans, SUVs, and teenagers on dirtbikes in order to get to some rather sorry forestry tracks, which are so poorly maintained by the council and trashed by dirtbikes and quads that you can't safely go faster than walk or trot on a good day. In CO, the barn I boarded at had 90 acres of its own land but also bordered open space, land owned by the county which had maintained trails and permitted horses (as well as hikers and mountain bikes, but no motorized vehicles). At least in the west, you can ride on most government (county, state, and federal) land so long as there are trails, and most land in the west is still owned by the government. Even though I kept my horse out east for four years, I am still not as familiar with who owns what, but I do know that we had access to some decent hacking (not as good as Boulder, though!).

Agree with Firewell's assessment of the climate. I never lived as far south as Virginia or Maryland, but in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York, the summers were horrid. Probably in the 90s farenheit on average and with 90% humidity. Winters could drop down to -10-20 farenheit and stay their for weeks, but I think it might be slightly warmer in VA or MD. That said, I don't recall the bugs being any worse than they are in Scotland. No midges, for one, and I can't remember anything that surpasses the sheer nastiness of the clegg fly. You do have to watch out for poisonous snakes, though, as rattlers, water moccasins, and a few other things are common in those areas.

If I were going back to the US, I would go back home to Colorado or another western state rather than the east coast. After my four years of uni, I couldn't take one more hot and humid east coast summer. And the riding out west cannot be beaten.
 
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