Fort Hood overseas relocate with horses!!!! (Dallas, San Antonio: for sale, real estate, rental)

[barnwife]

My family is relocating to Fort Hood in mid Sept/early Oct from Mannheim, Germany ( GO ARMY!) . We have one horse currently, and can board her. We would prefer to rent a property and have her close to us!! We do not want to buy a house until we know the area and husband can see it (he deploys within 3 months of our relocation)... and so our dilemma. We are trying to find a rental/lease home for 1-3 years with pasture if possible. We are able to put in fencing and put up a shelter/small barn with the right lease/landlord.
We have spent HOURS and HOURS searching for rental/lease properties...we know we want something NOT south of Fort Hood, preferrably close to Gatesville. The only rental agencies/agents we find are for Killeen area!! WAAAY too city for us! Does anyone know a reputable agent or know where I can find listings for this kind of rental property? We have searched the local newspapers online at least once a week for a couple of months now. Thanks in advance for your advice!!!

[ChristieP]

I had a friend do this from Ramstein, German to San Antonio with the Air Force. Keep in mind that they transatlantic shipping will be extremely high, and she doesn't count as "houshold goods." You might consider breeding her to a good stallion there (warmblood) so the foal can pay for the cost of the shipping.

Have you tried REALTOR.com - Real Estate Listings & Homes For Sale Also, Horse Properties of Texas - Texas Horse Properties for Sale, and Horse Properties and Equestrian Real Estate for Sale

[loves2read]

you might consider reposting this in the general tx board--Ft Hood is more towards the Austin board

[barnwife]

Christie P...I checked out those sites you mentioned, I had been to one before..they only sell, not rent or lease. We don't want to get to a new area to buy just to find we don't like the area or that the commute is too long for my husband to get to work on Ft Hood when he returns from Iraq. Thank-you though! It gave me some hope! lol.


loves2read...thanks for letting me know...i've posted there now, too

[ChristieP]

Ah! I totally missed the part where you were wanting to rent first...
Gatesville is cute. When my DH (Army Reservist) has business at Fort Hood, he likes to stay in Gatesville. It's closer to North Fort Hood than to the main base, but it's still not too far away.
LOTS of horse stuff goes on in Temple and Belton. They have a huge indoor arena complex in Belton. And Stephenville, the Cowboy Capital of the World, is pretty close, too.
Do you ride English or Western?

[barnwife]

Hiya, Christiep!

I ,uh, guess I just ride. I have only used a saddle a few times, mostly bareback. I only started with horses a coupla years ago, and had only a halter, lead rope, and about a thousand pounds of quarter-arab gelding who had been left in a paddock as a lawn ornament with a stallion and some mares for several years. I had ZERO experience before a lady said "Hey, you know anyone who wants a horse?" I had always dreamed of it (like almost every girl I have ever known)...so this is the story I have lol. Fast forward through two months of biting kicking, jumping, and mucking, learnign the hard way about farriers and dentists and vet bills (he had had none of this in a good while, and the stable lady let me know in a gentle hurry what I needed to know about such things). I heard of Parelli, attended a couple of clinics, and suddenly, less than six months passed, and my horse acted like the nice horse I thought all horses who weren't crazy acted.
I have mostly trail ridden so far as riding, and I guess that's western since it's with a halter and bareback...therefore no posting. I have jumped a few things (less intentional than I would have liked at the time), and have yet to break anything since my horse nearly flattened me in the washrack and cracked a couple ribs(I learned that, apparently, horses are claustrophobic) and got stepped on wearing flip-flops while mucking (so there's a REASON for mucking boots other than the ick factor). I went from green, to helping a couple ladies at teh same stable with their horses in just a couple months.
I won at least one category in each trail ride I participated in, the longest taking 7 hours to complete all the tasks along the way. I give credit to the horsemanship skills I learned from the clinician who helped me learn my horse (Trevor Carter) for all of it. I wouldn't have been able to hardly feed him, let alone ride him, if I had not learned these skills. Now, my horse is a great horse for beginners to learn on!!

So, after I finish my life story...the short answer to your question would be, western? I think?

My heart is for horses! So, knowing you ride to have asked it in the first place...I'll ask you the same question. English or western?

[ChristieP]

Western, though I have been horseless since 2006 when my 29-year old Half Arabian gelding (whom I had owned since he was 6) died. We did barrel racing and high school rodeos, and then did a lot of trail riding and colors presentations in his later days. He was white, and he did love to carry the American flag! I can ride English if necessary, but western is a lot more comfortable!

Honestly, though, you're looking to spend $5,000 USD to ship a horse from Germany to the USA. Unless she is a SUPER valuable horse, you will be a lot better off just letting her stay in Germany and buying another one here. Now that slaughter has been stopped in the USA, the horse market here is awful. Good, broke ranch horses are selling for under $1500 when they would have been over $5000 a couple of years ago. Beginner/kids horses are a dime a dozen here. I've seen them go through the ring at the Dallas County Horse Sale for under $500. I know it's hard to let a good horse go, but don't spend a fortune when you don;t have to.

My USAF friend bought a premium Holstein warmblood mare in Germany for $5000 USD and spent about that much to ship her over here. There will also be additional vaccines and the expense of the quarantine period, too. My friend did indeed breed her mare to a Holstein stallion before shipping, and the foal sold for $10,000! But to get a world-class eventing horse in the US, she would have had to spend about $20,000 so the mare was a bargain!

[barnwife]

I am so sorry to hear about your beautiful boy!! I think life will send you another when you are ready! If you don't mind me asking, what's keeping you from your dream for the moment? You sound like you love your hooved friends.
Wow...I know there are a few Americans here in Germany trying to sell their horses (mostly horses considered exotic breeds in the states) here before they go and having some troubles doing it. They price em so very low due to needing to sell them quick, and then people think there's something wrong with em..you know how it goes.
My filly happens to be in Oklahoma right now, not quite ready to be weaned though. So, no problems with the shipping. She will be delivered when I get my place in TX for her ready. My beautiful shire filly!! I can't wait to play with her!
Since she is too young for riding for a good while, I was looking at QH for sale online in the area...and sheesh are you right!!! We have our elderly (well, kinda...19 yo), heaves-ridden qh gelding in Ohio still...and for the price of shipping him to TX we could buy sound, well-bred, rideable horses enough for our family!!
The whole horse-slaughter thing...sheesh. I guess people don't realize just how many horses were beng slaughtered and would now be needing homes (food, vets, farriers, etc.) and TONS of cash t care for em, or graves (how shallow, how deep, vet calls, bullets, or export horse meat auction with horrible treatment the whole way to mexico) and how it would affect the folks trying to make a living off of/with these beautiful animals!
Anyhow, I suppose I could buy a "fancy" european horse here and ship it, even have it impregnated here by some fancy looking stallion before we go. The horses considered "fancy" in America are a dime a dozen here. I know of a well-bred, papered, Andalusian lvl2 dressage mare up for sale right now for 600 euros (about $1000) due to the owner having cancer (according to the stable manager). I could potentially profit from that...even without a stallion since that breed typically goes for enough to cover such expenses as importing.
Yay for pretty...but why be greedy and show-off-ey? not my thing. And, would I be doing it for the betterment of the breed, or to line my pocket? I don't even want to make that descision right now.
So, where in NEO do you know? Heard of Monroe or Conneaut? Ashtabula?

[ChristieP]

Well, I live in town, so I can't have a horse here. My parents kept my horse for me at their place in Hunt County. He had been a member of our family for so long that they didn't mind too much. Ater he died, Dad said "I'm OUT of the horse business!" Eventually, I hope to buy a really good TB mare and breed one classy, Texas-Accredited TB racehorse baby every year. But that is a long-term goal!

Your Shire filly sounds neat!! I've only been around a few drafts, but they are so gentle! Thank goodness you don't have to mess with the shipping stuff. But that Andy sounds really cool! And yes, she would bring a pretty penny here!

Don't bring a horse with heaves to Texas. The heat will kill him. We had one at a barn where I used to ride, and he was miserable all summer!

I know nothing about OK other than I have a friend who lives in Newalla and raises Show Shetlands. :-)

[barnwife]

TB!! Some HOT HOT HOT pretty horses!!! Have you found any bloodlines you like yet ( i know...far away long-term dream)?

Myself...I dream of Gypsy horses.........drool......... Gypsy horse...think tobiano paints, with LOADS of hair, but about the same height as QH, pocket pony personality, and able to pull bigger things than you would think!
Closest I can get for now is a shire...who also breed well with Gypsies, (yay!) makes em a bit taller since shires are about fifteen thousand feet tall....

so, do you borrow your friends horses or get to ride at all anymore? It's sad to not be able to ride or play with horses ... I feel for you!