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Converting sloping, wooded acreage to horse property

7K views 28 replies 12 participants last post by  QtrBel 
#1 ·
Not really quite sure if this is the right place for this thread, but I was looking for some advice on how to get started with exploring the option of doing some major renovation to our land to make it suitable for bringing 2-3 horses home.

We have about 5 acres of sloping property, with probably 3-3.5 of those acres currently wooded. Given the slope, the land definitely has some drainage issues at the bottom of the hill. It does level off fairly nicely though, and there is an access logging road running partway through that would facilitate heavy equipment. One other possible option is adding between 2-5 acres if our nearest neighbor puts her property up for sale in the near future (it's likely she will- but may not want to separate her house from the acreage, which is understandable).

My husband and I are in the phase where we're wondering if the investment we'd have to make in the property is worth it, vs. looking for a different property that is already set up for horses. There are so many things we love about this house, so our hearts are more on the "stay and make the land work" side. If we make that decision, we'd likely plan our short-term savings with that in mind as a goal.

Right now, I have a great place to board my horse. But some likely changes to the neighboring properties surrounding the boarding barn would essentially cut off all my trail options, so it's just gotten us thinking about whether or not now might be the time to get more serious about a major overhaul of our own property to have horses here instead.

As I said, we're mostly in the daydreaming phase here and trying to figure out if the investment is worth it- a lot of things (like the neighbor being willing to sell) would have to fall into place to make it realistic.

I think my biggest question right now, which maybe you all could help with, is what kind of contractor should we get out here to walk the property with us to put some dollars to these daydreams? An excavator? A land engineer? Someone from the ag extension office? Figuring out where to start seems to be our biggest hurdle to making things more concrete. Do you have any advice?
 
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#2 ·
Best advise, go slow. Put a lot of thinking into it. And dream a little about what it could be like. If you can have enough land and riding area?
Look for a contractor to clear and cut paths. He can give you an idea of the costs in your area. And check if permets are required. Down here people have gotton in trouble, in the middle of nowhere, due to it being called a wet land. And the erosion of hill sides. You will have to have selter and hay storage and to get rid of waste. A lot to think about.
 
#3 ·
mrred, no worries, this whole process of even getting to the point of thinking about someone coming out here to talk about options has been very slow! I truly don't know if the land can be properly configured to handle a small barn with proper drainage plus a manure pit. That's the fundamental question. I'm not quite sure what kind of contractor to find to help us answer it...

I am confident the riding would be fine. No room for a ring or arena, but access to trails and quiet dirt roads.
 
#5 ·
http://agriculture.nh.gov/publications-forms/documents/bmp-manual.pdf

https://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000002_Rep2.pdf

I would call UNH ext and ask about feasibility and contractors. If somebody complains the state will follow up. They get persnickety if water is involved. Just throwing an ad on craigslist for free manure got me 10,000 questions from the AG dept.

Found this thing the other day. No idea how sucessful it is or not but it's an interesting idea. Actually has all the states.
New Hampshire | Take My Poop!
 
#7 ·
http://agriculture.nh.gov/publications-forms/documents/bmp-manual.pdf

https://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000002_Rep2.pdf

I would call UNH ext and ask about feasibility and contractors. If somebody complains the state will follow up. They get persnickety if water is involved. Just throwing an ad on craigslist for free manure got me 10,000 questions from the AG dept.

Found this thing the other day. No idea how sucessful it is or not but it's an interesting idea. Actually has all the states.
New Hampshire | Take My Poop!
Thanks for those resources Sue- will definitely check them out. What a crazy story about the manure removal hassle!

Sounds very similar to where I live. Everything about the topography makes it inconvenient, horse-wise. If I wasn't already living here when horses popped into my life, I would have picked someplace else.
ducky, when we bought this house, we sort of had an inkling that we'd want to have horses at home. The amount of acreage is probably fine, but the topography is inconvenient to say the least! When we were house hunting several years ago, with our eyes on old homes, our realtor told us that most people in this area either find a beautiful old house of their dreams, with a barn/land that requires a ton of work for horses, OR a gorgeous barn and fields with a house in shambles. That pretty much ended up being our experience. After having a couple of fixer-upper houses before this one, we decided to go with a house that we love that needed only cosmetic updates, knowing the horse piece was going to be more difficult. It's so hard to imagine moving to a new house given how much we love almost everything about where we are right now. And since horses are really my thing, I'd feel a bit guilty about making my husband leave a house he loves just to make things right for the horses.

But we'll see, that's why we need to investigate exactly what it would take to transform this property. I've been very lucky with my current boarding experience, and I think I could continue to be happy boarding if that's how things turn out.
 
#8 ·
Get with your state or county for referrals as to geological engineers, tax issues, future development, etc. and also get a few real estate agents that work with equestrian properties in your area to come look at the property. Just tell them that you are looking at perhaps purchasing adjoining property and turning the whole thing into what you want to do with your horses.
 
#11 ·
Chevaux, here are some pictures, but I don't think my little cell phone camera is really going to be very effective at giving you a true sense of the layout of the land.

Here are some pictures of portions that are cleared:














(including this one from the winter, because if you look back through the trees in the back left corner, you get a sense of the open field back there- those fields are owned by our neighbor and may come up for sale in the next year)




As for the house, we're at the top of the hill (all these pictures were taken standing behind the house looking down/to the sides). Like most 18th century New England houses, it's crammed right up against the road, with all the land behind it. We have a little fenced in side yard and a small 2-car garage (our chicken coop and run are built in to the overhang coming off the garage). Otherwise, the property is pretty much untouched.
 
#12 ·
A couple of years ago I could have written your post!

I am also in NH and have been keeping two horses on our 8 1/2 acre property for a little over two years. It is also sloping and was only partially cleared. They are currently on 2 1/2 acres of mixed open/wooded land with a run-in shed. I give them hay year round and let them mow our (untreated) lawn for an hour a day.

Like you, we did not buy this property with horses in mind. We like our house and area and when horses began looking more likely we did not want to move, nor did I want to board them (I love having them at home) so we did what we could with a lot of help from my sister.

Like you, I had no idea where to start. My advice to you is to ask around! We found the UNH cooperative extension office helpful (two people came out to have a look around - a forestry expert and a farming/pasture expert). Then you do probably want to find one of those farmers with an excavator in their side yard to walk your property with you. Ask other horse owners, farmers, feed store staff, anyone you think might know someone. That is how we found a hay farmer who also does excavating and sells firewood (so he worked with a logger who could come out quickly to cut) - thanks to him we have now cleared another 3.25 acres and will start building a riding ring next week.

One bit of warning - these types seem to want to just clear and bulldoze everything! I had to say no a few times. We wanted to keep the character of the property which attracted us so much in the first place.

Another useful resource was the Wellscroft Fence company in Harrisville. They run a fence clinic in May which my sister and I attended before setting up our pasture. I was surprised at how much that helped with general pasture set-up advice.

It does not look like you have any zoning or wetland issues and I am sure you know to check with your town about these.

Anyway I hope this was encouraging. I just thought you might want to hear from someone in your neck of the woods who is converting her small central NH country acreage into a horse property. I did not think I could do it and I am thrilled at how things are working out.

If you have any questions I may be able to help you. Please feel free to ask!

Carla
 
#13 ·
Carla's sister here - I thought I should add that her house & shed (and the water bucket) are at the top of the hill and the "pasture" extends down, with some open land on the upper part of the slope and then trees below, and in some ways that hill has turned out to be an asset to horse-keeping.

She carries the horses' hay down the hill to spread on the ground, and the horses go up and down throughout the day between hay & water, and hay & lounging by the shed. They are older horses, and she thinks she can actually see the improvement in condition due to the exercise in those times of year when there's not much riding to be done, compared to how they looked after a summer at pasture before she got them.

(The same could be said for exercising the keeper - after a couple years of carrying down the hay and pushing up a wheelbarrow of manure after picking the open areas, she's in much better shape than I am - and I think the cardio part is from that hill!)

Also, amazingly, in spite of the tiny area of grass in the pasture where they spend all but a few hours of the day, it's never turned to straight dirt (except right near the shed/gate/water), though the grass is nothing to write home about. At least it's still alive and has active roots. So washing hasn't been a big concern. I don't know how much of that is climate, which you would share, vs. soil, which you may or may not.
 
#14 ·
Wow, Carla and Carla's Sister-

Thanks so much for sharing such a detailed overview of what you've done. It makes it feel a little more real to me- and like it is possible!

After all this great advice, I think my first step is reaching out to UNH and seeing if I can get someone to come out and meet with us. Also, we know a few people who work or have worked at Wellscroft. I've seen that fencing clinic advertised the past couple of years. Good to know it's a useful general overview, I'll make a note to sign up next spring.

Really exciting!
 
#15 ·
Cooperative Extension Service is a great way to start along with a topographic overlay for the property to see just what is what. Keeping grass coverage will prevent erosion and that means not having more horses on the land than the land can stand. That will mean clearing or limiting access. Our property slopes to the middle. If you can picture a rectangle with the lowest point being the midline of the long side of the rectangle. We cleared the back half where the slope is the gentlest but left a few trees at the steepest points to help hold soil as well as some in the bottoms where water flows through rapidly in a rain. We have limbed them up and opened the canopies so there is plenty of sun to keep grass growing under and around them. We should have left more along the steepest section (front half) but my husband and the contractor just had to clear the bottom and we have a deep gully now. If we had cleared more from the top where it is flatter and the the slope starts out more gently before getting steep we would not have the current issues. He also insisted on clearing a 30 foot strip around the entire property and that opened up areas where we now have serious erosion issues when alternate places would have been better to clear. Once the horses were here they picked their own routes and we cleared behind them. That has worked best as they choose the easiest routes that are least likely to erode. We have slowly gone back and opened up the flatter sections on the front half by clearing the brush and taking out the smaller trees, leaving clumps of larger trees and just limbing up the trees and opening canopies is bringing plenty of light. We also arranged to rent 5 acres from the neighbor that is up on the ridge, cleared and flat open pasture. She has been very generous renting for the taxes which means we pay very little. We put in a new fence line and do upkeep on the rest of her pastures for her horses which has been a win win for both of us. It is a beautiful piece of property! Had I have had a clear plan from the Ext Service I probably could have persuaded husband to do things differently.
 
#16 ·
You've got beautiful land, egrogan -- it's almost a shame to alter it but worth it to have your horse home with you.

You've got some great ideas here from the ones who've been there and done that. I would just add, that depending on how you fence (ie leaning more toward perimeter fencing only on the property line) the horses might be able to move around enough and create their own habitat??? If fencing was solid, running a few head of cattle in the pasture for awhile may clear out some bush as they seem to excel at being destructive that way.
 
#17 ·
You've got beautiful land, egrogan -- it's almost a shame to alter it...
You know, Chevaux, a huge part of me feels this way. Will it be worth it? Hard to say. It's a pretty gorgeous view, that's for sure.

Part of me thinks our best strategy is to work out a lease or sale deal with our neighbor and leave the majority of our current space alone, but of course we can't count on that working out.

Anyway, I took the first step and sent a message to the Extension Office today. It's all a big fact finding mission at this point, so we'll see!
 
#18 ·
I don't know how zoning/subdivision works in your neck of the woods. If you bought the neighbour's property (btw, an early discussion with her wouldn't be a bad thing just in case she's making more active plans than you think), are you able to subdivide that piece with a view to keeping the pasture part and selling the yard separately? If that can't happen, would you be willing to look into leasing the house and yard out (that can be a can of worms as you probably are already aware) to recoop some your financial outlay?
 
#20 ·
Yes and Yes.

My husband and I have cooked up all kinds of plans over beers on Saturday evenings after finishing our weekend outdoor work, and these options are definitely on the table. Part of the reason we want an estimate of what it would cost to do the work on our land is because we want to see if it would just be dumb to take that on when for not too much more, we could do exactly what you said.

We're working on our relationship with the neighbor- it's getting friendlier, but not friendly enough yet that we've "popped the question." :) But man, she has a beautiful barn already standing...
 
#19 ·
Great pictures. Depending on the land next to you. As someone else said, fence the outside first. Take out selective trees for firewood. Clear some of the brush. You may beable to do this slowly and with less cost. Over time you will see how you may want to cross fence and where you may want a shelter. You can use a temp shelter and could be moved later (carport type). Keep us updated. We love pictures.
 
#21 ·
You need about 2 acres of pasture per full sized horse to keep them in grass year round. So you are going to have to divide the pasture and let one side grow while the other side is grazed or wind up with a mud lot that sends mud rolling down the hill.
A simple run in situated so that pasture can be changed from one side to the other easily is the easiest thing to do. You can work on the fancy amenities later as you go.

There are no zoning laws in the town where I live so I can't help there.

That is actually fairly flat for NH. My old home was twice as steep and strewn with boulders. Did make for some very sure footed horses though.
 
#23 ·
There are advantages to sloped properties, in that your horse can keep his feet out of the water if there is a flood. MY property is flat as a pancake, and we're getting TD (That's Tropical DEPRESSION!!! Bill) rain today and I can't keep up with the mowing, etc.
Agreed to check on zoning bc your state or the feds will nail you if the property is a watershed. If it isn't, then you'll need to decide how many trees to keep. Trees, and their roots keep the soil from eroding.
I keep 3 horses on 4 acres of turnout, with 1 additional acre around the house and garage. On a good year, like 2015, they graze from April-November. On a bad year, like 2012, I had to buy and feed hay in August. Two acres doesn't cut it for grazing and you will soon have 2 dry lots only.
 
#24 ·
2 acres works. In April the ground is still snow covered. It is frozen again by Thanksgiving. It rarely gets hot enough for the grass to go dormant. It was 40 degrees when I woke up this morning.

There is a guy down the road from me with 2 full sized horses and one pony in a pen that is divided and I doubt it's a full acre. Not a lot of grass but there is still grass. They move the fence pretty constantly. Been going on for 10 yrs now. When it was just the one full sized horse and the pony they had no problem keeping it green. It actually amazes me how well he's managed. I've actually toyed with the idea of inviting him to put his retiree here for the summer so his grass can grow back and mine get eaten. I have too much and need to do too much mowing.
 
#25 ·
I have 1 horse on my 1 acre sloping property. Actually, she's only on half of it, since the house and the dogs had already laid claim to the rest. I put up fencing down either side and in front, and am currently using porta-stall panels and electric fencing for lining the driveway which splits her area in half.

I am also in the process of buying the 1 acre (also sloping) lot next door, which will give me more room and let me have (part of) my yard back for a lawn. Right now, I shovel and bag manure (for delivery to several friends at work) or haul it out into the woods and spread it. I also have a mid-sized compost heap that may eventually do wonders for a garden here in this red Bama clay. My biggest issue right now is that she manages to eat down the grass faster than I can get it to grow, so she still gets a flake of hay morning and night.
 
#28 ·
Nice to hear from so many people making a small acreage work. I do imagine that we'd always have to supplement with hay, but that's ok with me (and the horses that would be here are used to that where they are boarded now).

Ever since I started thinking more seriously about this, I find myself looking at all the open overgrown fields up and down my road, thinking, "oh, I could talk to them about parking a couple of horses there for a month, and I could ask them, and them..." ;) Luckily my horse and her buddies are very respectful of electric tape...
 
#29 ·
That works too. One of my old college professors had a 100 acre field with crap for perimeter fencing and no reason to fix it. We used electric tape and step in posts to keep the three I had to 5 acre plots that we moved around. Luckily she had more than one option for water as there were several tanks since cattle used to be run on the property. That was my first experience with the tape over 30 years ago.
 
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