Living on a horse property with your beloved horses side by side is so adorable, as we’ve watched in many movies. But in reality, it can be different. In fact, living on a horse property has its benefits as well as some unique challenges.
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What It’s Like to Live on a Horse Property?
Most people find it quiet and relaxed to live in the countryside where you can lead a more natural lifestyle by growing a big garden, keeping horses and other barn animals, and enjoying a healthy happy life. So, living on a horse property in Las Vegas would serve their expectations well. But taking care of horses on your own is a full-time job because it’s very difficult to keep a horse healthy, sound, and happy. However, if you’re longing for living on an equestrian property, there are certain considerations to think about before making such a big lifestyle change. Because thinking ahead will save you from big headaches down that country road. So, consider the following pros and cons before purchasing a horse property.
Pros of Living on a Horse Property
1. Close proximity to your horses
For many passionate horse owners, living with your horses on the same property is a dream comes true. When your horses are always nearby, it’s easy to look after them and check on them anytime, day or night. For example, you can closely monitor their diet and nutrition, body condition, exercises or training schedule, hydration levels, grooming, fly/pest/weed/manure control, blanketing during the winter, medications, worming, emergency situations, and routine veterinary care. It’s a great pleasure and satisfaction to take care of horses with your own hands as opposed to keeping them in a boarding facility. Also, whenever you feel like going for a run on your favorite horse, he’s only a few steps away from your front door. It’s so convenient and at the same time living close to your horses is great for you to bond with them.
2. It’s a great investment
Owning a horse property is always a great investment from a real estate perspective. Typically, equestrian properties are located on a large area of land, usually of many acres, and their value appreciates over time. When you add your luxury home and the equestrian facilities on-site, the value of your property will increase even more. So, buying a horse property is an excellent long-term investment.
3. Potential income
Besides being close to your horses, you can bring an additional income to you and your family by starting a horse boarding business. If you own a horse property and barn with a significant number of stalls, you can open your property for other horse owners to board their horses. You don’t have to worry about the equestrian property being expensive because you can easily recover that money from this lucrative business. So, your passionate love for horses would not just be a hobby but also give you a steady flow of income.
4. Less cost of maintenance
Maintaining horses is of course costly with a lot of money spent on hay, grain, supplements, needed supplies like fly spray or other tack room staples, and property maintenance. However, if you’re keeping your horses on your own property, then the cost would be substantially less. When we cut the training or boarding expenses along with other relevant fees paid for the boarding facility, the monthly cost can be reduced by more than half. So, overall, living on a horse property is financially more advantageous.
Cons of Living on a Horse Property
1. A lot of chores to do
Living on a horse property and taking care of your horses all by yourself is not a smooth ride. It’s a lot of work, and you’ll have a lot of responsibilities as well. As a matter of fact, it’s not just about petting and riding your horse around, you also have to take care of their feeding, grooming, and medical and other veterinary needs. Not only your horses, but you should also maintain the stables at your property by cleaning them regularly, not to mention the removal of manure and urine. So, you’ll have to spend long hours in the stables doing all these chores unless you’re financially capable of hiring an extra pair of hands. Also, not to mention that, even if you’re sick, you may not be able to rest well.
2. Health and Hygiene
Another drawback of living on a horse property is that you’ve to deal with the vermin. The presence of mice and rats in your kitchen and building their nests in your soft furnishing will definitely get on your nerves. The equine environment with its open doors, feed rooms, hay storage, and dry bedding really invites vermin and other animals like possums, martens, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, and other critters to your home. And not to mention the mites and other insect populations. Also, dust and dirt will be there all the time making it hard to keep your home clean and hygienic. Even if you sell your home and try to eradicate the issue, it’s hard to get rid of this unhygienic condition when you have stables close to the house. The aroma of horses, manure, urine, and hay would also be a major issue of living on a horse property, and it may even give you allergies.
3. Noise
Noises like the banging of horses, neighing, snorting, and coughing aren’t much of a surprise when you’re living on a horse property. During the day, you may not mind those noises so much, but when you’re trying to get a night of good sleep, they could be really irritating. Also, if you’re trying to rest up after getting sick, you would get annoying so easily by these noises.
The bottom line is that if you’re a passionate lover of horses, you may not mind all these cons of living on a horse property, but your partner or family might. So, make sure to weigh these pros and cons and discuss them with your partner or family before moving to horse property.
