Horse properties in Douglas County

Douglas County sets livestock limits in Section 24 (Animals) of its Zoning Resolution, and it counts in animal units. A horse, mule, cow or llama is one unit. Four miniature horses, swine, sheep, goats or alpacas together make one unit. Young animals under six months old do not count.

So a mixed household of two horses and four goats is three units, and that is the number to hold against the limit for the parcel’s district.

In the ER Estate Residential and RR Rural Residential districts the maximum is one animal unit per half acre, and boarded horses count toward it: one boarded horse is allowed in ER and two in RR.

On LRR Large Rural Residential lots, and on nonconforming A-1 lots of 9 to 34.99 acres, livestock owned by the landowner or lessee is not limited. Two boarded horses are allowed by right and three to eight through administrative review.

In A-1 Agricultural One, owned livestock is also unlimited, and the boarded-horse allowance grows with the lot: four on 35 acres or more (more through administrative review), twelve on 80 acres or more with 200 foot setbacks, and no limit on 160 acres or more with 500 foot setbacks. Confirm the current Section 24 text with Planning Services, since the Resolution is amended from time to time.

Whether a Douglas County well can water horses is decided by the state permit, not the zoning. On a parcel under 35 acres outside a cluster development, the standard exempt permit allows household use inside one home and no outdoor use. The well permit guide shows how to check a specific permit.

Where the water comes from varies too. Domestic wells commonly tap the Dawson, the shallowest Denver Basin aquifer, which the state describes as not renewable. The county notes that about a third of its area, the Pike and Rampart country in the west and southwest, relies instead on fractured granite aquifers recharged only by precipitation.

The Douglas County Health Department’s septic guidance says horses and other livestock should not be placed on the soil treatment area. On a smaller horse property the leach field and the turnout often compete for the same flat ground, so find out where the field is.

If the property is on septic, the health department also requires a Use Permit, based on an inspection by an independent certified inspector, when it sells. The seller obtains it.

Building permits in unincorporated Douglas County come from the Building Division, so a barn, arena cover or loafing shed is a question for that office, and an existing one is worth checking against its records. Covenants can then restrict what the county allows: some prohibit boarding, cap numbers or govern outbuildings.

Parts of the county sit in the Zoning Resolution’s Wildfire Hazard Overlay District, and the Building Division publishes defensible space guidance. Hay stored against a barn is a fire question your insurer will ask about.