|
|
 Tried and True
Posts: 21185
   
Location: Where I am happiest | I love Oregon but lived south central Oregon. Completely different then Portland area. East of the cascades is dry with little rain,300+ days sunshine a year, very ranchy/farming, out of this world awsome hay, no traffic, and great people and alot of races. The Portland area on down to about Eugene you couldnt pay me to live there. Horrible traffic, very liberal, alot of rain and mud and most people up over there arent worth a $2 bill. It must be all the rain, mud, and traffic that effects their brain. Get south of Eugene, or over the cascades on the east side and it is a completely different world. | |
| | |
 Expert
Posts: 2604
 
Location: Texas | Thanks! | |
| | |
 Veteran
Posts: 288
| I'm about an hour and a half east, up the Columbia River gorge. CANNOT STAND Portland liberals, seriously, they ARE that bad lol. Rain and mud is a factor, but the extension agents can help you with mud management plans, grading, ground materials, etc. There are races all over the place and good ones too. The BRN4D association is one of the bigger ones in the nation and it's based in Oregon City. Then you have OBRA, NBHA races in Washington, CWP and others. Clark County Saddle club has lots of races year round and it's just acrossed the river in vancouver. Lots of indoor arenas up here in the PNW because of the shifty weather. | |
| | |
 Expert
Posts: 1261
| TBone - 2016-08-23 7:37 AM
Can any Oregon horse owners tell me what it is like maintaining horses in your climate? Â We currently live in Central Texas, but my step-daughter, her husband and our granddaughter live just south of Portland in Oregon City. Â We have considered moving Northward, but I am VERY hesitant about having and maintaining my horses. Â What is the best area to live in with horses? Â Do you have to deal with mud all of the time? Â Do you have to keep your horses stalled a lot of the time to not get rain rot, scratches, mud fever, soft hooves, etc? Â How do you keep your horses in condition during the rainy season? Â Can you ride in your pasture or do you have covered arenas? Â Are there many barrel races around? Â Many places for trail riding? Â What kind and prices for hay? Â What other things do we need to consider when looking at acreage places? Â Any info would be greatly appreciated. Â Thanks
ETA: Â Narrowing the area back down to within 1.5 hours of Portland.Or for those that have lived North and moved to Texas, am open to hearing if moving North is not a wise decision. Â 
I live a little farther south than that but often travel to the Oregon city/ canby/ damascas area to compete. There are tons and tons of barrel races here. Check out the Oregon Barrel Racing association, Clackamus county barrel racing club and BRN4D. Yes there is lots and lots of mud. Where my horses are currently boarded is flat and the drainage around it has slowly filled in so it was flood city in the pastures this year. My other horse lives just a few miles away on the top of a hill with good drainage there is minimal mud there. But yes it rains a lot and mud is a reality here in the valley. If you go over the mountain people say there isn't mud on that side of the state but there is snow...
My retired horse is out on pasture 24/7 with no blanket or anything, she does have ample covered area to get out of the weather though. She has okay feet and no problems at all with rain rot or her feet in her situation. My other two do stay stalled most of the time, mostly because there isn't a safely fenced pasture left on the place they are at now, but I would say the ground is generally dry enough till December or so and starts improving around March. Spring, summer and fall are lovely. I think a covered arena is really a must if you want to compete all year round, or at least an all weather arena. I don't personally mind riding in the rain but I don't want to try and work on slick ground. I think you could do alright on pasture for a good portion of the year though.
There is tons of places for trails around. | |
| | |
 How freakish is that?
Posts: 3927
Location: Oregon | I am going to be putting my place on the market here shortly - 24 acres, indoor arena, 30 x 60 barn, enclosed shop, loafing shed, several other outbuildings, hay field and pasture with irrigation rights, older house in really good shape and a mobile home on a hardship if you have parents or inlaws you have to bring with you. An hour south of Portland, 15 minutes to I5 (interstate), close to quite a few towns if you are going to work. The mud on my place is pretty well contained, everything has a covered area to get out of the rain.
Edited by crapshooter 2016-09-11 11:06 PM
| |
| | |
Elite Veteran
Posts: 747
| I've lived here in Oregon for all my life, so I don't know any different and have gotten used to the rain. But, we do have a barn with a manageable sized indoor arena that I use to work horses every day during the rainy season. My horses pens turn into slick muddy messes when it rains (we're at the base of a hill) but my arena is built up so it doesn't get that groundwater. But they are stalled during the rainy season, so it is nice to have an indoor to rotate horses in during the day and work them in.
There are several nice indoor arenas in the Portland area (Canby, Marriott's, Para Heva) and one just across the border in Vancouver. They have a lot of races and barrel series in them during the winter and they have good, safe ground (love love love the ground in the Canby arena). It all just depends on what you think you and your horses can handle! | |
| | |
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 764
Location: Stephenville, TX | I lived in Central Oregon (East of the Cascades) for 25 years. Having irrigated ground for pasture is a must if you don't want to feed your horses year round. Real estate with water rights is more expensive however. I do miss being able to ride out my driveway into the BLM land along sandy trails with the scenic Cascade mountains in full view. Awesome! As other posters have said there is a fair amount of snow and colder temps with the mountain passes being a little dicey to get to other major cities .There are a couple local jackpot associations that put on a winter series if you are wanting to stay in shape and not get cabin fever. (long underwear and stocking caps are a must have.)
My horses were outside with run-in sheds and I blanketed the ones I was riding during winter. Plenty of hay and heated troughs kept them healthy and fat.
I have been in SE TX for 4 years now and have a few issues of the last 2 years of El Nino and excessive rain. I have to keep pads on my horse when I have him shod from being in the mud and just recently he had a bad reaction to fire ant bites and broke out in multiple weeping sores. Evil little buggers. Feed molds and spoils a lot quicker and alfalfa is very expensive. Overall, I prefer Texas. Bigger races here offering better added money and awards, plus more of them to pick and choose from.
| |
| |
| |
Folks on-line