Horse Friendly Properties In New Mexico (Alamogordo, Ruidoso: school, live, shop)
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I'm in Sacramento now, but lived in ABQ from 1989-2000. Hubby & I lived up near the Sandia mountains on the east edge of town (near Spain & Tramway). But, we owned (still own) 10 acres (two adjacent, 5 acre parcels) east of ABQ. I saw someone noted "Edgewood". Our property is about 10-15 minutes north of Edgewood on Hwy 344 just as it turns 90 degrees at Cedar Grove.
Back in 1993, we were thinking we'd build our dream house on those 10 acres, but then we had kids, wanted to be closer to family in CA, etc. We've grown used to having moisture again (originally raised in San Diego & near San Luis Obispo) so we are not going to live in NM again. [Somewhat, ironically, we're thinking of the Puget Sound area! We really love the skies of NM though; there's a reason why it's called "land of enchantment"...The right sunrise, sunset, smell of chiles roasting in the air, hhhhmmm]
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Also, I saw others indicated Bosque Farms, Belen, Corralles...Those would all be good as well. Not as much snow there as there might be up at our land-- though a lot of the snow not on a real mountain melts in a few days anyway.
Cheers!
Last edited by Poncho_NM; 10-27-2011 at 09:52 PM..
When I checked out a job in Las Vegas a few years ago, I saw some nice, affordable areas west of LV in the mountains. Forty acres for pretty cheap, and it looked like country that would support horses, and be pretty close to mountain riding in the Pecos Wilderness and sorroundings. The east side fo the Sangre de Cristo mountains get a lot of summer rain, so the grass stays green. I suppose that would also be true in the Sacramento Mts.
Nothing I hate more than to see a lonely horse on five acres of dirt. Horses need room, and they need pretty productive grasslands to keep them from denuding everything.
We paid under $500.00/acre. Some land around us is less than that if you want 160+ acres.
We have year around riding here. Closest neighbor is 3 miles. Ride where ever you want.
We are sitting on 140 acres and would like to sell 40 or 80w/the log home.
Beautiful weather now and the stars at night are bigger and brighter than in ........
HW
Is there anyplace in NM, besides the deepest part of the desert and outside of the towns, that isn't good horse country?
People who have the wherewithal for buying feed for horses and have windmill water available won't be restricted by "deepest desert." But if "good horse country" means having good grazing, then there are far fewer suitable areas for keeping horses.
People who have the wherewithal for buying feed for horses and have windmill water available won't be restricted by "deepest desert." But if "good horse country" means having good grazing, then there are far fewer suitable areas for keeping horses.
Probably true, but horses only have one hobby, and if they are penned in an area with sparse vegetation, they will pick it bare over time.
Out here in Oregon, horse pastures are almost always taken over by goatheads and star thistle, because the horses eat all the native grasses, unless they have plenty of room, and the pasture is irrigated and very productive.
So, I guess I would agree with your last sentence that horse property should also be good grazing, or you are ruining the land. Private or not, that is wrong, IMO.
So, I guess I would agree with your last sentence that horse property should also be good grazing, or you are ruining the land. Private or not, that is wrong, IMO.
Ranchlands throughout the SW USA are spoken of by the ranchers themselves in terms of how many acres per head of cattle it takes to make it a viable ranching operation - not how many head an acre will support!
When it comes to other indiscriminate ruminants, there is never enough browse no matter how many acres they occupy! Driving through ranching country you can always tell which rancher has goats on the land by looking at the fence line - one side will be picked barren.
The technical term is acres per animal-unit-month (AUM). An "Animal Unit" is either one horse or one-cow-calf (nursing calf). An AUM is how much forage a critter eats in one month. Carrying capacity in the arid West is usually stated as acres per AUM. In many dryland areas in places like New Mexico or Colorado, acres per AUM can go as high as 80 acres/AUM--which means to support, say, a horse year-round without supplemental feeding, it would take 80 acres of dry graze just to support just that one horse. A pasture may be grazed at a higher stocking rate than its AUM capacity for a short period of time, but it then must "rest" for some period of time. That is why, for example, BLM or Forest Service grazing permits may allow for heavier stocking in an area for a couple of months in the summer, but then require that area of range to rest for the remainder of the growing season.
The proliferation of 35 and 40 acre "hobby ranchettes" are the absolute WORST thing that has happened to the private Rocky Mountain rangelands since the rapacious overgrazing of the western rangelands over a century ago by the cattle and sheep herds owned by mostly Eastern or British sheep or cattle barons. This is because most "ranchette" owners are complete ignorant fools about range management and they allow their livestock (mostly pleasure horses) to chronically overgraze their properties. The proliferation of noxious weeds, erosion problems, altered wildlife migration patterns and other range ills on those lands are a direct result of their greed and stupidity.
The technical term is acres per animal-unit-month (AUM). An "Animal Unit" is either one horse or one-cow-calf (nursing calf). An AUM is how much forage a critter eats in one month. Carrying capacity in the arid West is usually stated as acres per AUM. In many dryland areas in places like New Mexico or Colorado, acres per AUM can go as high as 80 acres/AUM--which means to support, say, a horse year-round without supplemental feeding, it would take 80 acres of dry graze just to support just that one horse. A pasture may be grazed at a higher stocking rate than its AUM capacity for a short period of time, but it then must "rest" for some period of time. That is why, for example, BLM or Forest Service grazing permits may allow for heavier stocking in an area for a couple of months in the summer, but then require that area of range to rest for the remainder of the growing season.
The proliferation of 35 and 40 acre "hobby ranchettes" are the absolute WORST thing that has happened to the private Rocky Mountain rangelands since the rapacious overgrazing of the western rangelands over a century ago by the cattle and sheep herds owned by mostly Eastern or British sheep or cattle barons. This is because most "ranchette" owners are complete ignorant fools about range management and they allow their livestock (mostly pleasure horses) to chronically overgraze their properties. The proliferation of noxious weeds, erosion problems, altered wildlife migration patterns and other range ills on those lands are a direct result of their greed and stupidity.
Most "fool ranchette owners" are not there to manage the range. They exacted a transaction in which they paid a greedy developer too much money for land that rarely has any value as anything but dirt and rocks.
What ranchers are doing in the (arid) West is also called "pushing a square peg through a round hole". Why someone with a good head on their shoulders would want to ranch there is beyond me. We have thousands of acres of native habitat destroyed by some guy who can barely raise 50 cows on it. On top of that tax payers support this dumb crap (at a loss) through the BLM grazing programs. There was a (not so recent) big ruckus in the Gila area in NM over the fact that some "big rancher" was destroying the Gila river's natural vegetation (and fish and other life stemming from the vegetation) with his cows that were grazing on public land. A herd of cows can quickly turn a small river in an arid area into a lifeless nothing mud pit. (But hey, never mind Mother Nature, Mr. Rancher needs to make a living!). Anyways, the Feds banned him (or revoked his grazing lease), he sued, they clamped down, he turned agressive. Talk about getting used to having handouts.
Anyways, most of NM is NOT good for keeping horses if you plan on grazing them, unless you have dozens (or hundreds) of acres and only a few horses. Most likely you will be adding feed and you will also act as a vending machine for your animal. In that situation some animals loose respect for you as a human and try to treat you as a food dispenser. It is up to you to work around that but it definitely makes your job more difficult. Most famous horse trainers have someone else feeding their horses, ever notice that?
However, NM has some of the best riding opportunities around. A book called "Saddle up, New Mexico" is a great source of information on trails, trailheads and what to expect where. I recommend it to anyone who intends to go riding there.
Finally, good, fertile land is VERY scarce in NM. As such it is also VERY expensive. The rest (of the red dirt) can be had for next to nothing but then again, why would you want to live on it?
Why would anyone want to ranch in the arid West? Well, it's a multi-million dollar industry and also a tradition that goes back hundreds of years. The West was largely settled and tamed by ranchers, they built cities and schools and created civilization out of a wilderness. It's all in the history book's, go read up..Also, "your animal will loose respect for you if you act as a vending machine by feeding it" ...LOL.......that's some funny chit, right there.
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