Where to buy land for horses in CO (Grand Junction, Montrose: camping, organic)

[Mike from back east]

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Back to acreage for horses, please.

[Catherine D]

Well, we just got back from our first land shopping trip. We must have changed our plans a dozen times. What towns we did see were based on realtor availability. We flew into Denver, then drove out to Salida. It was a beautiful drive till the snow storm blocked our view! It is CO in early March. Salida had plenty of property in our price range and a very pretty town. Right now, we think it was just too far from anything. The greater Glenwood Springs area had some properties and of course is gorgeous. We couldn't afford much more than 5 to 10 acres. The town has everything you need and only 1 1/2 hours to Grand Junction. Then we looked in the north CO Springs area. Again, very pretty, but I think it's too populated for us right now. There are still quite a few more places we want to investigate in June. Anymore suggestions are very much appreciated. We will be on the western slope.

All and all we had a great time....did tons of driving and learned a lot!! We also saw a big CAT cross the snowy road in front of us on the high way up in Leadville (COLD up there!)

Does anyone know anything about the yucca plant in regards to horses. a realtor noticed on one of the 40 acre parcels he showed us that there was quite a bit of this plant and thought it could be a problem.

Thanks!

[Nadine]

Originally Posted by Catherine D

Well, we just got back from our first land shopping trip. We must have changed our plans a dozen times. What towns we did see were based on realtor availability. We flew into Denver, then drove out to Salida. It was a beautiful drive till the snow storm blocked our view! It is CO in early March. Salida had plenty of property in our price range and a very pretty town. Right now, we think it was just too far from anything. The greater Glenwood Springs area had some properties and of course is gorgeous. We couldn't afford much more than 5 to 10 acres. The town has everything you need and only 1 1/2 hours to Grand Junction. Then we looked in the north CO Springs area. Again, very pretty, but I think it's too populated for us right now. There are still quite a few more places we want to investigate in June. Anymore suggestions are very much appreciated. We will be on the western slope.

All and all we had a great time....did tons of driving and learned a lot!! We also saw a big CAT cross the snowy road in front of us on the high way up in Leadville (COLD up there!)

Does anyone know anything about the yucca plant in regards to horses. a realtor noticed on one of the 40 acre parcels he showed us that there was quite a bit of this plant and thought it could be a problem.

Thanks!

Never heard of any problems. They get stuck once just stay away. Did you come down the river from Salida or did you only go up? If so you missed our town.

[Catherine D]

Originally Posted by Nadine

Never heard of any problems. They get stuck once just stay away. Did you come down the river from Salida or did you only go up? If so you missed our town.

Yes, I did miss your town. I contacted a rancher/realtor in Westcliffe, but she was in FL and didn't get back to me till we had already left for Glenwood Springs. We may shoot over your way in June? If not we'll take another trip and spend some time in that area and maybe check out La Veta also. I wish I could just spend a month traveling around the state! We normally, don't vacation in the summer because we live on a lake and it's our horse back riding time here in MI.

Everytime we're out in CO, my husband talks about shortening the waiting time for the move

[sunsprit]

Glad you finally got to do a tour ... and sounds like you got to cover a lot of ground in Colorado. Which will be helpful in describing how other places are in comparison to the baseline you have now.

Have never had a problem with the cactus and horses. We have a lot of it in areas of our pastures and the horses leave it alone. For the most part, even if they step on it, it doesn't cause any problems even if they get a sticker as we just pluck it out with a leatherman plier ... always handy to have when you're out riding and see a horse looking a little "ouchy" on a leg, could be a sticker from many different plants.

I'd be more concerned about some of the noxious weeds which are toxic to the horses. Eradicating some of the plants can be difficult, and you may have to selectively hand pull and burn them; spraying is almost not an option. Controlled burns may be a way to clear them out, too.

[angie.timm]

I haven't read this entire post but have you checked out Hotchkiss, Crawford, and Delta County in general? Forbes Magazine called it the Golden Triangle, basically the last frontier in Colorado. Tons of food is grown in our little 'Bananna Belt' and we are making a name for ourselves in the wine department. [mod cut]

[Catherine D]

Originally Posted by angie.timm

I haven't read this entire post but have you checked out Hotchkiss, Crawford, and Delta County in general? Forbes Magazine called it the Golden Triangle, basically the last frontier in Colorado. Tons of food is grown in our little 'Bananna Belt' and we are making a name for ourselves in the wine department. [mod cut]

My husband just called me and said that a woman that works for him, just suggested your area! Sounds like a great fit....we'll definately check it out when we visit Durango and Grand Junction in June. We would just love to find a home with some acreage in the mountains, for us and couple of horses.

The town we live in is small, but our county is something like 250,000. This sounds big, but it's spread over a very large geographic area. And...because we are just rolling hills and heavily treed, you don't see how many subdivisions are around. I noticed in the CO Springs area LOTS of subdivisions. It probably looks like a LOT because they are all visible. And...the traffic was more than I've been used to in a long time. I left Chicago 19 years ago and haven't dealt with traffic (other than when I travel) in a long time....I don't want to go back to it now

You mentioned this is a bananna belt, that means it's warm? I'm assuming if you grow a lot of food, it's greener also? My husband mentioned Russel Stover's Chocolate is in Montrose, that's a town for me! Is Montrose warmer also?

Thanks for the recommendation!

[I_LUVNM]

I know Angie will want to post info for you but I will just add that Montrose will be greener but cooler than GJ and Delta. Grand Junction and Delta out that way is mostly desert. There is the Grand Mesa which has pines, near there. Scenic wise, Montrose and Durango are the prettiest I think. Southwest and western Colorado is warmer in general than the rest of Colorado. The "western slope" as it is called is a warmer place with Durango and Grand Junction being the bigger cities in the west. GJ being the biggest. They have vineyards in the GJ area and Delta area too. Scenic wise, my favorite cities are Durango, Montrose and Pagosa. Montrose is a pricey area. I look for it to be the next Telluride unless they adopt an affordable housing plan. As far as living cheaper, GJ, Delta and Cortez would probably be the cheaper areas to live. Hope this helps.

[Nadine]

I find it quit interesting that there are so many places in Colorado that claim to be a Banana Belt. Here too. Or the climate capital. LOL Goes to prove that many people have the wrong impression of Colorado. Mts? Snow? Got to be a terrible cold place. 100 degrees --or 0 got to be terrible. But ---there is this word again. DRY-a great deal different than humid. Ice storms where ice 1/2 inch thick is scrapped off windshield? Never seen that! Put special ice shoes on horses that are not being ridden, so they don't fall. Never had heard of it here. Now there are places that are hot and cold! And it is not necessarily the mts. It's the plains. They really can be very miserable. Nothing to protect them and of coarse mts are mts. depending, of coarse they can be cold. Don't hear much about hot tho. And there are places in-between.

[I_LUVNM]

Yes Nadine, many people have a wrong impression about Colorado. They think all of Colorado is Leadville. There are many climates in Colorado and deserts, flat plains and mountains. Somehow everyone who hasnt been to Colorado thinks Colorado all looks like Vail or Aspen. And each area can have micro climates due to the altitude. It may be 70 degrees in one part but go ten miles and it could be 50 degrees. I think that is why so many areas are also "banana belts" since there are several scattered throughout Colorado. The warmest though temp wise statistically shows Grand Junction being the warmest but again it is a desert area. They grow peaches and grape vineyards there so it must be warmer than other parts. But there are many milder parts of Colorado too. Something to factor in too is wind. Wind can make things feel colder and I know southwest Colorado has less wind than most of Colorado. The northern part gets the most wind. Since Colorado has so many climates, it is hard to explain to somebody when they ask, "Is Colorado cold?" "Is it hot?" It is like, "do you have an hour so I can answer that?!"