Where in the World....

[cheekychops]

...Where would you move to, with your horse, if money and practicalities were no object??

So, first day back at work blues
I am just thoroughly depressed with the mud, lack of sunshine and endless rain. Having just returned from a few days in Spain where is was bright, sunny and pleasant, I started fantasizing... If I could up sticks and move Cheeko, where would we go?

A nice climate is the pre-requesite, with great riding, stunning scenery to enjoy and ideally a beach. Not too hot for a cob though...

I'm thinking southern hemisphere - NZ? New South Wales, Australia? Or possibly the Drakensberg Mountains, South Africa.

Any thoughts?? What about the States?

[rowanrachel]

New Zealand or Oz for me! Somewhere with miles of land and not to built up. :-)

[Deleted]

Alberta - in the foothills of the Rockies, loved every second of my time there It does get down to about -27 in winter but they all just get on with it and they very rarely have grey drizzly dull days, its either mild and sunny or cold and sunny most of the time

[holi]

anywhere without mud!

[Emily+Meg]

My Aunt lives in Alberta and keeps horses there. They seem to cope amazingly in the cold weather.

When she came to visit us in the UK, she struggled and felt the cold because it is so damp over here.

I love the UK - so for me it would be Dorset, but with an indoor school, a large amounts of well draining fields!

[holi]

Actually no wind - our school is open to the SW winds - can't stand up at at times and it makes me tense and the horse

[Dragonmaster]

Snowdonia. Half way up a mountain in a Welsh longhouse with a few fields.
Then I'd like to be able to visit Egypt every winter. (not with horses but because I'm fascinated by Ancient Egypt and loved the Egyptian people I've met in modern Egypt. )

[Liz]

Oh, I'd quite like to have a place in the Sierra Nevada area in Spain. Gorgeous hacking, wonderful mountains, not too far from ythe sea. Warm to hot in the summer and good skiing in the winer An alternative would be the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado where I have relatives.

[Hannah]

Somewhere hot where there is no mud

[Catrin]

Back to where I was in Austria.

The weather is perfect for horses. The grass grows as you watch it in Summer, no artificial fertilisers on it, full of meadow flowers and excellent for horses' feet. You can make hay in one day, the sun gets so hot. You get two cuts with no problem, so there is plenty of hay for winter and never mouldy.

In winter the horses are happy to stay in warm and snug at night, but once the snow has fallen, the sun comes out and they go out to play with no rugs. No slipping in the snow as it isn't slush it's powder. The only downside in ten winters, we never made a snowman.



Almost forgot, you can ride along lanes without traffic being hidden by hedges. Centred Riding Instructor 50 miles away, Equine Touch practitioner at the homeopathic vet's and acupunture and osteopathy at the horse clinic, both 10 miles away.

Why did I ever come back? To meet you lot here and find out that I wasn't mad hearing talking dogs, it is what was known to you, but not to me as "animal communication." Oh and look after elderly relatives. But as that famous Austrian once said, "I'll be back."

[cheekychops]

Ohhh Catrin! I'm there! and on our doorstep (practically..) too. I have relatives in Austria, in the lakes near Klagenfurt. Maybe it's time I brushed off my GCSE German and went to look them up!!

[dalesfan]

Somewhere fairly close to where I am in Cornwall, but with better off road riding...or failing that, Dartmoor as the riding is wonderful and I'm quite a hermit at heart

[Hannah]

Right Catrin. When are we going? ;D

[Lisa in Plymouth]

Probably somewhere in Gloucester so I could have lessons at Carl Hester's!
I'd like nice off road hacking too. The weather recently almost made me choose somewhere warmer but in truth i'd just be worried about tropical diseases, earthquakes, venomous creatures..... yep - i'm a stress head.

[lizpurlo]

Well.... I'd just like to move where I live, house, stables and all, to somewhere where it never gets colder than just freezing, and never hotter than about 75 degrees fahrenheit...... it only rains (very gently) at night....... I can ride out of the drive and turn right, and down a quiet lane, and there is Exmoor to ride on....... and if I ride out of the drive and turn left, there is a wonderful indoor school just down the lane, with an RA on hand, and a lovely RWYM instructor.........

So no, I don't want much, really.......!