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Burlington, VT Horse community?

1K views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  AtomicTomato 
#1 ·
I'll be relocating to Burlington VT due to work as of March 1st. What is the horsey scene like? My Google-fu isn't being really helpful. Am I moving to a horseless waste land?!
 
#2 ·
Burlington's a great place! I can't comment on the day-to-day horse scene there because I live about two hours south on the Connecticut River, but I will say Vermont's a very horsey state.

What kind of riding/horse scene are you looking for?

Here are some of the "special" horsey things I think of in VT, though admittedly I tend to spend more time in southern VT so this may or may not appeal to you:
-Check out the Green Mountain Horse Association "GMHA" (South Woodstock, VT- about 1.5 hours south of you). I think this would be a great place to get the "lay of the land" and meet other horsey people across the state. They organize very popular shows and rides
-Welcome to the home of the beloved Morgan horse. The UVM Horse Farm (Weybridge, VT) is a great place to visit and you'll find lots of Morgan people all over.
-Every summer, the VT 100 endurance race and ride (West Windsor, VT) brings people from around the country. @phantomhorse13 has competed multiple times, she may be able to share some more VT recs based on people she knows through the ride.
-The Dorset Horse Show (East Dorset, VT- near Manchester, VT) is a big fancy spectator event every summer, and includes a Grand Prix show jumping class, which is fun to watch.
-Tamarck Hill Farm (Strafford, VT)- an elite level eventing barn run by an Olympian. I sure can't ride at this level, but their Facebook Page gives us regular folks a really accessible lens into what it takes to compete at this level, and the owner is a great booster for the state and his sport. They do adult camps, schooling shows, working student programs, etc.

Beyond these popular places and events, there are beautiful places for trail riding or cross country hacking, the summer fair scene is pretty popular for showing, and state parks are often open to horses, some with horse camping.
-The VT Icelandic Horse Farm offers very popular organized trail rides- even experienced riders have enjoyed going out on their rides because the experience of riding an Icelandic horse is so different.
-Mountain View Ranch also does organized trail rides through beautiful scenery. They are also a sale barn, I rode a few horses there when I was shopping years ago and got to test ride out on their trails which was nice.

It's a small state, so people from different regions tend to know each other. It's not uncommon to drive 45 minutes or an hour to go to a great restaurant (ha, although most of us are usually getting in the car and driving towards Burlington and surrounding towns for the best eating and drinking in Vermont, so you won't have to worry about that, you're already in the destination! :))

I don't think we have very many HF members from VT, so not sure you'll get a ton of responses. But, I think if you contact GMHA, that would be a great starting place to get referrals to people a little closer to Burlington.
 
#3 ·
Oh thank you! This is great! I had less then two weeks to organize the relocation, so horses were the last on my mind, I needed a home first! Now that I found a lovely rental, I'm thinking more about my horsey time! I'm a returning adult beginner, concentrating on English riding foundations. I'm leaving a lovely laid back barn, and hope to find something similar within an hour of Burlington. No horse of my own (yet!) so that does help things a little bit. Thank you so much for all the resources. I grew up in NYC and Buffalo, so I'm happy to be returning "north" but I've been in the south for ten years!
 
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