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 Husband Spoiler
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Location: North Dakota | My husband and I are considering moving to Colorado and I'm just kind of curious about more information on the area, people, horse community, barrel races, rodeos, taxes, prices, etc. There is a place about 60 miles west of Pueblo (Westcliffe area) that we are driving down to check out next weekend. What is that area like? Give me the pros and cons of the area and life there. We are currently in ND and we had the winter from hell this year and we are both ready to be done. Winters and snow do not bother us we are just tired of the -20 degrees, high winds, etc. From what I have read up on the area is it is has fairly mild winters (well compared to ND) and very mild sumers. It is sunny 300 days of the year and not much wind.
Any and all info would be greatly appreciated! |
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 Expert
Posts: 1857
 
| We are from Glenwood Springs area, wish I could help you but I've never been down to Westcliffe other then driving through. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 972
Location: Texas! | Westcliffe is beautiful! Check out Mile Hi Barrel Horse Association. They put on great events all over CO |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 492
| The Mile Hi Barrel Horse Association is amazing!!
I just moved to Texas and Carol's barrel races are what I miss the most about Colorado. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1257
Location: Colorado plains standing on a goat head! | Westcliffe is very scenic. We live east of Pueblo (scenic in a whole different high desert way!). A woman I sold a saddle to last year had just moved to Westcliffe and now they are looking at moving again, one of the reasons was that hay was so high. I am not sure if that is the big reason for moving or not. It is probably 90 minutes or more to Pueblo with a trailer because of the winding roads. +1 for MHBHA association and there are some other small ones in this area. |
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Member
Posts: 16
| My dad owns Bear Basin Packtrips and Outfitting in Westcliffe. I live in texas and drive up there every summer for a couple of weeks and haul my horses. I love it. It is so nice in the summer, no humidity and hardly any bugs. My horses love it as well. It's a nice quite town. For barrel racing you have mile hi, and cpra rodeos, and I believe 30 min down the road in canon city/Florence area has their own series. Pueblo is only about 50 miles to the east and Colorado Springs is about 77 miles northeast. The restaurants in town are more expensive then down here. Lots of good riding in the mountains. |
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Veteran
Posts: 155
| Hi! I live a few minutes outside of Florence so no to far from Westcliffe. There are several associations nearby, Mile Hi, Southern Colorado Barrel Racing Association, and some NBHA races. The weather is pretty great too. We do get some wind but I'm sure you are used to that! Westcliffe is a beautiful area. PM me if you have any more questions! I would love to have a hauling buddy too! |
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 "Spaz-tacular"!!
Posts: 20309
Location: Bennett, CO | I'm up north near Denver but feel free to holler if you need anything and another fan of Mile Hi barrel races. They are awesome |
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Husband Spoiler
Posts: 4151
Location: North Dakota | Thanks you guys so much for all the comments! Hay prices are really the only thing I am a bit worried about but we do have quite a few connections in ND and my dad has a semi with a flatbed and my brother runs a trucking company that has run hay south quite a bit so we could probably get some hay out of this area and get it hauled down for a decent price. |
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 Swiffer PIcker Upper
Posts: 4015
Location: Four Corners Colorado | Hay prices and lack of jobs are the worst part. I'm on the west slope though. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 422
Location: Fort Bragg North Carolina | Me and my husband got PCS to Colorado Springs co I stayed there 2 mo this before moving back to my hometown I couldn't afford to own horses there. I spent $200 on farrier (2 horses) hay was outrageous even entry fees for a decent jackpot was twice as high as what I was used to plus we couldn't find a home w land at a reasonable price (sale or rent) so I loaded the ponies up and left!! Quickly!! Couldnt find a part time job either.My husband agrees and will be leaving as soon as he can (deployed at the moment) good luck! And as far as where I'm from I grew up in Arkansas and our first duty station was NC for 3 yrs. |
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 Expert
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Location: home for the winter...what a dumb idea | This is my observations of Colorado as someone who moved here from the Midwest to be with my SO.1. The people are very much into them selfs ( sorry maybe its the area I am in but 3 years and the locals still wont say hi back)no one waives or says hi. If you bring your horse with you don't every expect to sell it because it is not " from Colorado so it cannot compete with there horses"2. It is expensive for everything..3. Most work is seasonal.Pros1 winter here is a breeze..... I love the winter compared to back home2. Because work is seasonal you never get boared with with your job new one every 4 month or so.3. There is tons of public land that you can ride on and if you know how to pack a mule. You can spend all summer and fall working on a horse. |
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Husband Spoiler
Posts: 4151
Location: North Dakota | Thanks for all the input! Who are some good equine vets and farriers around the area? Also what are their prices like? |
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 Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | Just Bring It - 2014-03-07 12:14 PM
Thanks you guys so much for all the comments! Hay prices are really the only thing I am a bit worried about but we do have quite a few connections in ND and my dad has a semi with a flatbed and my brother runs a trucking company that has run hay south quite a bit so we could probably get some hay out of this area and get it hauled down for a decent price.
You might want to check with Gotothewhip about hauling hay into the area you decide on... Colorado has laws about that....Laws you will not see in other places outside of Canada...
I personally have not seen an ugly place outside of Denver in the whole state.. My dad rode the rails through there in the late 1930s and fell in love with the area around Canyon City where he now lives at the age of 92. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 972
Location: Texas! | Just Bring It - 2014-03-10 7:55 AM Thanks for all the input! Who are some good equine vets and farriers around the area? Also what are their prices like?
Block & Bridle Vet Clinic, Dr. Wendy Simmons is great! She is who I use because she knows her stuff on performance horses and she is not one to get injection happy with your horse. She will have you try alternate approach FIRST then inject. There are quite a few excellent equine vets in CO just some are too quick to inject or throw high $$ at your bill. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 357
Location: Colorful Colorado | Westcliffe is very pretty. It's a small town and as an earlier poster said very clicky. Winters are cold and snow. The little town pretty much shuts down. Jobs are pretty much ranch jobs, It's a beautiful place in the summer. As a poster said CPRA rodeo's and I think jackpots around the Springs and Pueblo. I would like to live there in the summer- winters no so much.
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 Veteran
Posts: 151
| I am going to have to pipe in! I live just west of Denver. For the most part, the weather here is nice. Other than that, it is not a fit for me. BUT, I married a native and now I'm stuck.
Like a previous poster stated, the people here are different. NO ONE WAVES!! (my young son could not get over that when we moved here -lol, he was waving like crazy and people just stared)!
The state has swung wildly left politically, and unfortunately, to me, that effects everything. I think to live here, you have to be ready to deal with that.
I moved from Oklahoma where it's the opposite-lol! The people are wonderful! The politics make COMMON SENSE...but the weather -not so great! I would rather be there!
The Mile Hi barrel races are very nice!! But during the week there is not a lot going on. I would have to drive 1.5 hours each way to go on Tuesdays. In OK, I could go all the time.
I would do anything to leave here, but that will never happen.
Is there any way you guys could do an extended "visit"? |
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Troll Buster
Posts: 6045
| I have to chime in, I lived in co for two years and honestly hated it. The people are a different breed. Very unfriendly and have a "better than you" attitude. Best of luck in your adventure :) |
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 Expert
Posts: 1631
Location: Somewhere around here | I must be the odd ball out haha! I moved from southern CA to CO in 2007 and everyone waved and smiled! It freaked me out at first but I got used to it and that past few years I will nod or do a small wave to other cars when driving. People in pickups are a lot more willing to wave back though haha. I first lived east of Denver in a smaller town and now I live an hour east of Pueblo.
I feel like the people like live closer to Denver and CO Springs are more "higher headed" but definitely not where I live. People in more rural communities seem to be very happy and friendly for the most part.
I agree about the political side though. It completely sucks right now. I'm republican and most of the people in southern CO are except for the *ahem* white trash and people that live of off the government.
Jobs are a tough part here as well. I currently work at Wal-Mart and although it's not a glamorous job, it's still a job and I'm thankful that I have some income. There are other jobs but some people seem to think that they are above them and wouldn't dream of applying, like being a cashier at Wal-Mart.... |
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Husband Spoiler
Posts: 4151
Location: North Dakota | Thanks for all the honest replies! I really really appreciate it. The politics of the state had me worried but according to city-data Westcliffe has voted Rep since '96 so that eazed my mind about that area at least a little bit...hahaha! We are going down for the weekend to visit and we plan on eating at the local restaurants, etc to get a feel of the people and the atmosphere. We would love to stay longer to really get an idea if that is where we want to be but my hubby needs to get back to work since he already took a week vacation time for his brother's wedding in San Diego in February. At least with this trip we will see if we still are interested or not and then go from there and see if we want to pursue this dream further. We are hoping with the sale of our place to buy the place outright and not have a mortgage payment to worry about. We would also be selling our tractor since we won't be doing our own hay down there (we still have a skidsteer to move bales, clean snow, etc) so with the sale of that we will pay off our truck and trailer. Then we will be completely out of debt (other than my student loans). It is all a dream right now but dreams don't come true if you don't pursue them and try to make them happen. So our trip this weekend I think will help us at least get an idea if we want to be in that area or if we want to stay up in this area. We are definitely use to nasty nasty cold winters so we are not worried about Colorado winters. They may have some cold days but we have cold MONTHS! Over half the year is winter. We are tired of it. |
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