Finding the Perfect Horse Property

As the saying goes, "There are horse properties andrevitalize. If you do not give each pasture this
there are horse properties." Everyone has their opinionopportunity to renew, you will eventually end up with
of what makes a property, conducive to boardingnothing but acres of pasture with little or no grass.
horses, but one thing you should always considerThe other thing to consider when looking for a horse
when working with a real estate agent is, does thatfriendly property is, the properties proximity to riding
agent know anything about horses. Does he or shetrails. Having acreage but having to trailer your horses
own horses? I am not saying that you have to own ato ride them gets old quick. But finding a property that
horse to know about horses, but it sure helps.has access to riding trails is far and few between.
What some agents call horse property, I would not putEven though you have property that backs up to the
a mountain goat on. I have seen listings that agents callUS Forest Service land does not mean that you can
horse properties, only to find, the property iscut trails into the forest to ride your horses, and if you
mountainous, with steep terrain, heavily wooded anddo, be prepared for the forest service to impose huge
does not properly accommodate horses at pasture.fines for doing so.
The old saying, One horse per two acres, is still theWhen you search for a real estate agent to help you
standard. Even though most properties do not havefind that perfect horse property here in the mountains
enough acreage in pasture to meet those standards,of Western North Carolina or North Georgia, please
there are still properties that do. You just need totake the time to qualify him/her. Ask all the questions
know where to find them.that come to mind about their knowledge of horses.
To be able to pasture horses properly, you shouldTry to stick with an agent that has experience with
have more than one pasture available. It is necessaryselling horse properties. It will save you a lot of time
to rotate the horses to new pastures at least every 3and frustration down the road.
months. This gives each pasture time to renew and