Where to buy land for horses in CO (Denver, Colorado Springs: living, auction)

[Colomonter]

Catherine D....I just read the complete thread and I think I have a good feel for what you are looking for. I lived the first 48 years of my life in Colorado and grew up in a very small town (Dolores), went to college and lived in Durango for 6 years, Salida for about 12 years, Denver for 10 and Montrose for 3 years. I have traveled all over the state numerous times over the years.

Here is what I would suggest based on everything that you have said in this post. Fly into Montrose (a very nice convenient airport with a surprising number of connections) go to the chamber of commerce and pick up tourist and relocation information. Make what is call the circle trip from Montrose, south to Ridgway and continue over Lizard Head pass to Dolores, making a quick stop in Telluride just for the experience of experiencing the area. From Dolores you will continue to Cortez and then to Durango and head north to Silverton and over Red Mountain Pass to Ouray and back through Ridgway to Montrose.

I think that you will find this trip to be the most beautiful part of the state. You will see several possibilities that will fit what you are looking for and you will be able to weigh all the factors against each other mainly based on the differences in climate, elevation, population and access to health care.

I think that you may find the area between Montrose and Ridgway to your liking and also the area between Dolores and Cortez. North of Durango will be spectacular scenery wise but will be colder with more snow than the other areas. Montrose has excellent retail and health care facilities for the size of the town and Grand Junction is only an hour away if you need more. It may be too large of a town based on your posts but again if you live in the rural part of the county it may be a good compromise for you.

While you are in the area I would suggest looking at Cedaredge which is a nice little town with a mild 4-season climate with great access to mountains, lakes, etc., on Grand Mesa.

You will then be able to go through the individual towns on the City-Data site and get actual climate, population, and other statistics instead of relying on individual anecdotel stories which can be misleading.

I would still throw the area between Salida and Buena Vista in this mix also now that they are building a new hospital. If you missed the Downtown area of Salida...you really did miss the town. I feel that Salida is the best town of it's size (5,000 people) in the state and an argument could be make to rank it very high on a national level also. It is about 2 1/2 hours east of Montrose if you want to check it out again. Salida can get lots of snow and be very cold, as can all areas of Colorado that are around the 7,000 ft. elevation, but in general it does live up to it's banana belt reputation IF you can get past the wind which does blow down off the 14,000 mountains to the west more than most people like.

Personally I would stay away from the entire front range corridor as well as the I-70 corridor and concentrate on the western slope with the exception of Salida which is "technically" on the eastern slope but doesn't feel like it.

Good luck and have FUN with your search!

[Catherine D]

That helps tremedously! I was thinking about going back and looking at Aspen Park and Bailey because we liked it when we stopped at the grocery store for socks I also looked online and saw plenty of property. Sooo much of the state is beautiful that it makes it hard to narrow things down. My gut has been telling me I'd prefer the western slope. And...we did like Salida and we did visit the downtown area and ate a couple of GREAT little restaurants. The people couldn't have been NICER! Unfortuately, we didn't really see it's beauty till we were driving out. A storm had moved in while we were looking at land and the mountains were hidden and the WIND was just bitter cold!! I was also a little concerned about not much shopping other than grocery and how far they are from shopping of any kind?

It looks like you may have planned our June route for us! Sounds like you speak from a lifetime in Colorado. We'll have our 11yr. old daughter with us in June, so we won't be able to work as hard at our exploration We'll have to work in a little more fun.....like maybe a trail ride and a short visit with Grandpa!

You know it's sort of funny, both my husband and I spent a lot of time in big Cities like Chicago and New York City. He works in upper management and I spent most of my adult career in the beauty industry servicing large accounts such as Neman Marcus, Saks, Lord & Taylor, etc. You'd think we'd prefer towns like Glenwood Springs or Aspen (not that we can afford Aspen....3 million is not in our budget), but we are both more comfortable wearing our jeans, working in the barn and hangin out with people who understand that
Well, we do enjoy and have many friends who don't understand.

Thank you so much for all your insite!

Catherine

[GrumpynAM]

Have you considered Divide Forks in Gateway Canyon between Grand Junction and Gateway? Seems to me I've seen acreage being sold there, there is a creek that runs the entire length of the canyon for water and it is a pretty area. It'd only be about a 40 minute drive into Grand Junction and since it's slightly higher than we are here in the Valley it is cooler in the summer.

[Catherine D]

Originally Posted by GrumpynAM

Have you considered Divide Forks in Gateway Canyon between Grand Junction and Gateway? Seems to me I've seen acreage being sold there, there is a creek that runs the entire length of the canyon for water and it is a pretty area. It'd only be about a 40 minute drive into Grand Junction and since it's slightly higher than we are here in the Valley it is cooler in the summer.

Thanks for the suggestion! I tried to find some info on line. I did see that a resort has been built in the town of Gateway. Looks like a pretty area. Do you know anything else about the town? We'll have to check it out!

[angie.timm]

The dryness can be easy to get used to. All you have to do is drink water, twice as much as you would drink anywhere else. Then your body will get used to the altitude faster and the dry skin will go away. I would also recomend that in the spring when the wind blows try to drink a little more water. It really does work!
My youngest boy had dry skin on his face pretty bad when we moved here, but the water trick worked. Many people get altitude sickness and if you end up in the hospital basically they pump you full of saline... I went to a massage therapist and she said to fill your Nalgene bottle 3x a day. 32oz 3x day and in the spring try for 4. Try it out next time your here.

[Catherine D]

Originally Posted by angie.timm

The dryness can be easy to get used to. All you have to do is drink water, twice as much as you would drink anywhere else. Then your body will get used to the altitude faster and the dry skin will go away. I would also recomend that in the spring when the wind blows try to drink a little more water. It really does work!
My youngest boy had dry skin on his face pretty bad when we moved here, but the water trick worked. Many people get altitude sickness and if you end up in the hospital basically they pump you full of saline... I went to a massage therapist and she said to fill your Nalgene bottle 3x a day. 32oz 3x day and in the spring try for 4. Try it out next time your here.

Thanks, I'm a water drinker now. I never thought about upping what I already drink? It certainly makes sense!

[froggin4colorado]

In the Colorado Springs area, you would be looking east of town in Falcon. Most of Colorado's produce comes from the eastern part of the state by Lamar, Rocky Ford, etc. If you would look in the Colorado springs area, please check this site-
www.ppar.com
Good luck!

[3kidsJAG]

We are looking at some horse property in the Black Forest area. Can any one tell me what we should be looking for? How are the pastures? Nutritional value of the prairie grass etc.

Thanks,
Judith

[sunsprit]

3KidsJAG .... this is fairly dry country at altitude. Most of the ground moisture will be from winter snowmelt in the spring, not much from rainfall through the summer.

The "pastures" you may have on your property will not be very productive for grazing horses. You may get a spring bloom of native grass growth, but it will be grazed down very quickly. If you "overgraze" it, the horses will destroy it to bare ground and noxious/toxic weeds are very likely to take over. You could "overgraze" a few acres of fragile meadow with just a few horses in several days, but you might be able to turn them out for a day or so every couple of weeks, depending upon the amount of seasonal rainfall. Don't count on "green" meadows past late June or early July when the summer temps get warmer ... most of the native grasses are "cool season" growth, and will turn brown in the warmer and dry summer. They may come back with more growth in a wet fall, but don't count on it.

Native pasture grass there is very low protein, perhaps 3%, with a very low RFV count.

You'll be very dependent upon bringing in bales of hay up from the Front Range hay growing productive areas. If you can justify buying and storing a semi-load, the cost per ton won't be too outrageous. If you're a local "feed store" buyer buying a ton or so of hay at a time, you'll be in for sticker shock. $300+/ton horse quality hay hasn't been uncommon in the last few years ... and that's at the store, not delivered.

[Nadine]

Originally Posted by angie.timm

The dryness can be easy to get used to. All you have to do is drink water, twice as much as you would drink anywhere else. Then your body will get used to the altitude faster and the dry skin will go away. I would also recomend that in the spring when the wind blows try to drink a little more water. It really does work!
My youngest boy had dry skin on his face pretty bad when we moved here, but the water trick worked. Many people get altitude sickness and if you end up in the hospital basically they pump you full of saline... I went to a massage therapist and she said to fill your Nalgene bottle 3x a day. 32oz 3x day and in the spring try for 4. Try it out next time your here.

I might add to this a tip that a nun I worked with in a lab did. She had nose bleeds and had been to the doctor about them many times. All he would say was dry air. She started using a Q-tip with some vaseline in her nose every morn when she first started the day. No more dry nose. Well it worked for her---might for someone else. Myself, I have trouble with humid climates. Swell up like a toad. Don't know if this bod would ever adjust.