Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Horse Riding: The New Golf

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by

James A. Bacon
in

The hot new concept in residential real estate now is to build developments around equestrian centers. The Washington Post notes that there are at least three such communities in the Washington metro area. Additionally, I have heard of equestrian/residential projects downstate: one in New Kent County, one near Lynchburg.

Unlike golf communities, in which golf carts are evolving into a new form of transportation (see previous post), no one is talking yet of the horse as a serious transportation option!

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12 responses to “Horse Riding: The New Golf”

  1. E M Risse Avatar
    E M Risse

    And you are not likely to either.

    Horses (and camels) have been the vehicles of choice of past societies, they are called Nomads.

    There are important lessons here for use of the autonomobile as pointed out in Chaper 13 Box 9 of “The Shape of the Future.”

  2. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    Yes, but it turns out the single thing you can do which will increase the value of your property is to add equestrian facilities.

    More ROI than sidewalks, swimming pools, remodeled kitchen, etc.

    Of course, its hard to do in a condo located over a Metro station.

  3. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    The town mentioned only allows them off the state highway which skirts the town. Maybe this will be an incentive for more towns to take over the roadways from the state.

  4. Jim Wamsley Avatar
    Jim Wamsley

    WestGroup seems to think that adding a Metro Station will do more to add to the value of their property at Tysons.

  5. Jim Wamsley Avatar
    Jim Wamsley

    WestGroup seems to think that adding a Metro Station will do more to add to the value of their property at Tysons.

  6. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    Good point, Jim. I hadn’t considered Metro.

    But, I was only considering amenities that the property owner would actually pay for themselves.

  7. COD Avatar
    COD

    Horses as a serious mode of transportation creates a whole new set of environmental problems, primarily 40 lbs of manure per horse per day.

  8. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    Not to mention denuding much of the second growth forest we have developed since hoses went out of commercial use.

    An, not to mention the greenhouse gas effect of horses.

    Yes, Horses do run on renewable energy, but if we had to replace all the horsepower powered by fossil fuels that we are presently using, with actual horses, we would soon find out that using renewalble energy and being sustainable are quite different concepts.

    That is one of the things I mean when I say we cannot necessarily “afford” to use renewable energy.

  9. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    Have you ever seen the early films of downtown New York when horses were still in use.

    Talk about congestion.

    Talk about pollution.

    In those days they euphemistically referred to the problem as “mud”.

  10. Jim Bacon Avatar
    Jim Bacon

    For the record, my remark about horses as transportation mode was meant to be tongue in cheek.

  11. E M Risse Avatar
    E M Risse

    Perhaps so but there are critical lessons to be learned that apply directly to the use of autonomobiles. See Chapter 13 Box 9 cited.

    It is a matter of scale, the space needed to support the travel mode and the resulting disaggregation of settlement patterns.

    EMR

  12. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    As far as I can tell the more we disaggregate our settlement patterns the fewer and less expensive problems we will have.

    You are right, horses are expensive compared to cars, even considering pollution and road maintenance, and that is why we use cars. They didn’t call them hay burners for nothing.

    I’m pretty much convinced that if (when) we do go down the non-sustainable tube, that there will be a lot of new nomads. It will make the phenomenon of the Okies look tame. Those nomads will be carting their stuff around with horses and dogs and lllamas before they go the pedestrian friendly route.

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