8 Ways Horse People Buy Real Estate Differently

When a horse person decides to leave the boarding barn for a farm of their own, their conversation with a real estate agent can be a bit, well, different than the average home buyer. Here are a few examples.

1. Our checklist is, um, difficult.

Lovely laundry room–how many saddle pads can I fit in that washing machine?
Photo: Creative Commons.

Let’s face it, the search engine at realtor.com isn’t quite set up for horse people. Things like number of bedrooms and whether the kitchen has an island or not are afterthoughts at best. Our search categories would include:

• How many stalls? Matted? Windows? Style?
• Wash rack? Indoor? Outdoor? Hot water?
• Arena? How big? Footing?
• Pastures? Type of fencing? Type of forage?
• How many horses can I stuff on the property before I look crazy?

2. Give me my barn.

The house looks just fine… now where is the barn?

While other people search for the perfect master suite or gourmet kitchen, horse people tend to worry more about their horse’s future accommodations than their own. The house is about to implode into the ground? Ah, fine… as long as the barn has European-style stalls and a wash rack.

3. What is this 1.5-acre “farmette” supposed to be for anyway?

I said I wanted to live closer to my horses, but this might be a bit much. Photo: Bill Burleigh/Creative Commons.

Horse people need room to roam, and we don’t mean the 1.5-acres in semi-suburbia that many people consider “country-living” (c’mon guys, that is just a big lawn). We mean real space… like for big pastures, an arena (or two) and maybe, just maybe, ANOTHER barn.

4.  Water, water, everywhere.

Avoiding the horror of tangled garden hose it a top horse owner priority. Photo: Erica Feliciano/Creative Commons.

Horse people understand the importance of water… as in water spigots. They should be EVERYWHERE. Once you have schlepped umpteen water pails across the yard in the middle of winter or forgotten to shut the hose off for a whole afternoon while filling up that back pasture tank, you come to appreciate the little things like extra hydrants.

5. Where do I ride?

Oh no kids, we aren’t putting a pool in that big spot in the backyard: Think arena, the bigger the better.
Photo: Lee Bennett/Creative Commons.

As noted above, horse people require space. And while a scenically landscaped lot is nice, what we appreciate a whole lot more is a place to ride. While some people may look at that big, level space behind the house as perhaps a spot for an in-ground pool, we think “OUTDOOR ARENA-YAY!”

6. It’s all about the neighborhood.

Oh give me a home not where the buffalo roam, but where the feed store is near. Photo: Nicolas Henderson/Creative Commons.

So the place is close to good schools AND a Whole Foods? Whatever. But can you tell me the distance to the nearest feed store/vet clinic/show arena/tack shop?

7. All buildings are MINE.

Hmm–that building won’t fit a stall or a tractor, you can have THIS one honey. No wait, I bet I could store shavings in there, sorry! Photo: Charlie 2.0/Creative Commons

While your significant other might want to appropriate buildings for his or her own use, you have other ideas. When viewing any potential property, your mind automatically assigns buildings to hay, stalls, run-in sheds and tractors. Man cave? Are you silly, dear?

Go Riding!