Im about to turn 59 years old.  My husband is 61.  We are about to sell our 10 acre farm to make life a little easier for the two of us.  Im the horse person here and my husband has always supported me  We have flipped back and forth as to whether or not to go to small acreage with ranch style house and continue to keep my horse at home or buy a one story house in the country and board my horse.  I have to add that as well as having the horse I use,  I also have a retired 34 year old horse that I have owned for 32 years and mini donkey who is part of our family.  Any input from anyone who has been through this experience woul be greatly appreciated.

Boarding can be very expensive!  Depends on why you are downsizing.  Are you downsizing bc too expensive where you live? or are you downsizing bc too much acreage to keep up with?  I want my animals with me.  Ive had to board before long time ago and it sucks! no matter how close you board. 

Especially because of your retirees I would want to keep them with me. No one will keep an eye on them like you will. 

We don't know your specifics, but for me I would try to find a way to stay in place until the elder horse had passed and then move forward with new plans. Change can be hard on horses that old, and your needs might be completely different once he is gone. 

You're both still young, if there is no reason (like medical etc.) that you must sell and move I'd stay where you are for a few more years.  We downsized from 10 acres to 4 and I can say, the 4 acres is far more work then the 10 acres we owned; so be careful at what you are looking at when thinking smaller.  It will be cheaper to keep horses at home rather than board, especially if you are still going to live in the country anyway.  Commuting back and forth to boarding barns gets old quickly and takes up a lof of time.  Don't rush into downsizing, think it thru long and hard.

We will be the first to admit it was a mistake for us to sell and downsize and we are older then you and your husband.

Thank you everypne for the input.  All good points to ponder.

I am 62 and I will down size in my grave.  You don't realize how much it is going to cost you to down size into boarding.

Both of you are still young! I am 63 and husband is 71. We live on about 20 acres that we maintain.  We have two horses (my horses and he has been wonderful to support my addicition).  We built an elderly-friendly home about five years ago and elected to retire here on the farm.  Planning to stay here on the farm as long as our health allows.  We worked to make everything as elder-friendly as possible -- home, barn, pastures, pens, etc., to make it easy and safe to tend to our horses and take care of property.  We hire help when we need it.  And, our sons make time to help us with projects when they visit.   With all that said, we have talked and planned for the day we may need to move off the farm due to age/health.  We know where we want to move and how we will go about doing that.