Denver area

[heddylamar]

Has anyone kept horses east of Denver? I'm looking at the east Aurora, Watkins, Parker area. Denver's not unfamiliar — 1/8 of my family lives there. It's just the horse part I'm unfamiliar with. Although, if it's anything like central WA, I'll manage just fine!

I see there are some eventers based out of Parker, so I'd be able to find a trainer. Ideally, I'd keep the horses at home, but we may explore reverse commute + boarding, since he'd be headed to the Aurora environ, and I'm used to driving to the barn daily ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If I keep at home, how many acres do we need per horse? I prefer pasture 24/7. And will I need to plan a dry lot for winter?

Nothing's set in stone. Hubby's having a mid life crisis I'm self-employed and work from home, so the only conflict is the occasional face-to-face client meeting ... in DC

[Tarlo Farm]

Is Keysfins still here?

[Kelo]

I don't live there, but show up there. The Colorado Horse Park is in Parker, and they have a ton of dressage shows including the dressage regionals the past couple years, as well as clinics. They have some dressage shows in CO Springs, too, which is not far from Parker.

There are a ton of horses in the area. Parker is at least an easy commute to DIA. My instructor moved and is selling her (lovely) place in Elbert, which is south of Parker.

It can be kinda dry up there so I imagine you'll need a little on the "more" side of acres-per-horse. And they do get snow, so yeah on the dry lot. But you might do a search for horse property where you're wanting to live to poke around.

I like Parker, but last time I drove through there it's growing like crazy and was feeling a bit crowded.

[piedmontfields]

Fingers crossed for you, headyL. My DH tends to shop a lot of opportunities (he is recruited *a lot*---way more than I am ) and it often throws me for a bit of quick reconnaissance about livability. The main thing I hear about Denver area is that it is booming and sprawling--and increasingly costly---but it looks like a nice place to live if you can deal with that.

[heddylamar]

Cost of living, commute time, et al will decrease if we end up in Denver. The DC area is expensive and sprawls extensively. Right now, hubby's 45 mile commute to the main office takes anywhere from 1.5 hours to 3+ hours. Fortunately, he only drives that twice a week.

I kinda hope it happens — 1) SNOW 2) food 3) cousins! 4) snowy mountains 5) youngest's cousin's band 6) aunt hugs 7) great running AND, 8) Burky and Grubi play for the Avs <3

As for hubby, he'd just switch teams and roles with the current employer. There are only 3 players in his field (Dell/EMC, AWS, and Google). He worked for one for 11 years, is actively head hunted by another, and currently works for the other. Basically there's not much room for movement unless he switches to government or a reseller ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Thanks for the info on horse keeping, Kelo. Around here (MD), the extension agents recommend 2.5 acres per horse, but that's not enough in drought years. I took a quick glance at properties for sale, and saw several amazingly cheap 20+ acre places with livable houses, but wasn't sure if that's overkill for ~3 horses.

[heddylamar]

Is Keysfins still here?

Thanks! I couldn't recall who was living on the front range. Wasn't she further north, up toward Fort Collins?

[Tarlo Farm]

No, she's close to Denver. She's on TOB if you're there too. I had her phone number but used it in September when I was in Boulder and never heard from her, so I don't know if the number is good any more.

[heddylamar]

I’m not on TOB.

[Canyon]

We live in western Colorado and have two kids in the Parker area. We will probably end up over there eventually.

I have two horses here on two irrigated acres, which is adequate for recreational grazing for 6 months of the year. In Parker, most everything is dry-land pasture. So, depending on the year and the rainfall, 20 acres might be dry and dusty or knee-high in native grasses. I'd go with as much land as you can afford. And be careful of flight paths to DIA, if air traffic bothers you.

[piedmontfields]

Cost of living, commute time, et al will decrease if we end up in Denver. The DC area is expensive and sprawls extensively. Right now, hubby's 45 mile commute to the main office takes anywhere from 1.5 hours to 3+ hours. Fortunately, he only drives that twice a week.

I kinda hope it happens — 1) SNOW 2) food 3) cousins! 4) snowy mountains 5) youngest's cousin's band 6) aunt hugs 7) great running AND, 8) Burky and Grubi play for the Avs <3

It is all about perspective! Driving 45 miles in NoVa/DC/MD is no joke. Fingers crossed for you.

[Woost2]

Don't count on having pasture unless you have water rights (a huge thing in CO) and/or intense management. Out 24/7 will leave you with horse-proof weeds or dust. I remember being so shocked to hear it was 150 acres per cow to graze cattle around Larkspur (south). And that abuts the foothills. Back in the '80s. Couldn't quite grasp it.