Looking for a horse friendly place around Huntsville

[AuburnAL]

If you're just looking for a place to keep a horse my advice would be to drive around in rural areas until you see someone with cows or horses in a pasture. My guess is most farmers would be fairly reasonable about the cost of keeping an extra horse or two in their pastures. If you're looking for some upscale boarding stable though that's out.

[hd dawgy]

I am not the prima donna kind, but I would like to have a nice place of my own. That would be near trail heads. Hopefully there is someone on the board that can let me know about the types of riding in the area, what the vet/farrier service is like. Just tons of questions since I have yet to take a drive there.

I haven been looking at the growth of Hunstville and that it still seems to have a small town feel that I prefer and the work may be there for my husband. He is a IT project manager that has been layed off from a fortune 500 company.
I want this move to be our home. A place to establish our roots into the community and grow. I ride horses and he rides a motorcyle, so we need the region to fit our needs.

If this is not the right area please give me a head up.

[LCTMadison]

I have two clients that have been looking for/purchased equestrian properties. One closed in August, one will be here next week to house hunt.
The one I closed in August was willing to go up to $300k, and ended up with a 5 acre beautiful property at $217000. No riding ring, but they were willing to be flexible to find the property that they wanted. My other one is willing to go up into the $500k-$600k range, and of course, that will include more acreage and much more amenities.
With both of these clients, the main driving factor has been the land, not necessarily the house. The one that closed in August had about 2 acres wooded, in Toney, with lots of riding that included wooded trails and throughout the neighborhood (surprisingly, it was in an actual neighborhood of acreage equestrian properties). There is another one listed in that neighborhood for $385k.
There is also a gated equestrian community in southwest Huntsville (even west of Madison) near the river called Rockhouse Landing. It is so beautiful out there! We are listing a house there in October, it is the smallest property in the neighborhood at 3400 sft on 5 acres. Most of the homes there are large executive type homes that sell up to over $1 million and include 10+ acres. The entire neighborhood is developed around an equestrian lifestyle. Very strict HOA and ACC, only allows horses (no cows, pigs, ect).
If you stay out in the county areas, you can pretty much ride anywhere. As far as trails go, there are many of the larger acreage properties which have wooded land with riding trails.
There are several large animal vets, but they will be concentrated in the more rural areas, as you would expect (that's where the horses are!).
Areas to look at is Hazel Green, Toney, Elkmont, Ardmore, Priceville, Hartselle, Gurley, New Hope, Lacey Springs, Tanner. Morgan County has a few nice established horse farms now on the market with updated barn facilities and riding rings. Also, we looked in S. Tennessee and found some gorgeous properties there, if you don't mind the longer commute. Like anything, it all depends on how much money you are willing to spend. With my last client, we found properties priced below $200k with 4+ acres and decent smaller homes.
Both of my clients are moving from big metros...one from Las Vegas and one from Boston. They both LOVE it here!
If your hubby is looking for IT related jobs, tell him to look at SAIC. They just picked up a HUGE contract and have been hiring a bunch of IT professionals. My husband has several friends who work for SAIC on this contract, and they said it will sustain the rest of their career, it is long term. SAIC is also a great company to work for!

[Mawoods]

We have a neighbor who rides every day and has horses at a close by stable. We live in the Gurley/McMullen Cove area. So it must be fairly easy and common to do here in the area. You should not have any problem and will have some good choices.

[Keeper]

There are a lot of places that would meet your requirements for horse stables or houses. There was a place near me that is around 200K that has 6 acres and a barn. There are several stables in Arab which is about 20 minutes from Huntsville. One beautiful place is Southern Comfort Stables. Check out valleymls.com for homes for sale.

brindlee mountain stables - Google Search

There are lots of motorcycle clubs who ride every weekend.

It does get cold but it usually warms up enough during the day so that it isn't unbearable.

I moved here from Tampa and I love it.

[hd dawgy]

Thank you for all the leads. I will look up SAIC and send him the link. I was worried about there being no farms in the area. I really want to stay away for the HOA thing. I live on the water in Tampa, great neighbors, but the HOA can be silly about the craziest things.

[Mawoods]

Originally Posted by hd dawgy

Thank you for all the leads. I will look up SAIC and send him the link. I was worried about there being no farms in the area. I really want to stay away for the HOA thing. I live on the water in Tampa, great neighbors, but the HOA can be silly about the craziest things.

I know what you mean about HOAs and particularly in Florida. Our daughter lives in a HOA neighborhood in Wellington and they are VERY strict about minute things. We have NOT found that to be true here. I still see trash cans visible from the street, etc. Sometimes I wish they would be more strict!

[tkmontg]

Originally Posted by hd dawgy

I ran across this older post and would like to revisit the equestrian lifestyle in Hunstville. We are looking at the possibility of moving and would like to know if there is a local barn book that is on-line to find out about local rides, locations, real estate. I would like to be in a horse area but do not want to have any association dues. Some of the farms that I have looked at do not have riding rings. Does the weather hold up to ride outside all year around or should I consider a long term goal of needing a cover?

Are there any areas that have better pastures that can be seeded for year round growing (Bahia/Rye)? Thanks for any help, just trying to get prelims down.

Depending on your riding discipline, there are a couple of barns in/around Huntsville area where you can board who have indoor/outdoor riding arenas.

Weather here is fine for riding most of the year. There may be a couple of weeks here and there where it is too hot/cold.

While it would be nice and I think people would respond positively, there is no equestrian community here.

Horsing Around Tack Shop put together a barn directory. You really need to get out and visit some of the barns and talk to people in the horse community about them before committing yourself to one.

Here is the link: BarnsByArea