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July 7, 2008
How would you green a horse farm?
Every once in awhile I get an email or comment from a reader that really makes me think "Wow! Now that's a great idea!" Wait until you read Susan's common sense plans for creating a green horse farm community.
Kentucky is the heart of America's horse industry for breeding, racing, and all things thoroughbred. The economic impact of horse racing in Kentucky makes these equestrian assets as vital as Bourbon to local economy. But the boon of industry comes at a price. Poorly managed horse farms that allow over grazing, large untended manure piles, and soil erosion can cause great harm to local water ways and eco-systems.
On top of this, horse owners looking to have a place for their animals on their property may have to settle for small lots that are less than ideal for both man and beast.
Susan emailed me a couple weeks ago asking if I had any suggestions for her plans to create a small community development near Lexington. Here are her thoughts:
"What I want to do is use 109 acre plot to create a cluster neighborhood of only 6-8 homes with a 30 stall barn, indoor riding arena and use the rest of the land to turn the horses out. Up to 100 horses could exist on the land because each horse ideally needs an acre to live. We would raise a small herd of beef cattle to roam the land and eat only grass and water and help keep the land free of harmful ground organisms that make horses sick. By the way, these organisms help the cattle like probiotics.
"In addition to this, we are planning on growing an harvesting our own hay without harmful pesticides, which will allow us to control what is fed to our animals and make good bluegrass hay for horse farms," she wrote.
And, for the humans?
"We are looking to create the houses from the ground up, completely green, possibly LEED certified. The homes will have a smaller footprint than most of the new homes built today and we are really focused on energy efficient, tight construction. Also, we are hoping to use solar panels, wind energy, or whatever we can to reduce the impact of the homes on the environment as much as possible."
As with many plans in the early phase, funds usually dictate just how green the final project ends up. Sometimes solar panels have to be sacrificed for better insulation, or geo-thermal heat pumps. But, this can't be the only sustainable community horse farm in America, and I'm pretty sure there are models for this out there, though they may be hard to find.
So after hearing Susan's plan I thought I would turn the suggestions over to the Green Team readers. How would you suggest Susan go about getting this development started? What would you include in the green plans for both the homes and horses? Do you know of any organizations that might be of assistance?
Posted by Andrew Hunt at July 7, 2008 2:00 PM
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Comments
What a great idea...I think it would be incredibly popular with many of us living here in the bluegrass and boarding horses miles away from our homes!
Posted by: laurel Martin at July 7, 2008 4:45 PM
I'd like to see houses that are self-sustaining and better use of water (rain barrels, recycled water), in addition to keeping animals "green." Although cattle pollute the water table, there must be a good balance out there somewhere.
Posted by: Mim at July 7, 2008 11:23 PM
I think this is a great idea and more of us need to think outside of the box and go for these type of projects. If anyone is out there with ideas to help Susan with the funding to make sure this thing happens please step up! Good luck Susan!
Posted by: Christy Helton at July 8, 2008 1:01 PM
I am very interested in being a part of this project. Sounds like a terrific idea, and perfect for our local Lexington community!
Posted by: Jeanne Sallee/Interiors by Decorating Den at July 8, 2008 1:24 PM
I think this is a great idea. I hope that if the horse industry starts the trend then perhaps builders will incorporate these principles into other residental projects.
Posted by: Danielle Field at July 8, 2008 1:33 PM
Great way of doing things.
Posted by: Stephen DelRe at July 8, 2008 3:39 PM
Sounds like a great project. Good luck with it!
Posted by: Sue Pinckney at July 8, 2008 4:22 PM
We are doing this NOW in Lawrenceburg, KY and if you need help just hollar. It is very popular but there are some pitfalls with shared barns! We have online home and barn selection and great prices for energy efficient plans and healthy barans for horses- have 50 of our own for 42 years- know a few things here. www.picturetrail.com/remarc
Posted by: Kricket at July 8, 2008 5:25 PM
I would suggest attendance at The Energy Pros high performance home seminar the third Wednesday of every month on Cooper Drive campus of the Kentucky Community Technical College 6:30P.M., in the seminiar one can aquire a working knowledge of many sustainable technologies and good ways to implement them and the seminar is free.
Posted by: Jason De Bold CGB, CGR, CGP at July 8, 2008 9:37 PM
Her ideas sound great! I live in NJ and we used to have beautiful horse farms. Not anymore all the farms have turned into over sized, over priced and hideous places to live. I think if we had proper planning implemented here we would have had a nice medium. We are now finding that these hugh homes are too expensive to maintain. It is important to maintain a balance and she is going in the right direction. We inquired in other equestrian communities and we are finding that the homes and price tag are extreme. Not eco friendly. When we are ready to move out of NJ we don't want to move to a place where we are going to encounter the same problems we have here. We want our pony to be with her family not boarded miles away and we want to be more self-sustaining. If we could share any of cons that we have in our state regarding equine developement we would be happy to share them with you. My husband and I are planning on moving to TN or KY when we retire so if she goes ahead with this project feel free to contact us we may be very interested!
Posted by: Jeanne at July 9, 2008 10:08 AM
there is such a place in the plans in Altha,Fla. small community North of Panama City,Fla.Sky corp. is planning similar little equestrian village,self contained with it's own water,electric, etc. check it out.I'd like to work there!
Posted by: geam at July 9, 2008 12:12 PM
Have you thot about using manure to methane for heating?
Posted by: CarrieB at July 9, 2008 5:13 PM
What a great idea! I can see it as a landmark on how the horse community builds Equestrian Communities in the future.
Posted by: Biggi at July 10, 2008 8:39 PM
This sound absolutely fantastic. Great idea!
Posted by: Stephanie Haskett at July 11, 2008 10:24 AM
Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and comments. I am definitely using them to help me with my project. Please keep them coming. Any ideas on incentives and funding options other than me having to foot the entire bill?
Posted by: Susan johnson at July 13, 2008 6:07 PM
I come from a community out west that was known for this lifestyle. We didn't have sidewalks, we had horse trails, hitching posts at the local restaurants, etc. It was wonderful! I'm now in Ohio and would love to see this happen here. I am a Realtor that specializes in farms/mini farms but work out of the city. This lifestyle is the best of both worlds, in my opinion. In the our subdivision, instead of a barn, we had an arena and a grandstand for horse shows but the barn issue is too much trouble for the HOA. I would recommend that homeowners have enough acreage to have their own mini farm, thus reducing liability and conflicts but the development be geared to fit the lifestyle and stables, etc. be complimentary to the development. I'd be happy to talk about this further - email me at: sgarrett@sibcycline.com . It was a wonderful place to live and I'd love to see more communities and subdivisions embrace this wholesome lifestyle! I wish I know of a developer who would do this in the Cincinnati area. I think if done correctly would have a waiting list of buyers!
Good luck!
Posted by: Sheri Garrett at July 15, 2008 11:19 PM
I'd be willing to bet that a lot of animal sanctuaries that care for horses would like to get on board, such as Best Friends in Utah (www.bestfriends.org) Return to Freedom (www.returntofreedom.org) and Farm Sanctuary in NY and CA (www.farmsanctuary.org). They would be worth checking out to see if any will be expanding in the near future, as being sustainable is a priority to most of these organizations as long as it's in their budget.
Posted by: Jennifer Robertson at August 12, 2008 1:28 PM
